Columbus Café

(Note: Columbus Café has closed down at this location, and we are presently unaware if there is/will be another in Liège.  We will leave this article in the archives however.)

Columbus Café, we have been told, is Starbucks' biggest competitor in France and other parts of Europe.  As Liège does not yet have a Starbucks, (a fact the anglophone half of our duo routinely laments,) we decided to go and see what we've been told is "the next best thing."

Located just across the way from the Palace Cinema in Lièges centre, the café certainly does have location working for it.  Though the interior isn't quite as luxe as some Starbucks, there are comfortable seats to be had, and the deco is somewhere in between Subway Sandwiches, and Starbucks (if that makes sense to you.)  We'll take more pictures to cover this next time.

Our visit was full of surprises.  The first of which was a cappuccino that came topped with steamed milk!  This is a rarity in Liège where sweetened whipped cream is more often the foam atop a 'cappuccino'.  Was the coffee good?  Yes.  We both agree that it was good, though not spectacularly good.  The coffee itself could be a little more full-bodied, and the layer of foam should ideally have been a little thicker.  A decent cappuccino is hard to find here in Liège though, so we don't consider this evaluation a complaint.  We only know of one other place that routinely serves steamed milk atop their cappuccino, and here at Columbus Café, the cappuccinos are better.

Second surprise: very good customer service.  Our barista was chipper as he answered our questions while taking pastries out of boxes and setting the store up for the day (we arrived right at opening time.)  He told us to make ourselves comfortable and fetched our coffees, muffins and Orange Juice without delay, and even offered us a piece of fruit-tart at no charge as he explained to us it was aesthetically damaged, and would otherwise have to be thrown out since he couldn't place it in the display.  We decided to be kind and help the poor guy out.  (The tart, by the way, was very tasty.)

just a few of the tasty treats on offer

The muffins were correct, which is to say they weren't too fluffy, had a denser quality, enough so to be dipped in coffee without falling apart.  As for taste, they were pretty good (probably some of the better muffins we've had in Liège.)  In fact, all the pastry we tried lived up to its looks or tasted even better than it looked.  (For comparison - we often find Starbucks pastries look much better than they taste.)  We'll pass by for lunch next time, as the sandwiches and salads looked appetizing.

Tchantches' orange juice was labelled on the menu as "freshly pressed", but when it arrived at our table, it didn't seem to be in appearance or taste.  It wasn't bad juice, but buyer beware here if you're the sort to pay a premium price for "freshly pressed" juice.  Other beverages on offer in addition to coffee-based beverages and juices included teas, smoothies, hot chocolate and an array of cold bottled beverages.  Given that Columbus Café caters to the same sort of clients as Starbucks, prices run in a similar range between the two.

Third Surpise: Free wifi!  This isn't widespread in Liège, but we are certainly happy to see the idea gaining ground here.

Our only true concerns about Columbus Café, at this point, are that it seems to have less seating than it needs.  It's hard to feel like you can "take time for yourself" (the company slogan,) when people who come in keep eyeing your seating area like they wish you'd gulp your coffee down and move on.  It's a tricky thing in the space they have though, as it's a long room with the stairwell leading down to the restrooms, meaning the entire space gets traffic flow moving through.  There are only one or two seating spaces a little more sheltered from this, and they are obviously the preferred places.

This brings us to our other concern, and 4th surprise: While our experience with the service was otherwise positive we must ask... who maintains the restrooms?

There are things we do expect in any public restroom, certainly.  Not everyone wipes up after the mess they make... but we came at the very start of the day, which left us wondering not only who maintains the restroom, but how often are they maintained?  Like it or not, restauranteurs of Liège, restrooms are part of the customer experience too!  Who is responsible for placing the roll of toilet-paper on the dirty floor, rather than in the toilet-roll-dispenser?  Even if the dispenser was broken (it didn't seem to be,) we'd expect a solution that keeps the toilet roll off the floor.  We were a little taken aback by this.

While we definitely advise you to pay them a visit if you find yourself in Liège craving a decent cappuccino or specialty coffee... we'll also warn you that using the facilities might not be as comfortable as the rest of the experience!

Located at: 20 Rue pont d'Avroy.

Open: Mon-Fri 8am-6pm, Sat & Sun 10am-6pm

Breakfast at Hema... One serious bargain!

Can I tell you something?  Tchantches and I are guilty of snobbery.

