YOU might be excused for not knowing about this café, especially at this time of year. Come summer, there should be tables by the river at the base of the bridge pillar advertising its existence.

Historically, this building at road level was associated with breach tolls. Today, in the upper room supervised by Amy, Belgian chocolates and beer are on sale.

Descend the steep staircase and you meet Hans, who came to York via Wales and Leeds.

Researching the local café market (is he threatening my role?), he decided not to follow the pattern. Being a Belgian, he chose to provide food local to his origins. We were not disappointed.

The venue is small. In addition to entry from Skeldergate Bridge there is access from Tower Gardens up a flight of steps. If steps prove a difficulty, the outside tables should provide the opportunity to sample this café.

To soups were available at £2.80. But as neither onion nor garlic are favourites we passed on a starter.

Ann decided to forego a savoury pancake, but selected from a number of croques, one containing ham, pineapple and cheese. This arrived as two slices of toast with a filling, hot outside but cold on the inside.

However, any disappointment was soon dispelled by the delicate garnish; thin wedges of tomato, thin slices of cucumber and leaves sprinkled with corn and finely chopped red skinned onion. Would that other cafes emulated this style of garnish.

It took me some time to make a decision. Salads were priced £6. Maybe this is something to try when summer arrives.

Eventually, I settled for fried mushrooms on toast. They came finely sliced, beautifully cooked and with the same quality of garnish. Eating proved a little difficult as I was sitting against the wall with little room to manipulate my knife. No worries, my choice proved to be excellent.

Ann couldn't be persuaded to try a sweet Belgian pancake (£3 to £4.50), but agreed to share the Place Verte waffle I ordered. This was larger than any waffle I had eaten before and very light. It was decorated with a good selection of fresh fruit and a scoop of delicious ice cream.Whipped cream came in a separate bowl.

Generously, I was allowed the lions share of the waffle!

The café is on the direct route from St George's car park to the city centre and was busy during our visit. For £13, we had a satisfying snack and hope to revisit soon to try some of the other advertised delights.