40 Years Young Charly

April 9, 2016April 9, 2016 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

A few weeks ago the ‘beau-monde’ from the wineworld gathered to celebrate the 40 years existence of Young Charly. It was 40 years ago that the Mortlmans family or better father Mortelmans opened his small wineshop in Merksem. Back then they only sold French wine. First of all because that was the wine country father Mortelmans loved, but also at that time in Belgium 95% of the wines drunk in Belgium were French. It was only upon arrival of son Mortelmans aka William that they broadened their selection with Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (to name a few) wines. In 40years Young Charly grew out into one of the biggest wine importers and sellers in Belgium, representing some of the most renowned wine estates around like Ornelaia, Gaja, Col d’orcia, Masi, etc…

I have known Young Charly whole my life, not always as a drinker though 🙂 At young age I remember always driving by the Young Charly shop in Merksem with my dad when going to a big supermarket further down the street or to look for Porcini mushrooms. As a wine drinker, I have to be honest I only started visiting their shop more often after a friend of mine started working there 🙂 So basically I have to thank this friend as thanks to Young Charly I discovered lots of wines that until then I only knew by name. To me what is important for a wineshop, is being guided before you do a purchase. I mean I usually buy wine according to a dish/meal I’ll be preparing and it is with that menu I go to the wine shop with the hope they’ll be able to help me finding a perfect match… With Young Charly I’ve always found that match!!

When I was asked to join this ‘beau-monde’ to celebrate the 40 years of Young Charly I didn’t need too much convincing after the mentioned it was at restaurant ‘t Fornuis (in Antwerp 1* since 80’s and an institute in Belgium) and that 4 top wine estates would be present. Basically a combo of top sommeliers, journalists, amazing food and unforgettable wines…

The 4 wine estates that were present were Niepoort, Col d’orcia, Artadi and Michel Chapoutier and they brought their best stuff 🙂 A sommelier’s meal wouldn’t be the same if they weren’t asked to taste everything blind and respond to some questions. From the wines of Artadi, Niepoort and Col d’orcia we had to guess the vintage, for Michel Chapoutier we knew the vintage, but we had to guess the ‘terroir’ 🙂 Could it become more difficult? In my case I have to admit that it was mostly guessing I did. I did always now which was the oldest and the youngest wines… but to really tell which vintage or even crazier the piece of land they come from was a bridge to far for me as I’m not a top sommelier like the others present 🙂

The wines we ended up tasting:

Niepoort: Batuta – 2010 – 2011 – 2012 – 2013 & Redoma 2014
Artadi: Viña el Pison – 1998 – 2007 – 2010 – 2012
Michel Chapoutier: Ermitage 2012 : Les Greffieux – Le Méal – Le Pavillion – L’ermite Hermitage: Chante -Alouette – 2014
Col d’orcia: Poggio al vento – 1990-1995-1999-2006

Although all the wines were good, there is always that wine you prefer over the others. Which in my case were the Batuta 2013; the Ermitage Le Méal; Viña el Pison 2007 and the Col d’orcia 1995 🙂 .Strange enough you also immediately find out the people sharing the same taste pallet as you. The funniest tasting or revealing of the wines we tasted was without any doubt the one from Niepoort. I like Dirk Niepoort a lot, I have never met a wine enthusiast as big as him. Besides making lots of different types of official wines, he also has countless projects running besides that and on top of that he supports lots of new young wine markers trying to find their way through the world of winery. His comments of this wines were basically that he didn’t like any of the wines he brought 🙂 🙂 but said that even though some of the wines were bad, they matched perfectly with the food they were served with :-). Again, he’s a wonderful person who love wine and has it running through his vanes like no other :-).

The fact that this celebration was at restaurant ‘t Fornuis was special to me as the restaurant has been on my list for a loooooooong long time, but never managed to get there. The restaurant serves classic Belgian/French cuisine from the highest level using the best ingredients available!! The might seem simple to the eye, but I can say for a fact that never to judge a book by its cover as sometimes the simple things are the most difficult to make.

We started with a ‘crab salad’, followed by surf and turf 🙂 leek with sweetbread, langoustine and truffle sausage. The main course was a fancy chicken (I forgot which one it was :-)) with Morel mushrooms and chicken kidneys. We finished our meal with crema catalana and a lemon meringue. If there is a heaven I hope they serve all of this (including the wines 😉 )!! It all tasted heavenly. I always love dishes with deep flavors in it!!

