Cook & Book, food for the body and the soul

Inaugurated in March 2006 in Woluwé-Saint-Lambert, in the Brussels agglomeration, Cook & Book intends “to revolutionise the world of book shops and restaurants”. Premises are based around nine different dining zones, inside or on the terrace, offering two different menus – all this spread out over a surface area of 1,500 m2. “Our project was born from an observation: in Belgium, all shops make efforts when it comes to presentation, except for book shops,” explains Déborah Drion, Manager of Cook & Book. “The burgomaster of Woluwé-Saint-Lambert wished to create a cultural meeting place. The location on offer presented an advantage: it is opposite a shopping gallery that draws a significant number of visitors, there are many companies in the area, and it has one of the largest terraces in Brussels…” Open between 8 am and 10 pm, Cook & Book offers book and music spaces “with unusual décor and themes as palatable for the spirit as for the taste-buds”: comics, works for children, visual arts, lifestyle, literature, cooking, English literature, music and cinema. Above all, a different décor adorns each of these sites: a caravan holds pride of place in the tourism section, an electric train circulates underneath the floor in the children’s section, a Fiat 500 occupies the cooking section… “Cook & Book also works on staging events,” adds Déborah Drion. “We have organised dance classes for children, concerts in the wine bar of the music space, meetings with authors, esp-ecially for book dedications, and we also have access to the theatre situated opposite.” Here lies the success of the boutique: “There must always be something new to discover: books, CDs, DVDs…,” continues the Manager. “Cook & Book is a living space.
Certain clients can spend a whole day here, moving between the book shops and the restaurants. Whether people come alone or in families, they find what they’re looking for: you don’t need to spend much to renew your mind here. We have already installed play equipment on the square so that children can keep themselves busy while their parents stroll through the book shops or take advantage of the restaurants, and we are soon going to offer cartoon film projections on Friday nights for the same reason!”