It’s the holiday season, which means a lot of shopping, visiting family, running errands, making lists and checking them twice.
Wouldn’t getting through the day seem so much easier with a warm, crispy Belgian waffle and a cup of rich, real hot chocolate? Liège Gourmet Waffles food trailer has you covered.
The mobile catering and concession business was founded by local Liège waffle aficionado Hassan Muslmani earlier this year. He debuted at Dearborn’s Suhoor Festival this spring and has spent the past few weeks setting up his trailer in the parking lot of the gas station at 11 Mile and Greenfield in Southfield, right on the border of Berkley.
These are not your average waffles. Belgian Liège waffles are more specialized, with deeper wells, a crispier exterior and sweetened with pearl sugar imported from Belgium.
Muslmani said he fell in love with the flavors of these special sweets when he was a kid living in Lebanon. His sister would take him to a popular shopping area where Belgian Liège waffles were sold. As a 9-year-old, he would endure an entire day of women’s clothes shopping in exchange for a promise of a Liège waffle.
“It was delicious, and that taste stayed in my mind my whole life. I kept trying to make them. I bought all the equipment, but it was so hard to achieve the right texture, the right taste,” he said, adding that in 2016 he finally got his recipe the way he wanted it.
Now, after retiring from nearly 30 years in the towing business, he can focus on his passion for food and his favorite childhood confection.
From his food trailer, Muslmani serves his Liège waffles on a wooden stick and smothers them with sweet or savory toppings. He makes all his sauces in-house, including a heavenly white chocolate mousse that is used on the cookies and cream waffles and in the lovely Italian hot chocolate drink, which is mind-blowingly decadent.
In addition to the Liège-style waffles (named after the city in Belgium), he also makes croffles, a hybrid of a croissant and waffle that is flaky and crisp.
Choose a base of Liège waffle or croffle, and go for sweet toppings like the Lotus and cream — with Lotus cookies, imported European cookie butter, white chocolate mousse and a caramel drizzle — or go for a savory snack, like peppery and nutty zaatar seasoning with labneh and olive oil, beef salami and provolone cheese or turkey and swiss.
In addition to his post at 11 Mile and Greenfield where he can be found 1-7 p.m. most days Tues.-Sat., Muslmani also does catering jobs and events with his Liège Gourmet Waffles food trailer. Follow along on Instagram at @liege_gourmet_waffles or visit liegegourmetwaffles.com.
Melody Baetens is The Detroit News’ restaurant critic
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