The only thing I don’t like about meals/events like this with winemakers? I end up liking the wines very much, buying them and in the end going on a wine trip to visit the wineries 🙂 eeeeeeeeeevery time again… I need more holiday to visit all of them and more room to store the wines 😉 😉

It was again amazing to be part of something this wonderful!! I can’t wait for Young Charly to celebrate its 50 years anniversary 🙂

Website Young Charly: http://www.young-charly.com/

No cooking for me tonight, just eat-ing

March 18, 2016 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

I love cooking, but when we can be lazy or make life easier for ourselves we just do it!! There are lots of ways of being lazy (food-wise), going to a restaurant, do a take out, get your ingredients home delivered (but in that case you’d still have to prepare it) or maybe even have a prepared meal home delivered. f I haIve to be completely honnest, I’ve never been a home delivery or take out kinda guy… I think that I’ve only done it 3 or 4 times in my entire life, but as I’m always open for trying something new (or re-try) I thought I’ve give it a shot and order a home delivery meal via ‘Just Eat’ that make home delivery even easier then it already was. Why just eat? Because I had heared lots of great things about this website…

Just eat basically bundles all the restaurants that do home delivery and you order your meal via their website. You can see it as online shopping, but in this case for a prepared meal :-). Only in a few mouse clicks you can order you meal hours, even hours in advance!! So not like in the old days where you had to wait for the restaurants to be open before you can pass your order. You just indicate where you are located, after this you’ll get a page with all the restaurant that do a delivery in that specific location. Go to the menu and place you order and if wanted you can already pay in advance. After that it’s just waiting for it to be delivered 🙂 It doesn’t get easier than this on a lazy evening, you only have to get out of your couch to open the door 🙂

My initial thought was that you’d only be able to order pizza to get home delivered, but let’s just say that over the year’s the range of food you can get home delivered has grown!! I was surprised of the wide assortment of cuisines. Does this mean people got much lazier? 🙂 😉 My wife and I decied to order some sushi (although the fried chicken did also look tasty. I actually wanted dim-sum instead of the sushi (as my wife is a bigger Sushi fan then I am), but my wife “forgot” to order it 😦

Nevertheless I ate it all…and was happy I could be lazy for a change. Up to my next lazy moment and Just eat 🙂

Sommelier themed lunch: Italy vs. USA

March 9, 2016 / dolcevitaspinelli / 2 Comments

To yearly tradition I was present at the Zonin sommelier themed lunch. This lunch is basically the Zonin wine estate bringing together Top sommeliers for a blind wine tasting to talk about the wines served during a lunch in a great restaurant. An event they do in lots of countries all over the world. I can hear you think that this seems like a way to promote Zonin wines, which in some way is correct, but in last editions they also served non-Zonin wines. What I maybe should have also mentioned is that all sommeliers write down their thoughts on every wine, give it a score and as it is a blind tasting guess which wine it is and its vintage. Afterwards they collect all the answers and see how they would be able to improve their wines. So you could see it as a Marketing strategy, but I rather see it as a case study to improve your products! That some wines getting served are being liked and turn up on the sommeliers wine list is a plus and a compliment to the winemakers or better a sign that they made very good end product.

This year’s sommelier themed lunch took place at Le Chalet de la forêt in the green part of Brussels. Last time I was here I enjoyed my meal, but wasn’t blown away, this time however I did get blow away. Not sure what the ‘problem’ was last time, but I became a big fan after this lunch!! This year the lunch theme was to distinguish the Italian from the American Zonin wines. They would serve wines from both countries, made from the same grape, and it was up to us to say which one was from one of their Italian estates and which one from their Virginia estate. I must admit we got surprised in a positive way a couple of times. To support what I said earlier, they don’t even sell their Virginia wines outside the US and UK :-). Anyhow it was a fun afternoon amongst friends as I know most of the sommeliers present and of course Lorenzo Zonin, whose daughter has 10 days difference with mine 🙂 (10 day older if I’m right)

I do know that I’m not a top sommelier or a sommelier like the other people at the table, but I like good food, good wine and I love talking about it 🙂 AND I have learned a lot over the last few years from the others at the table.

All of this said, after some great finger food it was time to start our lunch with a Gamberoni tartar with cold consommé and Oscietra caviar. A pleasure for the taste buds because of the little spiciness from the tartar and freshness from fish and citrus. I started my lunches in worse ways 🙂 . FYI I did take pictures of my own, but I chose to use some from the photographer Pascal Hermans as nothing beats pictures of a real photographer!! I’m sure you’ll which ones are mine and which ones aren’t 🙂

As for the wines being served with this dish I was 98% sure when tasting which one it was, Vermentino, as I thought remembering it from visiting some of the Zonin estates last year. Funny enough I was right about the wines, but the one I thought was Italian was from Virginia and vice versa. I was confused by the typical ‘vementino’ scent and thought this could only come from Italy, as the other one was more floral, fresh/fruity. I personally enjoyed or better I wouldn’t mind having a few bottles from the Vermentino from the Rocca di Montemasi estate for this summer.

