Les Trouvailles de Louise is a quaint fine food shop in the Turkish quarters of Schaerbeek, Brussels. We carry fair trade, organic and fine food from all over the world, carefully selected by Louise, the store owner. Lunch, Tea and Weekend Brunches.
The extraordinary thing about the shop is the variety, the origins, and the rarity of many of the items you find on the shelf. Louise is very selective about the produts that she sells, giving preference to small producers, fair trade, organic sources, and regional specialties. Here, you can find Argentina's Dulce de Leche, fantastic teas and biscuits from England, palm vinegar from the Philippines, the best olive oil from France, Italy and Chile; refined brown sugar from Cuba, great pasta sauces from Italy, coffee from Guatemala and Ecuador..and special gift items such as fashion accessories created by Belgian artists, ceramics from Colombia or teapots from Vietnam. The kaleidoscope of tempting products from around the world takes you on a special culinary trip.
Each cup of tea represents an
imaginary voyage!
Catherine Douzel
Fresh soup is made everyday, using the best ingredients and vegetables of the season. Louise often likes to experiment on new, flavorful soups like parsnips with apples, chick peas and tomatoes, chilled cucumber and yoghurt, Bulgarian orange lentilles or she whips up an Asian chicken soup with angel's hair noodles and coconut milk.
Soups served in-house are always accompanied with bread and butter.
Take-away possible.
The Classique : ham, cheese, salads, white French bread
The Classic Sea : spicy tuna, salads, white French bread
Specialty Sandwiches:
Capricorn : thin spread of fig jam, grilled eggplant, goat cheese, rocket, cereals French bread *vegetarian
Wilma : mango barbecue sauce, grilled chicken, grated carrots, rocket, cereals French bread
Pablo's Request: pesto, mozarella, semi-sundried tomatoes, rocket, organic ciabatta bread *vegetarian
Italianini: pesto, mozarella, semi sundried tomatoes, parma ham, rocket, organic ciabatta bread
The Farm: mayonaise, omellete, bacon, pickles, salad, organic ciabatta bread
The Plant Eater: grilled eggplant and artichokes, feta cheese, rocket, Spanish sweet vinegar *vegetarian
The North: cream cheese, smoked salmon, dill, organic ciabatta bread
Obama Club : triple decker with omelette, cheddar, chicken filet, bacon, pickles, salad, American white bread
Jamie : thin spread of wild cranberry chutney, good English cheddar, salad, cereals French bread * vegetarian
Wraps:
Yellow Wrap : caramelised pork, papaya pickles, cucumber, salad, tortilla wraps
Jawar Wrap : houmous, grilled bellpepper, yoghurt, olives, salad, tortilla wraps * vegetarian
* All our sandwiches are served with a small green salad
** Sandwich plate: sandwich + a trio of salads
To place an order, just call 0495.866337 at least 30 minutes in advance.
*Sandwiches with special dietary needs (no mayonaise, no butter, no nuts or no tomatoes, for example) are available upon request.
In Louise's kitchen, creativity comes with putting ingredients together that seem improbable but turn out to be original recipes. No standard quiche lorraine here.
Among her clients' favourites quiches are:
* Endives with blue cheese and pear
* Spinach and ricotta
* Grilled aubergines with dried tomatoes and feta
* Carrots, zucchini and bacon
* Crab and asparagus
* Leeks and shrimps
* Tomatoes and Mozarella
* Brocolli and smoked salmon
* Celery and Chicken Curry
* Red Lentilles et Carrots
* Tofu, algae and grated vegetables
If you want to order quiches for your parties, picnics, office meetings, just call at least two days before and will prepare the quiches of your choice.
All-time favourites:
Carrot Cake with walnuts Cupcakes (vanilla, chocolate, violets, beetroot)
Pecan Pie Sugar Pie
Lemon Squares Brownies
Zucchini Cake Banana Cake with chocolate
New York Cheesecake Chocolate Fudge Cake
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Polenta & Almond Cake with Cardamon
Lemon Pie French Apple Pie
Rhubarb Cream Pie Butter Pound Cake
Louise grew up in a household where everything was sweet, from spaghetti sauce to avocado with sugar and milk. The main desserts at home were very Spanish (ensaimadas, turrones, creamy custard with heavy caramel syrup, meringue roll) or American (sponge cakes for birthdays, brownies with coffee, fruit cake for Christmas). And then, an array of high-calorie, local rice cakes cooked slowly in freshly squeezed coconut milk and mascobado sugar.
