New Brussels eatery offers gourmet toast in lush location

Toast. For Brits and Americans, it’s an integral part of a full breakfast. For Belgians and the French, it’s the foundation of a that lunchtime or anytime snack, croque monsieur. But who said toast could be part of a gourmet experience?

Leaving aside its role in a serving of foie gras or smoked salmon, toast only recently entered the gourmet sphere thanks to Brooklyn hipsters, who saw in toasted bread the perfect basis for high-end sandwiches. Chef-caterer Arno (like the Florentine river, he has only one name) from Point Albert in the Brussels municipality of Ixelles became inspired.

He was tasked with providing food to patrons of the cinema where Le Toast is located – Cinéma des Galéries, an art deco palace in the Saint-Hubert galleries not far from the capital’s Grand Place. The croque seemed to fit the bill, but it could only do justice to the palatial surroundings if it put its best bib and tucker on.

The result is a bit pricey – €8 for a simple croque – but it’s undoubtedly the best you’ll taste outside of a 3.00, post-pub arrangement knocked up in your own kitchen (those are always the best).

Specially conceived by Brussels baker Yves Guns, supplier to many a snootier restaurant, the bread is sliced ultrafine. The cheese is first-class gruyere; the ham is braised in-house at Point Albert. My sandwich is barely held together by the bread, like a cluster of warm love encased inside a steamy cloud.

There’s also a side of homemade ketchup that would be worth the price of entry on its own, and the croque is served with a salad. And with that, anyone’s lunchtime is complete.

Le Toast has only just opened, right there in the cinema foyer. The founders plan to have a terrace out on the gallery. The menu will also be further developed, with the addition of a lobster roll and croques with bresaola and rocket, or butternut squash carpaccio with hazelnut oil.

There’s already a salad of pearl pasta, kohlrabi, carrot and butternut available if the croque doesn’t fill you. There’s even a dessert on the way: how about a croque with roasted banana and home-made chocolate spread? Yes, I thought so.

Photo courtesy Le Toast