If only the blind tasting would continue this way, I would definitely recognize more easily 🙂 But they made it harder 🙂 instead of 2 we got 4 glasses of wines from 2 different blends… oooooh boy 😦 These 4 wines that were the pairing with a signature Chalet dish: Noirmoutier sole “forêt” with parsnip, champagne butter and truffle. A piece of art in a plate that you don’t want to destroy 🙂 but glad I did it as it was njammy.

As for the wines, like mentioned they made it harder by putting 4 glasses instead of 2. Admitted that they helped us a bit letting us know that there was Viognier and Chardonnay. Up to us to decide which ones and also from which country and their vintage 🙂

I didn’t found out which wines were viognier and which chardonnay, but that’s where it stopped for me 🙂

Up to the reds, here again 4 glasses 🙂 Tips here were that there were 2 ‘Bordeaux’ like blends, 1 Sangiovese and 1 Nebbiolo. The Nebbiolo I distinguished pretty fast due to it specific more orange color.. The same for the Sangiovese due to its specific nose (don’t know how to explain it), but also because it is one of my favorite red wines from the Zonin estates aka the Il Solatio . This gave me a little push in the back to find out which ones were the ‘Bordeaux’ like blends. When they revealed the wines, I must say I was surpised to find out the Nebbiolo was a ‘Barolo’ from Virginia!! I would have sworn it was a blend from Italy. I’m also sure I wasn’t the only one!!

I almost forgot, these wines were served with the half wild duck (not sure which half 🙂 🙂 ) with fruited fennel and gravy (no, not your average meat gravy). I remember once a famous Michelin Star chef telling me what the perfect dish was: ‘when somebody finishes its plate and wants an other one exactly like it, that’s the perfect this’. This duck, was one of those dishes that if I could have, I would have 🙂 The meat melted like butter and the gravy had a some of that American BBQ taste in it that we all love (I think it’s called calories ;-)). No seriously, mind blowing dish!!

The cherry or frosting on the cake was the dessert that was specially given as they found out Lorenzo was a chocoholic 🙂 and it was of the same level as the previous dish with the big difference being that a second dish of this would kill you 🙂 🙂 and you’d be condemned on having a nap in the restaurant 😉

And as if the chocolate wasn’t yet a step close enough to heaven, they paired with it what is for me that best vin santo I have ever tasted, the vin santo from Castello d’albolla!! They served just like the other wines that we didn’t know what it was, but you could guess that one out of a thousand.

It was again, like previous times a wonderful lunch!! I’ve learned and enjoyed at the same time. Special thanks to Lorenzo Zonin and the Chalet de la Forêt team (with their to Sommelier Cesar Roman) for making this all happen.

In case you would have more question about Zonin wines, please contact Hasselt Millesime as they can tell you everything about it!!

All you need is love

February 17, 2016February 17, 2016 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

I’m not too much into all the Valentine fuzz, but the restaurant where I wanted to make reservations just happened to have an open spot at the same date 🙂 So if it makes you happy that I call it a Valentine’s day dinner, I will…

It was already for a while that my wife and I wanted to eat at Vietnamese street-food restaurant ‘BÚN‘ in the city center of Antwerp. Every time passed by it, it just looked so cozy and the plates very tasteful. Also every time we said we have to come here some day… I had also read the host of BÚN Huibrecht was the former maître of restaurant Pure C and the hostess Hao Truong that worked a long time in her sister Truong Thi Quyên aka Gwen ‘s famous restaurant ( know from a cooking show on the Belgian Food channel Njam about Vietnamese food) Little Asia in Brussels. So a winning combo I’d think and a reason for us to go?!

Our ‘we have to go here some day’ took a bit longer than expectedfirst of all because of the fact the restaurant can only sit around 16 people. So finding a free space is harder and if you want to make reservations it has to be after 20h 🙂 Which in our case means finding a babysit of have a sleepover at the grandparents for our little baby girl… which you only want to do when your baby is not sick and the fact it’s winter time doesn’t make it easier 🙂 BUT luck was at our side like I said before on valentine’s day 🙂 You can also go before 20h, but in that case it’s just the walk in principle as no reservations are taken before 20h

When I think of Vietnamese cuisine, I think of Chinese food but a bit more spicy and spring rolls aka Nems (as I used to eat lots of these in a little Asian place behind highschool 🙂 ) I know sad of me!! Keen on learning/ eating something new we entered the restaurant to. What was funny to me was that Huibrecht (who used to work as maître) was cooking and Hao (who I think used to cook) serves the customers… I would have expected it the other way around. Nevertheless I had a very nice night with a lot of coziness. I know not everybody likes to sit at the bar to eat, but in our case it just felt right! Coziness, but obviously also loooooooots of love in the air. Us sitting at the bar brought back lots of great memories of the time we used to life in Gent and had lots of nice dinners at a little restaurant (Fin du monde) at the bar… aaah good old days 😉

On the menu all dishes I didn’t know, so we just took almost everything on it 🙂 Except the soups, as I’m not a too big asian soup fan… but I did have Tofu (my wife ordered it while I was in the bathroom 🙂 it was nice, but Tofu will never become a friend of mine..

