Automaats...
... which is probably spelled wrongly...
are a great idea. Now, I'm sure all the European readers will be wondering what the big deal is. But in the UK, or at least the bits of it I hang around in, there is no such thing as a hot-food vending machine. You have to queue and wait and things like that. The concept of sticking a euro in the wall and getting something edible, and hot, and actually nice, is an absolute revelation. If anyone wants to start an automaat in say, the Floating Harbour in Bristol I'll be first in the queue.
Automaats typically sell:
Kaas Soufflés - that's a Cheese Crispy Pancake for my British readers, just like you made in University after you figured out you couldn't live on takeaway food but before you actually learned to cook
Krokets - deep fried stew, done in breadcrumbs, and candidate for my favorite street food idea ever. They also come in chicken sate varieties
Frikadel - a sort of sausage. I don't know what kind. Experience has taught me that where sausages are concerned (and this includes the British ones!), it's best just to enjoy them with your mind shut
and less commonly, Loempia, which seem to be a sort of spring roll but fatter. I haven't tried these, because I love Kroket so much.
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The coffee company, firstly, has very friendly staff. I know this is a strange starting point for a coffee house (NOT coffee shop, and this is an important difference- the coffee shops are the ones with the drugs, that I am avoiding on the grounds that I can get quite hyper enough on caffeine!), but as most of the coffee in Utrecht is pretty good, I think it's a fair starting point. The quality of the coffee depends on your opinion of foam; there is a lot of fluff on most of the coffee here. I don't have a problem with this at all; it is coffee flavoured froth, unlike the air flavoured froth you get in Starbucks, and so I've put coffee fluff in the same category as the head on your beer, which is also fluffier here than you'd expect in England. The seats are very comfortable, there are lots of newspapers and magazines, and a couple of tables outside.
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