Hinterland Urban Refuge, Brussels...

Hinterland Urban Refuge, Brussels

I'm constantly on the search for peace and relaxation and I'm always convinced that I'll find both in a coffee shop. I'm looking for somewhere I can chill out with a decent book – I'm currently re-reading 1984 by George Orwell – but in all honesty, I think if you look too hard for anything, you'll never find it. Or rather you will never find exactly what you want, there will be something awry, something missing.

Well, Hinterland Urban Refuge in Brussels looked like being the perfect place. It was mid-afternoon, the weather was perfect and I found myself mooching, as I'm prone to do. I stumbled across what looked like (and to be fair was) a decent little coffee shop: slightly trendy, actually very trendy, mildly pretentious (well, alright, very pretentious) and deliberately a bit 'down at heel' (by that I mean the decor was deliberately a bit 'distressed' (bare brick walls and a mix of wooden and tiled floors as if the place was in the middle of being decorated).

Queen was playing on the sound system (not ideal if you wish to read quietly while enjoying a coffee and a cookie); there were 'trendy' magazines hanging on the wall, such as hole&corner, Drift and Conde Nast Traveller, not forgetting a magazine with Zayn Malik of One Direction fame on the front cover (immediately any 'trendiness' goes out the window if there's an image of Zayn Malik in view).

So, exposed brickwork, wooden-topped tables with black metal pedestals, Queen on the sound system, spot lights on the ceiling, all the makings of a place of relaxation were there and to be fair, I enjoyed my brief stay. I ordered cappuccino and a dark chocolate cookie (both excellent) and I did try to read my book, but the general hubbub, the Queen soundtrack, and what have you made me give up and thumb instead through the aforementioned trendy magazines. Drift had a small article on the names of coffee-based drinks.

What's the difference between a flat white and a cappuccino, or a long black and an Americano? Most baristas will tell you they're practically the same. In each pair, the former is the Australian name of the traditional, Italian name for the drink. But the name isn't the only thing about these drinks that has changed in Australia. Few baristas use the traditional foam once spooned over cappuccinos, dismissing this stiffer, drier fluff as a product of improper technique. Now, most baristas finish all milk-based espresso drinks with microfoam. It's finer, more tightly knit bubbles not only create a silkier texture, but can be poured to create designs on top of drinks, better known as 'latte art'. 

And there was an image of a cappuccino that was the exact replica of that on my coffee (see image below).

Coffee and cookie!

It was around 4pm, probably a little before the hour, when I arrived and the place was full of women, there were a few kids and a 'trendy dad' with long hair and jeans.

This was a good place, it had a trendy name, the coffee tasted good, the cookie even better and even I don't mind a bit of Queen now and then. The chairs, however, were a little on the hard side, not ideal in terms of chilling with a book, but I'll let them off. Would I return, yes I would.

Hinterland Urban Refuge can be found on the Chaussee de Charlerol 179, 1060 Saint-Gilles, Brussels.