For drinks we took wine, but they do also have a nice assortment of fresh fruit juices like a ginger with pumpkin and mint juice 🙂 for the lovers 🙂

As a dessert we took the suggestion of the evening a coconut/rice beignet with passion fruit (I could feel the electricity in the air)

If this is street-food than I can say that I’m a big fan of street-food! I do enjoy that they serve their dishes tapas style to share and at non exuberant prices which allows you to take more and discover more of this kind of cuisine

See you again very soon!

It’s all about making good choices

February 2, 2016February 2, 2016 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

When I used to work for my previous employer I used to have more days off of work… so when I now get invited for a lunch I have to choose wisely, as I also need to days for when my baby girl gets sick 🙂 So I don’t just want to take a day off to afterwards regret I took one. A few days ago I choose well joining the lunch with the winemakers of Masi at the Bocconi restaurant that is located in the Amigo hotel (one of if not THE fanciest hotel in Brussels/Belgium – last time I was here, was to hang with my friends from the P!nk band). It was a good decision as Masi is producer of my favorite wines, the Valpolicella wines with as their top wine the “Amarone” (which has same status as a Barolo or Brunello di montalcino). When arriving at the lunch I was even more convinced I made a good choice of joining as when arriving I found out the lunch was themed “Amarone lunch” 🙂 🙂 so basically “Amarone” served throughout the whole meal with exception of the aperitif and 1 white wine. I can say for a fact that I already had worse drinks during lunch 😉

It is also always nice when tasting a wine to have the winemakers in front of you! They can tell you anecdotes or stories about how a wine is made or were it found its origin. This time it was not different. During our lunch we were joined by Raffaele & Giacomo Boscaini members of family that owns Masi. Also at our table, 2 Belgian top sommeliers Gianluca di Taranto(The Jane) and Bram van der Aa (previously Pazzo). So enough knowledge around one table for me to learn many new things.

What I personally like about Amarone or Valpolicella in general, is the notions of cherries in it (this is also why I like drinking Merlot wines because of the red fruit flavors) that give the wine a touch of sweetness and fruitiness. Obviously depending on the producer of the wine the fruitiness, etc… will differ, but it will always be in there 🙂 During this lunch I was fortunate enough to taste 6 Amarone wines from 1988, 1990, 1995 and 3 from 1997 and what surprised me is the freshness of these wines. I mean when you think of a 30 your old wine, you think of the total opposite of fresh and 1 glass would be more than enough…

The 6 Amaroni we tasted:

1988 – Masi Costasera Amarone
1990 – Masi Costasera Amarone
1995 – Masi Costasera Amarone
1997 – Vaio Serego Alighieri
1997 – Amarone Cantina Privata – Campolongo di trobe
1997 Amarone Cantina Privata – Mazzano

All 6 were obviously mind blowing, but everybody unanimously agreed that the 1990 Amarone was the favorite of the day! Elegant, velvety wine at the top of it game very soft and round in the mouth… in Belgium we have a saying for how good this wine was “like and angel peeing on your tongue”!! Like I said earlier, not one of these six wines had a disturbing heavy taste you might expect from wines this age, rather round well balanced wines. Every time I drink a good Amarone (or Valpolicella) I always remember why I like them so much 🙂 I could also keep talking about how good and wonderful they are, but I just don’t know enough words and I do think you get my point… The plans for another trip to Verona are getting more real than ever before (FYI, this last sentence is for my wife 😉 😉 )

I do also want to say a few words about the 1 sparkling and 1 white wine we had as I personally didn’t know Masi had sparkling wine 🙂 . For the sparkling wine Masi opted instaid of buying land and start growing their own grapes to join their forces with an existing winery making sparkling and white wines. In this case it was the small estate of Bossi Fedrigotti that is located in the Trento region. Masi doesn’t have the ambition to start mass production of sparkling or white wines, but this is rather completing their wine range by adding high quality white and sparkling wines… which to my opinion they certainly achieved with Bossi Fedrigotti as I think they share the same vision as Masi “better less but good, than a lot and not as good”. From the sparkling wine aka Conte Federico for example there are only produced around 10.000 bottles… but if you get hold of a bottle do try it! I’m sure my wife would be a fan of this bubbles, easy to drink, no disturbing bubbles and a bit of fruitiness…

The Bossi Fedrigotti white wine was a very special blend that if they’d tell you, you wouldn’t believe it. The Vign’asmara (the wine’s name) is a blend of chardonnay with traminer :-). To say it Masi’s own words: “The pronounced perfumes of the Traminer grape, a typical Trentino variety, are combined in an unusual and innovative way with international Chardonnay flavours. Ageing in French oak casks enhances the elegance and the personality of this wine”… I couldn’t say it better myself.

