We have often walked by this sign, just outside of Hema, (a quirky and democratically priced store of Dutch origin,) located in the Galleries St. Lambert.
Between 9am (when they open) and 10am, the breakfast pictured above is 1 Euro in the Hema café.
We chuckled to ourselves, saying it must be a marvelous job in food photography, to show something that looked that good when the reality was probably something rather different. We giggled because normally even just a coffee by itself (let alone a freshly ground rainforest-alliance-certified one) will run you between 1.50 and 2 euro here in Liège. We asked ourselves if the whole breakfast might not be incredibly tiny in size...
The other day we found ourselves in the Place St. Lambert, and it was before 10am. As we were in the right place at the right time, (and empty-bellied to boot,) we finally allowed our curiosity to overcome our snobbery. In we went, walking to the bistro-buffet/café situated in the rear of the store. We had to know: How good could a complete breakfast for just 1 measly euro be?
Pretty darn good, actually. See for yourself just below here how the real thing measures up to the advertising.
Seriously. I gave the cashier just one Euro and walked away with this.
Croissant: One pretty standard croissant for size, taste and texture. Baguette: between a quarter and a fifth of a baguette size, which is normal. The bacon in the sandwich is a proper full sized slice. The omelette was fluffy and somewhere between 1 and 2 eggs worth (we both agree it's closer to 2.) The coffee was good, though not the best that can be had in Liège, and the added blessing here for both of our sleepy heads was that it wasn't a small coffee. I was delighted to actually receive more than what is pictured on the sign outside the store, because everyone could take a speculoos cookie to go along with their coffee at no additional charge that day.
Jams (strawberry and apricot) were the choices available for fruit-spreads and we spotted a rarer option in these parts, (peanut butter,) in an adjacent basket. The strawberry jam wasn't fabulous, so next time I believe I'll be reaching for the peanut butter, and Tchantches will likely test-drive the apricot. In any case, the croissant and sandwich were good enough that I had no real use for my packet of jam, but the option is always nice.
Language is not really an issue here, as the café functions in a buffet format: you take a tray, plate and utensils, and select your croissant and omelette sandwich yourself from the buffet-cases and baskets. Just beware that if you want to take advantage of this deal, you need to take it exactly as it is. Tchantches added a chocolate croissant to his tray, and paid €1.25 extra for it.You can bet with an unbeatable deal like this that we'll be going back when next the stars align and we find ourselves hungry and near the Place St. Lambert before 10am.
EDIT ***We have since been back to Hema, though this time it was much closer to 10. I tried the peanut butter, and it was disappointingly off the mark as most peanut butters in Belgium seem to be. The apricot jam is better than the strawberry according to Tchantches, but it's not great either, so there you have it. On the second visit, there were no cookies by the register to go with the coffee, and our sandwiches were a little less fresh. We figure this was because it was almost 10am when we showed up, and perhaps they'd been sitting in the buffet for almost an hour at that point. Lessons learned? If you want the very best of this deal, we'd say try to be there closer to their opening at 9.
The Hema in the Galleries St. Lambert is open from Monday - Saturday, 9am to 6:30pm.
EDIT ***We have since been back to Hema, though this time it was much closer to 10. I tried the peanut butter, and it was disappointingly off the mark as most peanut butters in Belgium seem to be. The apricot jam is better than the strawberry according to Tchantches, but it's not great either, so there you have it. On the second visit, there were no cookies by the register to go with the coffee, and our sandwiches were a little less fresh. We figure this was because it was almost 10am when we showed up, and perhaps they'd been sitting in the buffet for almost an hour at that point. Lessons learned? If you want the very best of this deal, we'd say try to be there closer to their opening at 9.
The Hema in the Galleries St. Lambert is open from Monday - Saturday, 9am to 6:30pm.
