Belval is open again, and RockhalCafé opens on show nights only

Belval spent most of August with half its doors shut. In the six days between Thursday 27 August and Tuesday 1 September, it got the lot back, and one place came back on different terms.

Delhaize went first, opening at 07:30 on the 27th after three weeks of refit. Dalmat CoffeeHouse returned to full hours on Monday 31 August, having worked shortened days since the 24th. Moien Vietnam came back from its own renovation the same morning. Café Saga unlocked on Tuesday 1 September, exactly as it said it would back in the middle of August.

The new Delhaize

This is the one where you notice the changes in the first thirty seconds.

There is a Picadeli salad bar, sold by weight at 1,89 € per 100 g, and a sushi counter whose board says the sushi is prepared there, every day. Fruit and veg have moved to a misted island of wooden crates near the entrance. The bakery and the deli have both grown, and there is a wall of drinks fridges where there was not one before.

Then there is the checkout end: twenty Quick Scan self-service tills, twelve of them card only and eight taking cash as well, with a floor decal underneath promising a wait of under five minutes. Whether that holds on a Saturday at noon is a different question, and one I intend to test.

The hours have settled at 07:30 to 20:00 Monday to Thursday and on Saturday, 07:00 to 21:00 on Friday, and 07:30 to 19:00 on Sunday. The Friday is the one to remember. It is the longest shopping day in Belval.

I wrote the reopening up properly on the day, with photographs: Delhaize Belval reopens after its three week refit.

Moien Vietnam

Back since Monday 31 August, in Belval Plaza 2, directly opposite Delhaize. The two of them spent August taking turns under dust sheets, and this is the first time since the 5th that both have been open on the same day.

I have not been in since the refit, so I am not going to tell you what it looks like. The listed hours are 11:00 to 19:00 on Monday, 11:00 to 19:30 from Tuesday to Saturday, and closed on Sunday. If you go before I do, tell me what changed.

Café Saga

Open again since Tuesday, and the kitchen has not eased itself back in gently. The menu of the week is already up for 31 August to 4 September: roast sweet paprika chicken with German potato salad and green beans, or salmon fillet with a horseradish and leek sauce and steamed potato salad, both 18,50 €. A stuffed sweet potato with chickpeas, feta and a lemon and tahini dressing at 17,50 €, and an aubergine bolognese with tagliatelle and vegan parmesan at 17,00 €.

One thing worth knowing before you walk over: Monday at Saga is a two hour day, 12:00 to 14:00 and no more. Tuesday to Thursday runs to 22:00, and Friday to midnight.

Dalmat

No refit here, just a fortnight away and a slow re-entry. From Monday the 31st the shortened days are finished: 07:00 to 18:00 Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00 on Saturday, closed on Sunday. The loyalty card and the student breaks are running as before.

RockhalCafé, which is the one to read carefully

Everything above went away and came back the same. RockhalCafé came back different.

From 1 September it opens exclusively on Rockhal concert nights, with the times set by the event rather than by a weekly grid. There is no longer a quiet Tuesday lunch or a Thursday pint to be had there. If nothing is on in the hall, the café is shut, and that is now the rule rather than the exception.

So the thing to check before you walk over is not the opening hours, it is the programme. September gives five evenings, all 17:00 to 23:00: High Fade on Monday the 14th, Fear Factory on Saturday the 19th, the Queen symphonic celebration on Sunday the 20th, Fischer Z on Friday the 25th, and the Legends of Rock tribute festival on Saturday the 26th.

Two dates are worth a second look. Friday the 18th had a Himra show and it has been cancelled, which is why no café evening hangs off it. And Sunday the 13th, the Pussycat Dolls in the Main Hall, sits on the Rockhal’s calendar but not on the café’s list of open evenings. If you were planning to eat before that one, ring ahead rather than assume.

And then Sunday

None of this timing is an accident. The braderie de rentrée at Belval Plaza runs from Friday 4 to Sunday 6 September, and the Sunday is the interesting one: the centre opens 10:00 to 18:00, which it does about twice a year. Forty-six units that are normally shut on a Sunday will have their lights on, Moien Vietnam among them.

So everything that has just come back gets its first real test this weekend, and then the students arrive: Welcome Week starts on Tuesday 8 September. August in Belval always looks like the quartier emptying out. This is the part where it fills up again, and it happens faster than the emptying did.

Take Care ☀️