WHERE TO HAVE THE BEST SANDWICH IN EUROPE
(And maybe in the world)
(And maybe in the world)
That Friday I was happily wandering around Bruxelles. After few hours walking my stomach was rumbling and I dediced to grab some food. A local guide suggested me a tiny place in Rue de Dusquenoi. By first sight it was surely not a very touristic place – out of the shop there wasno big advertisement as you could find around Grote Markt, beside a white dashboard saying that is possible to have a sandwich for 3 euros. A bunch of people were queueing in front of me. I sat down in one of the two tables. ‘Bonjour monsieur’, said Garby when I first stepped in. I strangely felt I was in one of the homiest place in which on Earth.
Tonton Garby is from Morocco and he speaks at least French, English and Spanish – he switched from one to another in few minutes – and he looks like the happiest person ever. As he says, on the wall, on the table, and on the shop window, ‘he shows you the way’: “I want no n. 1, I want no stars, I just want to see you happy. If you are happy, I’m happy! No show, no stress, take it easy and life will be beautiful!” or ‘Don’t forget - happy life, happy wife’ . Now, it was my turn. I asked him to make his favorite sandwich, I just didn’t have fancy to choose one from the list. He started to explain everything of all kinds of cheese he had, really not caring about the queue which was getting longer and longer. What a calmness! But the sandwich must be perfect. At the end, he began creating his artwork, a sandwich with black olives, tomatoes, mild goat cheese and chorizo. He carefully lifted every tomato slice to fit the chorizo ones in between. ‘If you don’t like, you don’t pay!’, he was telling me. In those 5 minutes my hunger boosted up, but finally I sat down again with my sandwich. I spent half an hour watching how he painstakingly prepared every sandwich and milkshake. The soft music he listened to was perfectly matching the atmosphere of calmness and happiness you could really breath there. I paid, receiving back a row of ‘thank you Sir, thank you for taking your time!’. I didn’t really know what to answer, if just ‘No worries, have a nice day’ or ‘Man, this is like the happiest place in Bruxelles, isn’t it?’. At the end, all that I could say was ‘Thank you for your sandwich, it was amazing’.
I went out with a big smile on my face. And I kept it all day long, and when I now think about that guy, I'm still happy. That was the best sandwich of my life. But it was much more than a sandwich.
Tonton Garby is from Morocco and he speaks at least French, English and Spanish – he switched from one to another in few minutes – and he looks like the happiest person ever. As he says, on the wall, on the table, and on the shop window, ‘he shows you the way’: “I want no n. 1, I want no stars, I just want to see you happy. If you are happy, I’m happy! No show, no stress, take it easy and life will be beautiful!” or ‘Don’t forget - happy life, happy wife’ . Now, it was my turn. I asked him to make his favorite sandwich, I just didn’t have fancy to choose one from the list. He started to explain everything of all kinds of cheese he had, really not caring about the queue which was getting longer and longer. What a calmness! But the sandwich must be perfect. At the end, he began creating his artwork, a sandwich with black olives, tomatoes, mild goat cheese and chorizo. He carefully lifted every tomato slice to fit the chorizo ones in between. ‘If you don’t like, you don’t pay!’, he was telling me. In those 5 minutes my hunger boosted up, but finally I sat down again with my sandwich. I spent half an hour watching how he painstakingly prepared every sandwich and milkshake. The soft music he listened to was perfectly matching the atmosphere of calmness and happiness you could really breath there. I paid, receiving back a row of ‘thank you Sir, thank you for taking your time!’. I didn’t really know what to answer, if just ‘No worries, have a nice day’ or ‘Man, this is like the happiest place in Bruxelles, isn’t it?’. At the end, all that I could say was ‘Thank you for your sandwich, it was amazing’.
I went out with a big smile on my face. And I kept it all day long, and when I now think about that guy, I'm still happy. That was the best sandwich of my life. But it was much more than a sandwich.
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