(RE)discovering our city - Café Belge and Excelsior - Wimpy II - Kofferpaan - Pub on the top

N°15, Place d'Armes is an address that's firmly in the memory. Since the end of 2019, it has been the Latin-American cuisine restaurant and chill bar Qosqo-Ville, and since 1989 it has been Chi-chi's Mexican restaurant. The older generation remembers the opening of Wimpy and Brasserie-grill Kofferpaan in 1970. From 1852 to 1970, the Café Belge-restaurant Excelsior was a major meeting place for the associative world. Over 170 years, the history of this house reveals the transformation of the capital and illustrates just how much Place d'Armes has become a tourist meeting place.

As early as 1852, the Café was frequented by the wealthy bourgeoisie for evening concerts. In the 1870s, the Café featured a counter, 10 tables, armchairs and a mirror cabinet, clocks, six mirrors, a console table and a billiard table. The banquettes and chairs were upholstered, and the additional chairs were caned. The cellar contained Bordeaux, Wermuth, Madeira, Kirsch and strong beer (Bockbier) in casks. From 1889 to 1894, Charles Breuling offered gras-double as a specialty. The Café began to attract cultural associations for meetings, training courses, conferences, assemblies and product presentations. Thus began a long tradition that would last until 1970. The opening of communal cultural centers would slowly drive away the cafés.

Nicolas Reuter took over the business from 1894 to 1897, when the 17th-century building was bought by the Société anonyme de la Brasserie de Diekirch. In 1906, the new owner built the 3-storey building that still stands today. It was converted into a hotel with 24 rooms and baths on the upper floor.  It became known as the “Hôtel Niedner”. The café and restaurant had 30 tables. It was a period rich in entertainment, the most burlesque of which was the contest for the most powerful and best-groomed beard. Banquets and birthdays followed, along with meetings of cultural and sporting associations. In the 1930s, the hotel was no longer run as a business, and rooms were rented out to private individuals or as business offices. Minister Victor Bodson was one of the tenants. Recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations” at Yad Vashem, Bodson probably helped Charles Baum, manager of the ground-floor Café Belge, to sell his possessions and escape Nazi persecution in time.

A whole new era began in 1970 with the opening of the Wimpy, Kofferpaan and Pub on the Top restaurants. 

Happy Snacks, founded in 1968, had leased the Café Excelsior et Belge building from Brasserie Henri Funck. Happy Snacks is one of the pioneers of franchising in Luxembourg. The first Wimpy restaurant opened in 1968 at Place de Paris. This hamburger and pizza restaurant, with table service and good prices, catered to a busy population passing through the city center. The Wimpy at Place d'Armes opened in 1970. Zurich-based architects Stierli & Zwygart, who regularly worked for Mövenpick, designed the transformation together with designers from London-based Wimpy.  

The “Kofferpaan” restaurant and “Pub on the top” opened in the same year. The “Kofferpaan” brasserie and steakhouse took its name from a gleaming boiler from the Henri Funck brewery converted into a bar. The restaurant was popular for its grilled meats, salmon dishes, Irish stew, avocado dishes, pickled herring and onion soup. Among the beers served, those from the Henri Funck brewery were obviously the most popular. Service was provided by waitresses dressed in Luxembourgish “dirndl”. 

The “Pub on the top” offered Ricard, Gordon's Gin, Martell, Vat 69, Old Gran Dad, Old Crow, Saint James, Bacardi, Gancia, Smirnoff and Moët et Chandon champagne. In 1976, Happy Snacks enlarged and refitted the kitchen of the “Kofferpaan” restaurant. In 1979, architects Stierli and Zwygart fitted out the “Excelsior” room on the third floor for banquets, family celebrations, business lunches and dinners, away from the glare of passing customers. 

From 1989 to 2019, the first Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant opened in the former Wimpy. Since 2020, the Qosqo Ville restaurant has been showcasing the flavours of Latin America, with a chill lounge upstairs.

Photos : 
Hotel Niedner © MERSCH François Le Grand-Duché de Luxembourg à la Belle Epqaue Luxembourg 1980
Wimpy & Kofferpaan 1977 © Marcel Tockert photothèque VDL
Pub on the top ©Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Pocket guide 1980