Palais des Thés

Who’s in for a cup of tea? Palais des Thés is a shopping walhalla for tea lovers. They have all sorts of tea: black tea, green tea, white tea, smokey black tea, Rooibos, organic tea, Pu Erh tea and Oolong tea. There is so much choice that it becomes exciting :). While shopping, you get to taste the ‘tea of the day’ for free. Besides tea, they also sell accessories like tea bags that you can fill yourself, teacups, bowls and different kind of gift sets. The price of the tea is reasonable since the quality is very high, but I think the accessories are a bit too expensive. Although the gift sets look amazing.

In the shop you can smell every kind of tea and then choose the quantity yourself. It comes in a little bag or in a tin can. If it’s a gift, you can also choose a more pretty package in the shop.

Montagne Bleue.

Vive le Thé!

Thé Des Songes.

Rooibos Des Lords.

Grand Jasmin Chun Feng. This green jasmine tea is my favorite!

They also have tea that you can drink as iced tea! I haven’t tried it yet, but it sounds like a great idea to create a home made iced tea.

More info?

There are only 4 shops in Belgium, and 2 of them are in Brussels! You can also buy tea in the online shop and have it home delivered.

Halle aux Blés, 1000 Brussels (Gare Centrale)

Chaussée de Charleroi, 1000 Brussels (Louisa)

http://www.palaisdesthes.com

Passa Porta Bookshop

Next week I’m going on vacation and that’s an ideal occasion for me to buy some new books. The plan is to spend lots of time at the beach, so a good book will be very welcome. Brussels has a lot of bookshops , but I only have one favorite: Passa Porta! 

It’s not easy to find a shop in Brussels that sells Dutch or English books. Passa Porta has a wide range of Dutch books and a smaller section of English & French books. Even if you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can order any book at the reception desk. The best thing about Passa Porta is that they offer a wide choice in different categories: Literature, art, cooking, traveling, philosophy, economy, history, biographies, children’s books etc.

Art books! They have catalogues from recent exhibitions, books about art criticism, photography, design, Belgian & international artists, architecture and so on. The collection is regularly updated.

You can find the regular cooking books, like Jamie Oliver for example, but also more special ones like this book about ceviche. And a lot of vegetarian cooking books.

Travel guides from all over the world, like Lonely Planet, Trotter and National Geographic.

And this is what I came for in the first place! Every summer I buy a new book from Haruki Murakami, a Japanese writer. The first book I read from him was ‘Kafka on the shore’. I didn’t know anything about the writer but I actually was intrigued by the cat on the cover :). Since then I read ‘Norwegian Wood’, the 1q84 trilogy and ‘Dance dance dance’. They never disappointed me.

This time I chose ‘After dark’, a mysterious story about what happens in Tokyo at night. His newest book ‘Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his years of pilgrimage’ is also for sale in English. In case you were wondering, I’m keeping ‘The wind-up bird chronicles’ for last, because I heard it’s the best one. If you like magic realism you should definitely try this author!

More info?

Rue Antoine Dansaert 46, 1000 Brussels

http://www.passaporta.be/en/home/

http://www.harukimurakami.com

Organic food market

This week is all about organic food, since the bio week just started (until 14/06). Brussels has a lot of shops where you can buy organic food, but I have one absolute favorite: les Ateliers des Tanneurs!

It’s a big covered market 10 minutes walking from the Central Station, very close to Recyclart and the Marolles. Since I’m always looking for gluten free products, I often go to organic shops. Sometimes the fruit & vegetables can be quite expensive, so I buy them in a regular supermarket to make sure I don’t spend too much money. The great thing about this market is that it’s rather cheep, especially when you buy basic products like grains, fruit & vegetables.

All sorts of fruit, according the season.

The market is becoming more and more popular, which is a very good thing. If you want the best bread, come early, because it can be crowded. The picture is taken on Saturday an hour before closing time.  It’s calmer then, but you don’t have so much choice left. I would recommend coming earlier.

All kinds of vegetables, according the season.

The bread has a really authentic taste and there is a lot of choice. Unfortunately they don’t have gluten free bread. Maybe in the future.

There is a wide choice of all kinds of nuts, grains and dried fruit. You pay a lot less then in any kind of supermarket and on top of that, it’s organic!

Dried cranberries.

Organic pasta.

High quality olive oil from Greece. You can come fill your bottle when it’s empty.

More info?

I especially love going there on Sundays, when the weather is good. Lots of families come here to do their groceries and they often sell pancakes in the entrance gate. I love the atmosphere!

More organic shopping

Another great shop is Färm! There is one at Place Saint-Cathérine (in the city center) and one very close to Merode.

It’s a bit more expensive, but you have a larger choice of gluten free products.

http://www.farmstore.be/fr/index.php

And if you prefer to buy your products directly from the farmer, try a Ruche in your neighborhood. You can select all the products you want on the website, and pick them up on Saturday morning at a meeting point. There you can meet the farmers and see the products they offer. It’s great because it’s local, often organic and very fresh!

https://laruchequiditoui.fr/fr

See you next time!