“Our Daily Bread” · the newspaper of the Belgian bakery at Sea Breeze
Section · Tradition
The communal table
How a bakery on a Brussels street became a chain — and what of that story you can see in the café at Sea Breeze.
Le Pain Quotidien · Sea Breeze · SeaLife independent guide
The first Le Pain Quotidien café opened on 26 October 1990 in Brussels, at 16 Rue Dansaert. Chef Alain Coumont found the cabinets for it in antique shops and bought the table at a flea market: it had been knocked together from the floorboards of decommissioned Belgian railway cars.
SeaLife diagram: the communal table is long so that everyone fits and narrow so that people can talk (this is how the chain describes its tables). The number of seats is illustrative.
Timeline
1990
Brussels, Rue DansaertChef Alain Coumont opens the first café-bakery.
Table
Old railway-car planksThe first communal table was made from them; such tables become the heart of the chain's cafés.
Bread
SourdoughOrganic bread with four ingredients: flour, water, salt, time.
Right now
Sea BreezeThe chain's café operates at the resort's Lighthouse Mall, daily 08:00–01:00.
At Sea Breeze
What the resort says
Official Sea Breeze map
A cozy café — a branch of a world-famous chain of café-bakeries founded in Belgium in 1990. The atmosphere of a European holiday.Sea Breeze resort map, translated by SeaLife
The dining room: a long communal table of light wood, shelves with jars, the menu on a chalkboard. Photo: Sea Breeze.
It also says the menu is organic and varied — from fresh bread to salads and signature tartines. The photo of the dining room shows a long table, panoramic windows, copper lamps over the tables and the menu on a chalkboard.
We did not find in the sources when the location opened, whether reservations are possible, or what guests write.
The evening terrace: wooden planters with lavender, umbrellas and string lights. Photo: Le Pain Quotidien (location page).
Outside the café there is a terrace: planters with lavender, umbrellas and string lights.
