Belgium

From Syria last week I continued west to Belgium and if you search Belgian food you’ll inevitably come up waffles.  So the passport went to Cast Iron Waffles in the Ballantyne, NC area for their “authentic Belgian Liege waffle”.  Now to be transparent I have had these waffles before at work for a special occasion breakfast so I had a good idea what I was in for except these would be hot of the iron.

The place is pretty easy to find as it’s right on the corner of a couple of side streets but parking is pretty scarce.  Luckily I got a place on the street right in front since it was just after 7:00am.  The outside is brick and the interior continues that design with some brick façade inside and a café appearance.  You order at the counter and they have a few tables in a seating area and they do “to go” business as well.

I went with a “naked” waffle although they did have plenty of toppings if I’d wanted some additional flavors with my breakfast.  To wash it down I opted for plain coffee rather than one of the expresso drinks they serve.

Naked in this case did include a dusting of powdered sugar, which honestly was just gratuitous sweetness.  I’m not going to do it justice but let me try.  The waffle is made from a very sweet batter that has enough sugar in it that the very hot waffle iron creates caramelly crystalized areas across the waffle.  Those spots give you an occasional sugary crunch that compliments the soft pastry like interior of the waffle.  It’s like a sweet bread but a bit denser without being heavy.

I’m definitely more of a savory breakfast person than a sweet breakfast person but one of these once in a blue moon is a treat.  Like I said there are other toppings you can get but aside from maybe a sprinkling of cinnamon I think you start getting too sweet at a certain point.  Adding syrup to these would be a travesty and now that I think about it I didn’t see a bottle of syrup in the place.

As I mentioned I just went with a standard coffee so I can’t speak to their specialty coffee drinks but the Saratoga dark roast I had was very good plain coffee. So the pre-sugar crash verdict is this was a fine Belgian breakfast that is worthy of recommending but only one or you’ll go into a sugar coma.

Be sure to check out the Tell Me More page for a recipe, the 2017 Belgium Eurovision entry and more.