You might have noticed that I didn’t talk about the food yet, but during this lunch it were the wines that played the main role! The food was nice, nothing too complicated… Just some good food to accompany the wines. As the wines were strong, you the dishes also had to be of a stronger kind. We started with a Risotto with radicchio and Montasio cheese. This dish was followed by a beef roast with polenta and broccoli. We finished with an apple dessert and mint ice cream. Sorry I must rephrase, we actually finished with a ristretto coffee… one person actually would have preferred drinking a cappuccino, but after hearing (at the table among the Italians) it was not done to have a cappuccino after 14h, he (non Italian) didn’t dare to take one 🙂 🙂

I had a wonderful lunch and am looking forward to visit the Masi winery!! I could have saved you a lot of reading by just saying in 1 sentence the wine was great 🙂 but you know by now how enthousiastic me gets 🙂 In case you have more questions about Masi wines or want to purchase them in Belgium, please contact Young Charly

Soon more about the Masi Wine estate (after my winery visit 🙂 :-))

And so the healthy lifestyle continues

January 22, 2016January 22, 2016 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

After having the Hello fresh experience for more than a half year, my wife suggested it was maybe time to try something different…something even healthier. Is that even possible was the first thing that popped in my mind?? I mean is that possible without actually going on a diet…which is something I refuse to do as first of all I like the way I am and secondly when you stop with a ‘diet’ you gain more weight then you actually lost in the first place… My wife thought Pascale Naessens‘ way of living or cooking seemed like a perfect candidate. I have to admit that I initially was a bit skeptic about it, as I wasn’t really keen on preparing dishes/recipes from somebody who is not a real cook… in my head (without at that time having seen an actual recipe) Pascale Naessens‘ food was the equivalent of the recipes of a dietitian that for me stands/stood for flavorless boring food… so basically food that doesn’t really put a smile on my face 🙂 . To satisfy my wife I just took a few recipes from the Pascale Naessens website (that are available in English, Dutch and French) with the idea that this way she would notice that the fuzz around those books and food is just a ‘hype’ and the books nothing more than beautiful pictures bundled in a book… To make a long story short, in reality I didn’t end up showing my wife, but rather myself the recipes were much better then skeptic me initially wanted to acknowledge 🙂 After trying those 4 ‘trial recipes’ I ended up buying 5 of her books 🙂 🙂 To start marking the recipes that seemed like something we would want to eat, put them in a spreadsheet and make a week menu by making a selection from the list until we tried all of selected recipes (without repeating the recipes until we prepared every recipe).

So far 90% of the recipes were able to convince me… ok ok I’ll admit they were just good… About the remaining 10% we didn’t like, it is just 10% and it for sure is just a matter of taste. The lentil soup with turmeric would be an example of those 10%. A few examples of the 90% would be the Fluffy blueberry cake, Cod with mustard-soy sauce and tomatoes, stuffed Turkish peppers, casserole with tomato, eggplant, zucchini and mozzarella, etc… Just to name a few.

Pascale Naessens‘ philosophy is simple, you basically have to leave bread and modified carbohydrates out of you plate when eating. This basically means that instead of having the traditional meat/fish, vegetables and potatoes/rice/pasta in 1 plate, you eat meat/fish with vegetables or vegetables with pasta, rice, potatoes, quinoa, etc… Also use oils like olive oil or sesame seed oil, coconut oil or omega-3 fats. Me, I stick to using Pascale Naessens recipes for dinner and desserts (without flour), but if you would want (like my wife) you could also use her breakfast and lunch recipes… but I love bread and I sometimes need my traditional food (I love eating tooooo much). Which by the way is also something Pascale emphasizes in her books and in interviews, that it is no problem to sometimes have something different… if it is occasionally … ok, with me it is maybe a bit more than occasionally, but not much more!! I do try to stick to the “Pascale” way of eating when I’m at home (that’s why I go out so much to eat 🙂 🙂 no no, just kidding).

What I also like about her recipes is that they are simple and easy to make (which leans against my life motto about food: simple food is best), but very tasty and that is what it is all about, right?! If I would indeed lose some weight because of these books, it is a bonus but definitely not the main reason to follow this way of eating!! I see it more as expanding my horizon in the search for good food and recipes.