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.

Breakfast at Le Matin Liègois

Tchantchès and I enjoy a breakfast out now and then.  We'd heard about "Le Matin Liègois" and decided to check them out.  Before going we agreed to put them to the English-test (meaning we'd speak English while there to see how those without French-language skills might be served,) and away we went.

It would be fairly easy to miss this place from the outside, given the low-key sign.

A flashy sign isn't necessary for business here, though.  Le Matin Liègois is known to locals who stop by for breakfast, to pick up bread or a freshly-made sandwich for their day, or who might settle in at some point in the day for a pastry with coffee or tea.

Situated in La Place du Marché, (which is an elgongation off the Place St. Lambert,) it is an easy walk from most places in the centre of Liège.

 Place St. Lambert

 Place du Marché

Le Matin Liègois is a few buildings further walking in this direction, on this side of the street.

A friendly woman behind the counter greeted us, and when asked, answered that yes she was able to speak English.  When we arrived the downstairs was rather busy and so we asked if we could sit upstairs to take breakfast.  We were given a cheerful yes and made our way up a wooden spiral staircase at the back, discovering a quaint and quiet space upstairs with red walls and coloured glass windows.

Menus were already placed at most tables and as we settled down our waiter joined us.  We asked and found that he did not speak English, but he indicated that if we showed him what we wanted on the menu he should be able to help us.  As we hadn't looked over the menu just yet, Tchantchès asked for a coffee (€1.70) and I asked about teas.  I was brought a tea-menu, which showed the restaurant carries a variety of Lipton teas and infusions.  As I'm not partial to the brand, I asked for a cappuccino (€2.00) to everyones confusion I think, but mine.

One note about cappuccinos here: I have yet to find one that comes with steamed milk atop.

Ordering a cappuccino in Liège will often result in the receipt of something like this:

(an espresso topped with sweetened whipped cream and cinnamon.)

Tchantchès pointed to the "complet" (€8.00), which is a breakfast consisting of a regular croissant, a chocolate croissant, a white-bread roll, slices of cheese (a middle-of-the-road gouda in this case,) butter, a selection of spreads including honey, jam, nutella, and sirop de Liège, a soft-boiled egg and an accompanying coffee or tea.

I pointed to the "2 oeufs sur le plat" breakfast combination (€5.00), which includes 2 sunny-side-up eggs, buttered bread, and a coffee or tea.  At least it should have.  When our waiter brought our meals, he presented Tchantchès with his plates and coffee, and then placed one tiny plate in front of me.  A single sunny-side-up egg.

I apologized and explained to the waiter that my breakfast was supposed to have 2 eggs, and pointed again to my desired meal on the menu.  He apologized explaining in French that his colleague had misunderstood that I'd wanted just one egg, and said he'd get right to fixing it.  Another egg was quickly brought to me, and at this point I had to try again and explain that I'd really wanted the full meal pointing to the bread and coffee in the meal description.

Fortunately another couple were eating upstairs with us and when I said "toast" one of them tossed a "pain grillé" to the waiter, at which point he realized I was still missing part of my meal.  I never did get my bread, but Tchantchès had actually been given an extra roll along with his soft-boiled egg, so he gave it to me and we called it even after the waiter returned with my coffee.

Overall we felt the quality of the food was good, but not outstanding.  Tchantchès has a taste for fine pastries and thought the croissants weren't bad, but were also nothing special.  The bread roll was reasonably fresh, though rather tasteless.  My eggs were correctly cooked and well seasoned, tasting lightly of butter, salt and pepper, though Tchantchès' soft-boiled egg was bizarrely overcooked in one part while being completely undercooked with a transparent white in another part.  We noted as well that the spreads provided with his breakfast were likely placed in their pots the night before or possibly even earlier, judging by the skin that had developed on the (normally semi-fluid) sirop de Liège.

Part of Tchantchès' breakfast.  (Hungry bugger had already eaten his croissant and soft-boiled egg before I'd gotten my camera out!)

Despite the wrinkle in service, everyone was unfalteringly friendly, tried their best to get things right even with the language difference, and service was fairly quick.  The woman minding the counter downstairs seemed eager to practice her English as she rang us up, making small talk with us and wishing us a good stay in Liège on our way out.

Le Matin Liègois

Place du Marché, #20

Open 7am - 6pm Monday - Saturday, 9am - 12pm Sunday.