The calligraphies of Satoru Toma
Born in Takasaki, Japan, Satoru Toma is a multi-talented artist:
photography, videos, calligraphy, etc.
He completed his studies of plastic art in Marseille, France then moved to Brussels in 2005.
Satoru takes his inspiration from "akichi", the Japanese word for "empty space,"
an endless tunnel, open fields, forgotten spaces..."
He has exhibited his photographs in France, Russia, Brussels and Lithuania.
This is his second exhibit of calligraphies at Les Trouvailles de Louise. Until end of January 2012.
http://www.satorutoma.com/
Strange
how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company.
~
-Author Unknown
Les Trouvailles de Louise regularly hosts exhibitions. The walls of the shop are transformed into walls of art - photographs, paintings, mixed media and other artistic expressions.
Among the artists who have exhibited are:
Bob Danco (Denis Magerman) Mixed Media
Kiasha (Catherine ) Pastel
Katherine Ohn-Breucker - Oil
Gaetano Andreoni - Photographs
Nicole Baillieul - Oil
Javier Alcazar - Watercolours (November 2010)
Sabine Brettschneider - Oil and Pastel (February 2011)
Alison Cornford-Matheson - Photographs (May 2011)
Les Trouvailles de Louise welcomes
Amanda Tobin and Mairead O'Leary-Audonet
to its monthly « World Food Dinners »
on Saturday, 18 June at 7:30 pm.
Mairead moved to Brussels from Dublin 12 years ago and is
now a long-time resident of Forest. Mairead works as Events and
PR Manager for AmCham EU, that’s when she is not busy running after her two-year old son, Patrick. Mairead loves film, music
and the arts and has spent a stint working in the film industry
here in Belgium. She is looking forward to flexing her culinary muscles to this Irish dinner, as her husband Olivier, an avid foodie, now does most of the cooking at home!
Amanda comes from Ireland’s «real capital », the sunny southern
city of Cork, but has spent the best part of 18 years living
in Brussels. She loves working with her hands, be it cooking,
doing crafts or gardening. She also enjoys the outdoors, interior design, sunny beaches and spending time with friends and family.
Amanda works for McKinsey & Co in the pharmaceutical
sector and lives in Uccle.
Each month, the kitchen of Les Trouvailles de Louise invites a "home chef" to prepare food from his country of origin.
Featured menus are authentic, original, home-made preparations, which allow a real discovery of new tastes
and offer a great opportunity for food cultural exchanges in a table d'hotes setting.
The Menu:
Entree :Smoked salmon and potato cakes served with a dill cream
*****
Main Course: Beef stew slow cooked with tomatoes and Guinness beer
Dessert
A duo of desserts : chilled creamy cheesecake with Baileys Irish liqueur and chocolate, served with homemade brown bread ice cream
Coffee or Tea
22 euros, excluding drinks
Sorry, this page is under construction.
"If I cannot get a good,
authentic massage, I grab
my mixing bowls and
start to bake. The beating,
the aroma of butter and spices,
and the clouds of flour - all create
the sensation of being a tireless
domestic goddess."
Louise
I have never felt so at home in Belgium than when I finally opened my fine food store cum tea and lunch room, says Louise Baterna, who moved to Belgium 18 years ago from the Philippines, leaving a flourishing journalism career for a Manila daily newspaper to join her Belgian journalist husband. "This is my space, my universe, the culmination of my long search for something that I really wanted to do."
Louise says she has finally found her place in the sun but getting there was a huge trial. First, to move in a different country, learning a new language, finding a new set of friends. She also tried various jobs totally unrelated to her diploma until she decided that the best job is still the one she would create for herself.
She opened her shop, Les Trouvailles de Louise in 2006 in the Turkish quarters of Schaerbeek, a move that pleased, shocked, surprised, awed the neighbourhood. But for Louise, this has been the best career move. She defied allmisconceptions about opening a business in the area and has earned several positive reviews. The clients of Louise are so enchanted by "this little oasis hidden in a lost corner of Schaerbeek."
Louise has given up her wholesale business to concentrate on Les Trouvailles de Louise. And between the rush hours, she writes for her former newspaper, the Manila Bulletin, a column that speaks about teas, tea shops, and tea talk..
Louise decided first to import gourmet products from the Philippines and later expanded her range to artisanale and fair trade products from around the world.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Fusce tempor arcu ac urna. Fusce congue eleifend mi. Pellentesque metus sem, elementum eu, rhoncus sed, gravida sit amet, nulla. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean condimentum, odio quis pharetra dignissim, diam