So far I followed the recipes how they are written down and they are all well explained… the only thing that does drive me crazy about some recipes is the use of words like‘some’ or ‘a bit of’. I have experience with cooking and usually have the instinct/ feeling how much she means, but I’m very sure that for people who are not used to cook or don’t have a culinary background this could ‘ruin’ their dish and therefore not having the dish how it is supposed to… but it just would be easier if it would say 10g of … ok I know I’m nitpicking 🙂 luckily it is only in just a few recipes. My idea for when I tried all the recipes we had chosen is when preparing them a second time maybe modify the recipes a bit, not by adding things, but rather by for example instead of using the fish from the recipe, use a different kind of fish, or meat, etc…you could see it as “re-inventing” Pascale’s dishes to surprise yourself and your dinner guests and avoiding eating the exact same thing more than once 🙂

People who know me, know that for me to make a step like using these recipes must mean that I’m really convinced of it… if I wouldn’t have been the line would have been drawn after the 4 trial recipes…

I would say, try and see if she convinces you like she convinced me and thousands (maybe millions) of people around the globe! Enjoy

Patience gets rewarded

January 19, 2016January 19, 2016 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

After 3 months of impatient waiting it was finally my turn to try The Jane’s ‘regular’ restaurant.. For my friends reading this and don’t know The Jane:The Jane is one of the 2 restaurants from master chef Sergio Herman a former 3 Michelin Star restaurant owner(Oud Sluis)… although former?? If you make the sum of the Michelin stars from his 2 restaurants you also get 3, so technically speaking he still owns 3 Michelin stars 🙂 . Besides being a gastronomical temple The Jane is also known for its location in an old chapel that has been redesigned in a splendid way (for sure something to see for architectural fans)

The Jane 1

The last time I set foot in this restaurant it was to experience the Upper room bar that, to just say it with one word, was ‘excellent’!! Overtopping that last experience would seem difficult… or so I thought!! In their ‘regular’ restaurant they have, next to their great food, an extra secret weapon called ‘Gianluca di Taranto’ aka The Jane’s sommelier who’s enthusiasm about wine/drinks is contagious 🙂 (for as far I wasn’t enthusiastic ). Gianluca knows I’m a big wine lover and he also knew that one of my table guests is a professional sommelier… So I think his enthusiasm must have gone in overdrive to have us taste more special things 🙂 Don’t worry my dear readers, at The Jane everybody gives and gets the same dedication at their table!

I think the key of The Jane‘s success is ‘enthusiasm/passion’. Every staff member seems to have that same drive/enthusiasm for the part he/she does and they all seem to seek the same goal, reaching the top and giving every person that walks in for a meal the same unbelievable experience (no matter if they are eating a few dishes at the upper bar room or a 9 course meal, if they only drink water or they empty their whole winecellar) I know, that’s what most restaurants aim, but in this case every staff member seems to want the same thing or at least that’s my impression of the 2 times I’ve been at The Jane!! Two thumbs up for The Jane‘s team!!

The big difference to me between the Upper room bar and The Jane is the kind of food they serve. The upper room bar serves more ‘comfort food’ served in a refined way, whereas ‘The Jane‘ serves gastronomical food… At the upper room bar you can choose your dishes ‘à la carte’, making the Upper Room bar more accessible for everybody and for everybody’s taste pallet (which is also the purpose from what I understood when talking with Nick Bril (executive chef) ). At the ‘regular’ restaurant you can choose between a fix 7, 8 or 9 course menu paired with the perfect wine, cocktail, beer or other drink.

The golden mean to my friends and me seemed to be the 8 course meal paired with whatever our friend Gianluca wanted us to try to get the ultimate The Jane experience!! A pairing journey taking us all over the world from the Champagne region in France through The Jane’s own Champagne blend… to the Andalusian coast with a glass of Equipo Navazos Fino Sherry as a perfect match with the North Sea Oyster. To bring us back to Belgium with a glass of Belgian pride aka a Triple Beer from a small brewery near Arlon called La Rulles

Just FYI, all dishes are served per 2 courses with little time between after every pair of dishes you get some extra time to enjoy, relax and look forward to what is about to follow 🙂

We started our evening with a nice selection of ‘amuses’ or ‘appetizers’ that were a feast for both the eyes as the taste buds!

We continued with 6 ‘first’ courses, as they were served per pair I display the pictures per pair :-). The first served dish was the Salmon with parsnip, buttermilk and mandarin with the mandarin being served as small balls in nitrogen… making the dish mystical :-). Immediately followed by a North sea oyster with Soy, JusJus and Yuzu

North sea oyster with Soy, JusJus and Yuzu

The dishes to follow were on the spot made ‘steak tartare’ (that was simply exquisite!!) and Mediterranean scallops with celeriac, Iberico and potato skin.

Steak Tartare 'Before'

scallops with celeriac, Iberico and potato skin

Our journey continued with BBQ cabbage, mussels and bottarga.(Italian style, they made a small cannelloni :-)) Followed by cod fish, brandade and North Sea grey shrimps that look pretty simple to the eye, but it’s not 🙂 .

I must admit that vegetarians wouldn’t even be able to look at the main course because of the toes still being on the leg , luckily I’m not vegetarian 🙂 As main course we were served pigeon with black salsify, beetroot and black pudding.

