Kori

The sandwiches are super good and a good size, everything looks super fresh and the flavor is quite good! I've been there several times and they never disappoint. I haven't tried the salteñas yet, but they look divine!

Kori Saus All the smells blend in the air. There are about eight or nine young people in line. The narrow restaurant is the size of a garage and is almost on the corner of Venus Street, on the sidewalk in front of the University of Antwerp, in northern Belgium. I'm in line, behind the Europeans, and I know exactly what I'm going to order. A couple of weeks ago, after a recommendation from my friend Celeste, who found it last year, I almost accidentally spotted the sign that, in Flemish, offered two salteñas for €6 every Monday, with the clarification that they were "Bolivian empanadas." Now I'm standing there, waiting. My turn is approaching, and I'm excited to eat something so close in a distant place. I order, with the strongest Colla accent I can muster. My little salteña, Charo, the owner (a woman from La Paz who has lived here for 45 years), says: "Bolivian!" Where are you from? "Cochalo... we're a universal plague," I say. Suddenly, I hear something I wasn't expecting: Are you having llajwua? It's hard to describe how much emotion a sauce aptly renamed "Kori Sausage" in this restaurant can unleash. "Oro" is called kori in Quechua, and Charo clarifies that it's made with wacataya and points to a pot in a tiny courtyard with two square tables. There, ten thousand kilometers from home, a robust wacataya plant, defying the ever-present wind, displays leaves with a flavor familiar to a Bolivian. Just then, she invites me to try the llajwua with a piece of bread. While all this is happening, the young people have been circulating, and more and more are showing up. They order several sandwiches, and the movement is frenetic. However, for me, everything happens slowly. I can see the approval of someone who knows the code when, with a spoon, I generously place the Kori Sausage on the corner of the bread, and it becomes a bite. Gold in a sauce... it's incredible how much you miss the flavors and smells of your hometown when you're far away, when you've grown accustomed to eating pasta in the university cafeteria, rabbit or beef stews cooked with beer (the closest thing to our pot roast), or the ever-present taste of French fries. "Help yourself," she says as she hands me the plate of salteña, and the first thing that comes to mind is my mom (it's May 27th) trying to teach me how to roll empanadas. The salteña in front of me wouldn't have passed the maternal test, but in this case, it doesn't matter. Despite the rolling, the flavor is familiar, familiar, and close. The meat here has a different flavor, and that doesn't help matters. But the jigote is tasty, and although it's a little sweeter than I expected, for a few minutes I'm back in my country. It's Saturday morning, and I'm surrounded by dear friends, chatting and laughing. My gestural memory betrays me, and I find myself sprinkling llajwua on the Bolivian empanada (as if I were from Tucumán). I get up and, as if I were at home, go to refill the golden sauce container, another conspiratorial Bolivian gesture. On my way out, I ask Charo if she makes fricassee, and she says yes, but only at home. I inquire if the locals like llajwua, and she answers by translating a picture in Flemish: Kori saus is like love: it's spicy, but it's delicious. We laugh together. Nothing brought me back to my homeland faster than the flavors of Kori Restaurant. We Cochabas are accused, among other things, of eating a lot, but I think it's more appropriate to say that we eat with great feeling, that our palate is intimately linked to those around us or to the experience of eating. Enjoy.

Best chicken sandwich ever, highly recommended! But the other dishes are also super tasty, fresh, and healthy. The price/quality ratio is truly excellent!

A wide selection of truly delicious sandwiches, as well as some very tasty hot options. Always very friendly, too!

The best sandwiches in town. All homemade and close to the university.