Mokafe, Brussels

The traveler's challenge is to find good, simple, local food without getting ripped off. Usually, you fail. Sometimes you get lucky. Like when I stumbled into Mokafe, Galerie du Roi 9, Bruxelles, Tel +32 2 511 78 70. The food was nothing to get excited about, but it was simple and good. And the place had great buzz.



I had breakfast here twice. First, I tried the croque monsieur, which was just a croque, with a bit of salad on the side. Second, I tried the omelette jambon et fromage, which was just an omelette, with a bit of salad on the side. Maybe I should have gone with the more traditional bread, croissants and assorted viennoiserie, which seemed a popular choice with the locals? But in the relaxed cocoon of Mokafe, I didn't really care.

Actually, the real discovery was Mokafe's rustic dinner fare, like stoemp saucisse. If you like English style bangers and mash, you will love stoemp saucisse. It's basically a creamy mash with some bonus veggies mixed through (spinach in this case), served with a big fat grilled sausage. I'm told you can also get bacon stoemp served with fried eggs, so I'm quite happy to claim it as breakfast food.