BackWerk on Hoogstraat is in a good location in the centre of Rotterdam, a short walk away from Koopgoot and Rotterdam Blaak Station, it is an interesting concept, of a self-service bakery.
There is a selection of bread and pastries, and the store smells good as you enter, you pretty much serve yourself, pay at the till and you're good to sit down in their seating area, or take your food/drinks to go.
The only gluten-free option I found was the soup, which looked pretty good, but again high chances of cross-contamination and no gluten-free bread to go with it, made me decide against it.
There is also a coffee machine, I would have preferred fresh coffee made by a barista, but I guess the concept is the self-serve bakery so they felt a standard coffee machine would be best. I did try out the coffee, and it was just OK, it just felt a bit of a letdown to have all the fresh loaves of bread but then have the simplest of coffee machines.
The staff member seemed a little disinterested and not very helpful sadly.
This location is clean and comfortable inside, and a nice concept, yet not without its' flaws. A nice option for fresh bread, bottled to-go beverages and similar if you're in a hurry and don't really care about great service. 3* read more
