The Gaufre de Liege Pilgrimage

There are two Belgian waffles and the world confuses them constantly. The Brussels waffle is light, rectangular, crisp and served with toppings. The Liege waffle (gaufre de Liege) is something else entirely: a dense, rich dough closer to brioche than batter, kneaded with chunks of pearl sugar (large, irregular sugar crystals) that melt and caramelise against the hot iron as the waffle cooks, creating pockets of crunchy, golden sweetness throughout. The outside is sticky-crisp; the inside is soft and warm and faintly yeasty. It needs no chocolate, no cream, no strawberries - it's perfect as it is, eaten from a paper napkin while it's still hot. This is the waffle that conquered the world (most of what's sold as "Belgian waffles" abroad descends from the Liege version, not the Brussels one), and Liege is where it was born.

Belgium has Brussels for moules-frites, Bruges for waterzooi and Antwerp for stoofvlees - Liege is the fourth corner and the sweet one. It's a French-speaking Walloon city on the banks of the Meuse, with a different character from Flanders: grittier, less polished, fiercely proud and under-touristed. The Sunday morning market at La Batte (one of Europe's largest and oldest street markets, stretching along the river for two kilometres) is the place to eat a gaufre de Liege while browsing cheese, charcuterie and brocante.