Just to give you an idea how much work and thought is put into each and every dish served at The Jane, it took over 3 months for Jaclyn (person responsible for dessert) to perfection the dessert we were served!! 3 months for only 1 dish!! Yet another example of enthusiasm/passion for what you do, if you don’t have it you wouldn’t put as much effort in it!! Jaclyn’s effort definitely paid off as it was one very nice dessert 🙂 Only for my friend working at Huawei (previously at Samsung) wasn’t 100% convinced 😉 😉

After this there still followed a load of sweets to fill the last empty spots in our stomachs..

Impressed that I remember all dishes 😉 I’ll have to admit that if it weren’t for the picture I had taken of the menu I wouldn’t have remembered as much… as I was too busy with enjoying my meal,company and the moment 🙂 Form all the dishes we were served the whole evening only 1 small amuse was less our thing (for everybody)…

Guys, I’m sure that by now you know the reason behind my loooong long blogpost… the more enthusiastic I am about something, the more I want to share and the longer my posts become!! So I’m not gonna bug you with much more words besides the first ones that pop in my mind after this experience: perfect, full of flavor, very nice staff and an evening to remember!!

Hope to be back soon

The Jane:

Website: www.thejaneantwerp.com

Address: Paradeplein 1, 2000 Antwerp – Belgium

reservations online

Because we can

January 7, 2016January 7, 2016 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Sometimes, even when you have children, you need to make time for your wife (or maybe husband in your case). This doesn’t mean ‘it’ (meaning your quality time) always has to be at night or very exuberant, sometimes a small lunch will also do the trick :-). So we did just that at Trattoria Francesco & Julia in Antwerp. The trattoria attracted me for a while now, as I pass by it quite often. I also found out that the daughter of the owner is at the same day-care as my little girl.

As if I needed more reasons to go eat somewhere, they are also known for their focaccia and boy do I love focaccia!! In case you don’t know what focaccia is, it is like pizza but thicker/higher because of the use of more yeast in comparison with a regular Pizza. Focaccia is usually seasoned with olive oil, salt, sometimes herbs (mostly rosemary), and in rare cases topped with onion, olives or just like a pizza with tomato sauce, cheese and meats…What also happens is that is baked with olive oil and herbs and when ready filled like a sandwich like in the case of our friends at Francesco & Julia.

I repeat myself by saying it are the simple things that count and will make the difference!! Is it difficult to make focaccia? No. Is it difficult to make a good focaccia? Yes 🙂 !! Clearly Francesco knows as he makes some great focaccia (FYI also for takeout). What I didn’t know about their trattoria is that they also served other dishes besides Focaccia. I doubted for a while if I would go for focaccia or a ‘regular dish’… as if focaccia isn’t regular, but you guys know what I mean. But why make things more difficult than needed, this time I took focaccia and I’ll come back to try a few other dishes 🙂 problem solved the Spinelli way ;-). I went for the “Il Bello” that was filled with mozzarella, tomato, parma ham and rucola, but the ‘Il Macio’ filled with porcetta, truffle and rucola also looked tempting. My wife had a mozzarella salad accompanied with her all time favorite drink bubbels (prosecco in this case)

“I” finished with a Tiramisu ‘Francesco’ style which is a revisited version of the traditional version with Amaratti cookies and I guess almond caramel and espuma.

Overall a great lunch with both love on my plate as on the seat right in front of me! I can’t wait to have another Trattoria experience at Francesco & Julia! I do also hope you get the chance to try it either at the trattoria itself or by taking out food.

Trattoria Francesco & Julia

Website: www.francescojulia.be

Address: Mechelsesteenweg 76, 2018 Antwerp – Belgium

The last supper of 2015 thanks to Delphine De Pauw

January 4, 2016January 4, 2016 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

What everybody likes about Christmas besides seeing all relatives again is getting presents!! This year in addition to my presents my sweet love (Delphine De Pauw, but I guess you already figured out that one 🙂 )invited me for a date to end 2015 in a good way. The only thing I knew is the fact we were going out for dinner, who was looking after our little baby girl or where this dinner would take place stayed a surprise until the last minute… the only thing she would tell me was that I mentioned that it was a restaurant on my to do list 🙂 (which basically didn’t help me as my list is very long 😦 ) Belieeeeeeeve me when I say I tried to find it out, but my wife’s lips were sealed 🙂 ). After lots of days of impatient waiting on our way to the restaurant my wife revealed we were having our last supper of 2015 at restaurant Cuichine. Cuichine stands for Cuisine Chinese or better a restaurant serving ‘modern’ Chinese cuisine. Not the typical ‘all you can eat’ place where quantity is mostly more important than quality and they have enormous menu (as that is the first image that pops up in my head when I think of a Chinese restaurant). I think at least 10 years (I think even longer, I was still living with my parents if I remember it well) since my last Chinese restaurant visit. What primates at Cuichine is quality of the products they use, cooking using modern techniques, but still respecting some traditions but still adding a modern touch.

