we tried all manner of sweet things in brugge. in fact, it would have been impossible not to. every third shop was a chocolaterie or a biscuit or a waffle shop. in the cafes, coffee was always served accompanied by a truffle, a square of cake or a really delicious mini pancake full of jam. we tried truffles from dumon - dark chocolate with cinnamon, milk chocolate with a pear fondant, dark chocolate with a centre of advocat (egg liquer), dark chocolate with marzipan and orange peel, pale green pistachio marzipan in white chocolate. at another shop we had pralines and slices of sticky oranges dipped in dark chocolate. there were lace cookies – crispy crunchy and brittle like caramel in the mouth. one day we had waffles for breakfast. they were light and fluffy with a dusting of icing sugar. i personally prefer the sticky, substantial and dense liege waffle which i was unable to find both in brugge and brussels. at the eurostar terminal in brussels we bought some pierre marcolini and sampled the dark chocolate truffle which was intensely chocolatey and had notes of dark amber honey.
