Press Club Brussels Europe #WeLoveBrussels | Page 12

#WeLoveBrussels

The «London», a special place just in
front of the European Parliament
by Frank Schwalba-Hoth
Frank Schwalba-Hoth, German, founding member of the
German Greens and former MEP. Since he left the European
Parliament in 1987, he has been a consultant and networker in
Brussels. He was director of the Greenpeace liaison office for
several years. Since 1989 Frank Schwalba-Hoth is organising
monthly networking events called Soirée Internationale with
40 to 60 participants from different professional, cultural,
national and social backgrounds.

Why? Why do I love the «London»? Why do I love this restaurant on Place Luxembourg
in front of the European Parliament (EP) - why not one of the other seven restaurants
on that square? Like always with love - there are rational and irrational reasons.

The irrational ones we should put besides in this
context - they are emotional: owners and personal treat
you extremely friendly and respectful; guests who only
speak Italian or Chinese, groups of a dozen who arrive
to eat without reservation or the lonely journalist
sitting for three hours with only one cup of tea quietly
in the corner (I have seen this all) - they are all treated
with understanding, efficiently and with a smile.
But let’s concentrate on the rational reasons, why the
London is a «must» in the EU quarter. After 32 years
in Brussels (I arrived here in 1984 as the first Green
Member of the EP), I have chosen the London as my
preferred drinking, eating and networking place in
the EU quarter. There are four reasons to explain this.

Reason one: three quality places in one. Inside

the building they have 27 tables with 60 chairs (I
counted them for this article) with a cuisine which
is top in pasta, wok and salad (as I am vegetarian, my

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judgement on the meat is an indirect one: I see the staff
of the neighbouring restaurants consuming regularly
their steak in the London - certainly a sign for quality
...).For the smokers they have a covered terrace as space
number two with drinks and food, which is not only
crowded during football competitions (two big TV
screens). Space number three is an outside open air terrace with sun and sometimes (we are in Belgium!) rain.