It's a Good Thing . . .

That I named this blog "Let Them Eat Waffles" and NOT "Let Them Eat Cake" because I learned last night that, for all intents and purposes, cake does not exist in Belgium. Ok, I will qualify this statement: to my horror, cake is not served at ANY of the dozens of restaurants in Bruges.

This gruesome discovery occurred last night when my friend Oran and I were discussing desserts at dinner in the cafeteria. We arrived at the conclusion that we both wanted a large piece of warm, possibly molten, chocolate cake. So after dinner, at around 8:30, we ventured out on what would turn into an hour-long search for cake. I believe we read the menus of about 25+ restaurants. Each and every one of them serves: creme brulee, mousse au chocolat, and various flavors of ice cream. Occasionally someone would advertise tiramisu or a tarte aux pommes. But cake? Forget about it. Finally, Oran and I were getting so desperate (we refused to give up on our search for at least some kind of dessert) that we settled on a restaurant advertising homemade apple pie. We walked in and saw three empty tables in the front room. One was reserved for two people, the other two were open. The host came up to us and we said we would like to be seated for dessert. The man told us we could not possibly do that. If we wanted to stay, we had to order dinner. I was FLABBERGASTED!! What the heck? You have empty seats in your restaurant, we are paying customers, but you are going to refuse us because all we would like is dessert and coffee?? I am sorry, but if you went into almost ANY establishment in the United States, they would feed you as much dessert as you wanted. And they would have chocolate cake.

Needless to say, I was a bit indignant (if any of you know my mother, just picture how she would react in this situation: not pretty). I told the host that his policy was ridiculous. He proceeded to "wish us luck" saying that we would be hard pressed to find a restaurant in Bruges that would only serve dessert at this hour. AT THIS HOUR?? It was 9:30!!! He then said that most dessert establishments closed around 6:00. I am sorry, but what kind of sense does that make. I don't care what country you are in; dessert comes AFTER dinner. So we left, I yelled a little bit in the street (you've got to live up to the stereotypes when they are appropriate) and we proceeded on our quest. We finally decided to give up on the cake part of the plan and just find someone to prove that incredibly pompous host wrong. After another 15 minutes, we found a nearly empty tapas bar and hesitantly asked the waitress if we could order some dessert and coffee. "Well of course" she said (with a smile, no less). She then apologized for the limited menu. This place was quickly becoming my new favorite place in Bruges. I had a magnificent creme brulee and a GIANT cafe au lait. Perfection. And to top it off, Oran was kind enough to pay. Such a gentleman. I promised that as soon as we found cake, I would treat him. Sadly, I am not anticipating this situation ever happening. Alas, how can a place that is famous for its chocolate and waffles not figure out how to put these two concepts together into cake form? This was a deeply upsetting revelation and I thought it must be shared.

If any Belgian reading this post knows where I can find chocolate cake in Bruges, please inform me! I would hate to spend the next few months of my time here believing that cake does not exist in this part of the world. I would also hate for last night to be the event that formed my opinion of Bruges's restaurant scene.

Anyway, I suppose things worked out. It is just a shame that restaurants refuse customers like that. That is not what I call a successful business model. In addition, it is just a bit rude.

Perhaps I will just have to come back to Bruges after all of this and open a dessert bar that serves every kind of cake you could possibly desire at any hour you may desire to eat it.

That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the rant.

Peace, Love, and for the Love of Pete, CAKE!