De Pauze - Waffles and Trappist Beer =)

We went out for dinner the evening of our barefoot walk at the restaurant called De Pauze. It is a neat little place selling lots of foodstuffs, from frites to gelato and snacks to a full, sit-down restaurant. We'd had the frites before and wanted the check out the restaurant because we saw that they served waffles (BTW: The frites here are not as good as the ones sold at the hole-in-the-wall frituur about 200 yards away =). We had to check it out!

Now, we live in the Flemish region of Belgium, the Dutch speaking area. I had all my Dutch translation books with me to help figure out what I was reading on the menu. Then, bummer! It's in French! We were confused. But, Adam took French in high school, and we were able to muddle our way through to find some things we recognized that sounded nice. Here's what we ordered:

This was Adam's dinner: a Croque Madame. It looked fantastic. He actually knew what he was ordering when he told the server what he wanted. I had no idea what it was. He just kept telling me to wait and see what it was when it finally came out. This is the Croque Monsieur (a hot ham and cheese grilled sandwich) with fried egg on it. He said it was very good

I ordered a sandwich. It is an Italiaanse Furie. The description for it was "parma, parmezzaanse kaas, speciale mosterdsaus, augurken." All I knew was that it had Parmesan cheese and a special mustard sauce. I thought I'd give it a try. It was sooooo good! The mustard on it was very tangy; the ham, thin and salty; and the cheese slices were similar to Provolone. The pickles were not dill, nor were they bread and butter chips. They're hard to describe, but they fit the sandwich perfectly. All of this was served on a delicious French bread and dusted with Parmesan cheese. I would definitely eat it again!!!

Rachael's macaroni was the best macaroni and cheese I have ever had. The spiral noodles and chunks of ham were smothered in this incredibly creamy, cheesy sauce. It was absolutely amazing!!

Adam also order a Westmalle Trappist duble beer. I don't really like beer, nor does Adam, unless it's really, really good. And this qualified!! We drive by the Westmalle brewery every day. Apparently, it's churning out some delicious brews! I ordered some iced tea. What I got was a Lipton tea, with lemon, and I think it had some seltzer water or fizzy water or something, because it had a sharp taste and fizzed on my tongue. Wow! I've never had a tea like that. And I won't mind if I have another one, too, because I loved it!

Now, the real reason we came to De Pauze was to try the waffles. Belgium is known for its waffles, and since we live here, we decided to learn a little about the culture, right? =) Now, there are two kinds of waffles in Belgium: Brussels waffles and Liege waffles. What makes both waffles so good is that they are made with yeast and allowed to rise. The ones we ordered were the Brussels waffles. This waffle came out on a platter, dusted with powdered sugar, and served with ice cream and chocolate sauce. The waffle itself was very crispy, though very light. Scrumptious! The ice cream... well, let's just say that all  ice cream here is so much yummier than regular ice cream in America. And the chocolate sauce: c'mon! We're in Belgium! Of course the chocolate sauce is going to be AWE-some! And it was. It was all awesome, and delicious, and delightful, and scrumptious, and melt-in-your-mouth divine! We were not disappointed in our first taste of Belgian waffles!!!

All in all, we had a fabulous dinner at De Pauze, and the price wasn't too bad. Euros are expensive, so eating out is expensive, but treats like these are so nice, especially when it's under the guise of 'getting cultured.' =) I loved it =) Anyways, Ta ta for now =)