Last week I had another edition of my Gastronomical odyssey, were I basically combine a great restaurant and friends. Nothing different than usually you might say… That’s where you are wrong,  the big difference here is that I always go with the same group of friends, as for other restaurant visits the company always changes 😉 (red wire great food). For this edition I took my friends or partners in crime to the Michelin awarded restaurant Dôme in Berchem (just outside Antwerp).  It is already for years that I felt like going to Dôme and at some point back in time I had a table booked, but had to cancel it for some reason and didn’t manage to get there ever since … Until now that is 🙂 . What you should know about Dôme is that it is one of the 3 food related places of owner/chef Julien Burlat and his wife (who studied with my cousin’s husband I found out later 🙂 ). They also own restaurant Dôme sur mer and Domestic a bakery where they sell the bread and sweet delights served in their restaurants.  They are located at the point where 3 streets come together and on every corner you have one of the 3 places, so you might even say all ways lead to Dôme 🙂 . Something that always attracted me wanting to go to Dôme is the beautiful building which is a true architectural delight. For the architects amongst you it is an art nouveau building with a magnificent decorated dome (what’s in a name 😉 ) build by Jos Bascourt in 1893.

When it comes to food, I was always convinced it would be good, despite some slightly ‘negative’ comments I heard…but one is only guilty when proven guilty! I can only say I had an evening filled with great refined food and friendly/ professional service (and cute waitress, sorry it just had to be said!). You can either go for one of the 2 menus (7/9 courses) or just choose à la carte, my friends and me went for the 7 course menu . The 9 courses would make me feel too greedy 😉 and choosing à la carte would make the experience less adventuress to my opinion   (ok, I know it’s not I’m deciding to make trip through the Amazon or so, but still…). For the wine pairing with the menu I loved Dôme’s way of working as you never know which wine you’re drinking until the end of your course… and there is also no way to sneak peak as all wines are served out of a decanter :-)… I like this way  as it will make one drink his wine differently and can lead to a nice discussion with your table guests of which wine you’re drinking (you might throw in a little bet… who loses pays dinner 😉 )

Please feast your eyes on the menu they served us. We started (after some appetizers) with a silky soft and smooth Jerusalem artichoke velouté with truffle and I believe they said there was coffee oil in it??  (but not 100% sure 🙂 ) I could have emptied a few more bowls of that baby.

What followed was one of my preferred shell fish, fresh scallops with cauliflower shavings and olive cream that got accompanied (and previous dish) a white Weißburgunder trocken Muschelkalk… the part we had figured out before they told us which wine it was, was that it was German 🙂

The following dish was a good example of a dish that I wouldn’t order myself, but thanks to the tasting menu I get to taste: fresh duck foie gras with balsamic vinaigrette, hazelnut crumble, cranberries and caramelized endive. I’ll admit I will never be a huge fan of foie gras, but this dish did bring me a step closer. This dish needed a  totally different wine, this time they chose to serve us an Austrian Schilcher frizzante which would be a light sparkling wine

What followed was red mullet with clams and celery gravy, I was pretty convinced I took a picture of the dish, but I guess I was wrong … so no picture to feast your eyes on. What I can do is tell you that the wine served with it was a white Masieri from Veneto . (Italian wine, so they couldn’t go wrong there 😉 )

Our ‘main’ course was without any doubt one of the two favorites I had that night a homemade ham with Basque way black pudding and green apples. I love ham!!  This came with a red French Les Premières Faugéres from the Languedoc.

From this moment on it was dessert time, starting with the pineapple, tapioca, and coconut milk mousse and coriander meringue accompanied by a glass of 5 year old Madeira by Barbeito.

But the absolute star of the evening was without any doubt the chocolate pie. I have NEVER eaten a chocolate pie that was so light and fluffy  and had had a crispy crust at the same time!! I don’t know how they do it, but it is definitely one of THE best I ever had!

I can only conclude that this was a great evening with great food and I’ll be back without any doubt!! What did surprise me was that when leaving the restaurant we got a bread as gift 🙂 so maybe I should eat at Dôme every Friday or saturday, this way I won’t need to go to the bakery shop the next morning…

Restaurant Dôme

Website: www.domeweb.be

Address:  Grotehondstraat 2, 2018 Antwerp – Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0)3 239 90 03