This is where the sexy, smart and fun hang out in Brussels.
In Brussels’ buzzing Saint-Gilles neighbourhood, Archive Music is a coffee bar and vinyl store with the feel of a friend’s living room. Here, hospitality pioneer François Lafontaine combines his passion for rare first pressings (mostly jazz and world music) with specialty coffee.What are his neighbourhood hang outs?
“For vinyl, Tropicall Records and Sono Ventura Records are regular pit stops. I really enjoy the quality at Mok on Rue Dansaert, and the sunny little terrace at Mayabro Coffee Roasters, on a small side street off the well-known Chaussée d’Alsemberg. Barely on Instagram,but excellent coffee and friendly staff.”
"What’s your edge if the place down the street serves the exact same cappuccino, in the exact same ceramic cup, in the exact same interior?"
François Lafontaine serves his own Black Potion single origins, known for their highly aromatic profiles and modern processing methods such as co-fermentation and innovative anaerobic fermentation. Lafontaine has spent more than twenty years shaping the Brussels café scene.He helped launch the iconic Apéros Urbains, Café de la Presse on Avenue Louise, Le Café du Sablon and Café Capitale, one of the pioneers of specialty coffee in Brussels. “We’ve been playing vinyl there for twenty years,” he laughs. “When it was hip, when it was out of fashion, and still today.”With its deceptively simple interior, pieced together from flea-market finds on the Place du Jeu de Balle, and not a trace of brushed steel, microcement, travertine or neon slogans to pose under, Archive Music sets the benchmark for the coffee bar of the future. And that future is hybrid.We meet Lafontaine just back from a tour of the UK, more convinced than ever of where things are heading.
“The wave is about to break. The classic coffee bar you find on every corner has had its day. Done. What comes next is hybrid, built around a roastery, with a second business next to the coffee and matcha. Vinyl, books, whatever you’re passionate about.”
"Those hyper-specialised spots where you have to dress like a model, and what’s in your cup is more about snobbery than quality, are over. A coffee bar is where you read a book or have a proper chat. It’s not a catwalk. Sure, a city like London can still sustain a few of those niche places. But I think people feel the difference between a place run on passion and one that just exists because it’s hip. It can look identical. The approach, the feeling, is completely different.”That same passion runs through the vinyl selection at Archive Music. Lafontaine travels often and intensely in search of new finds, and almost everything in the crates is in excellent condition, often mint or near mint. With a background as a DJ and event organiser, music has always been a constant in his life.