I struggle to define Au Pain Quotidien (very roughly translated as The Daily Bread), because it's a bakery chain-cum-cafe-cum-coffee-shop. It's the sort of place everybody loves to have around the corner on a Sunday, so you can throw some clothes on, mosey up, buy a newspaper, sit down and order some food and a fruit juice, then buy bread and some cakes to take away to eat later at home.
It's a large chain of Belgian cafes with one key feature - the scrubbed pine tables. There are usually some small individual tables, but if you're on your own and fancy sharing elbow space with others, pull up a stool to the big scrubbed pine table. There's no absolute guarantee someone will talk to you, but it does give the place a very friendly and companionable feel. And the food is wonderful, and inexpensive - big hunks of quiche, the best bread you've ever tasted and elaborate little chocolate and gold cakes can all be yours for under EUR15.
And thank heaven there are some branches creeping into London, else I'd be properly homesick for Brussels! read more