Have you ever heard of spoil yourself coffee? If you've been to Belgium, you will have, but not otherwise, I suspect. It's something you can get at any café in Flanders, but I've never seen it anywhere else. It's called Verwen Koffie and it really is a treat.
If you order it, you get a little tray with a cup of black coffee, a biscuit and either a bowl or a small glass filled with Advocaat and topped with a scoop of ice cream and whipped cream. The combination is just divine and feels like truly sinful luxury. Amazingly, it's not very expensive (depending on where you go of course), but in Zelzate just across the Belgian border, we indulge in this heavenly concoction for a mere €2,50 each - which I think is pretty reasonable. Last time we went, Koos took a photo of his, so here it is:
The empty space on the little tray had another mini delight. A small chocolate wafer 'bowl' that was also filled with advocaat, but I think he must have eaten that before taking the photo. Looks good doesn't it? We've become quite conoisseurs of this unique regional speciality, and so far, the café where we imbibed or rather munched into this delicious sample has turned out to be both the best and the cheapest - what joy it is so close to our weekend getaway!
Enjoy the rest of your week, one and all and I'll be back soon with more news of watery ways during these watery days.
Oh my, what a delicious treat Val, delightfully decadent and inexpensive too. I have never forgotten the hot chocolate I enjoyed in Ypres - absolutely the best ever. Those Belgians are very good at warming treats!
ReplyDeleteOh this does look lovely. Nice to indulge yourself.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Patricia. The Belgians are good at all things sinful :-)
ReplyDeleteAnne, yes, it is, but it's just as well we are in Rotterdam more than Zeeland… ;-)
That does look like sinful luxury! What I wouldn't do for a little bit of that right now.
ReplyDeleteLooks perfect to me. Full of promise.
ReplyDeleteI have wonderful fine snow falling in 5 degree F temps. Wonderful day for a lovely treat.
Must work to earn it, though. Mule must pull the plow so off to do so. Wonderful picture and delightful post.
Enjoy.
Lynn, I always feel a bit naughty when I've indulged in this, but sort of innocently.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Jack, it's good to earn it. The rule is to make sure i/we've done something worthy of the reward!
Delicious! Recently I went to a lunch hosted by some Australian authors in Sydney-it was chocolate heaven! And yes, I indulged!
ReplyDeleteNas
Hello Val. Oh, I enjoyed this. Should have put Belgium on the list this holiday. Have been there before and had wonderful coffee and chocolates. This time in Europe we couldn't buy a decent coffee. We like ours with lots of milk and this is hard to get in France, Spain and Portugal.They're in love with UHT milk. Haven't stopped drinking delicious coffee with silky crema since we returned home.
ReplyDeleteMmmmmh.
Denise
It looks delicious Val. Reminds me of the slimmers phrase
ReplyDeleteFive minutes on the lips and two inches on the hips!
Its good to have these little treats in life. I didn't know about this, so thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteNas, that sounds even more sinful!
ReplyDeleteDenise, I know what you mean. You should have spent longer in NL. This is where the best coffee is in Europe…not a lot of people know this :-) But yes, Belgium has some wonderful treats!
Mel, yes, my hips go into spasm just at the sight of one of these!
Thanks for dropping by, Maria! My blog is pretty eclectic, so you never quite know what's going to turn up here :-)
This is on my to-have list for the next trip to Belgium. Sounds divine.
ReplyDeleteI mention this in the book as it's soo good. To make it at home, we found Filliers to be the tastiest advocaat and you get a kilner jar as well to use when you try to make your own! I've a few recipes from our Belgian friends if you want to have a go. When you've time......!
ReplyDeleteAnne Marie, yes, you'll have to try it.
ReplyDeleteAnne, I think your version is equally good. For Koos and I part of the treat is going to a Belgian café and having it there. I'm not sure we'd find it quite as appealing if we made it ourselves :-)