Although I love dim sum, I decided to take the Peking duck as a starter (as that is told to be one of their signature dishes). My wife on the other hand did take the Dim Sums.

I can hear you think “those are pretty classic dishes”… which is correct, but they did also have a few other dishes on the menu for starters… but the heart or taste buds in this case want what they want 🙂 But can assure you that besides the dim sum and Peking duck all dishes are prepared using modern cooking techniques and presented in a more modern way.

For the mean course I was tempted in taking the onglet ‘black bean’. My wife had set her senses on the Canadian lobster prepared with ginger, oyster sauce and fresh herbs :-). Just like with our starters sharing was not part of the night (of food that is)we just liked our chosen dishes too much to share them. (usually when somebody asks you to share it is mostly because they don’t like it! Otherwise you just want to keep it all for yourself or does that say a lot about me 🙂 ) I was surprised of the quality of the ‘onglet’, as it is a piece of meat tends to get very tough if prepared wrong (like eating a shoe sole). But in this case the meat was prepared to perfection!! By the looks of my wife’s plate I think she liked it as there was not too much left besides the shell from the lobster 🙂

The biggest surprise for me was the wine list (which is also not like in you ‘regular’ Chinese restaurant’) as they have a very nice selection from wines, beers etc.. (Also some nice Madeira) from all over the world including BIO wines… I knew the person responsible for the wines (probably the owner) knows his wines and definitely enjoys them from the moment their wine suggestion of the moment was the red FP wine from my dear friends Filipa Pato and William Wouters 🙂 . Found out that not only me, but also the Peking duck seemed to be a Baga friend 🙂 :-).

Normally I’m not really in to taking a chocolate dessert, but a quick sin before the new year resolutions seemed to be in place 🙂 .

1451421176683

To make a long story short it was the perfect restaurant to have our last 2015 supper and hope to enjoy more of their cuisine in the near future. A special thank to my sweet wife for inviting me and can’t wait for our next romantic dinner together 🙂

Restaurant Cuichine

Website: http://www.cuichine.be/

Address: Draakstraat 13, 2018 Antwerp -Belgium

Phone n°: +3232899245

Gustative pleasures at sir kwinten

December 11, 2015December 11, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

It’s for almost 2 years that I wanted to revisit Sir Kwinten!! Last time I was at Sir Kwinten I was not feeling 100% and got sicker by the minute…so I didn’t get to enjoy it as much as I had hoped back then. Now a friend of mine, who lives in Lennik (which is the town where Sir Kwinten is located), wanted to have dinner, so it seemed like the perfect excuse for me to revisit Sir Kwinten. Very glad I did as it was a night to remember!! The type of kitchen they serve at Sir Kwinten is exactly the type I like best, ‘simple’ brought in a special way – revisited classics if you will :-). I say simple, but there’s more to it obviously… I just mean that they are able to serve you culinary heaven just using few ingredients of impeccable quality and at a correct price (not overpriced basically).

If I would have to rank Sir Kwinten I would put it in my top 5 favorite restaurants together with Les Eleveurs and my all time favourite Pazzo Antwerp!! If I would live closer I would definitely be a regular. On their menu you find classics like a “sole meunière” or a good “entrecôte” with homemade French fries as well as revisited classics and innovative dishes (innovative but not too complicated!)… A restaurant that puts a big smile on my face!! They also renewed the restaurant’s looks in something more modern, very nice and very comfy chairs!

Sir Kwinten is owned by one of Belgium’s best Sommeliers aka Yanick Dehandschutter, so getting served great wines is a known fact. What is great about being in the hands of a top sommelier is that they want to let you enjoy some new discoveries they made and ‘get you to learn more about wine and be as astonished as much as they were when they discovered it (that’s called passion btw.) . Who am I to stop them 🙂 Just sit back and relax I’d say! The discovery of the evening (even of the month) was a Belgian Chardonnay Barrique by Crutzberg!!

Something Yannick tends to do is serve people wine without telling which one it is and let people think about it for a while. Not really to be able to name the exact wine, but more to take away pre-judgements people might have if a wine comes from particular country or place. Plus you’ll be more surprised sometimes when you’re told which wine it is and from where it is….This is exactly what happened with us with the Chardonnay from Crutzberg… not that I would pre-judge Belgian wines as I’m a big fan!!!! (Became even bigger fan thanks to my friends from Belgian Wines) I didn’t and would have never guessed this wine came from Belgium… Result of this is that I’m trying to get hold of a few bottles for myself to pass on this discovery to my friends and family. Isn’t that what a restaurant experience should be all about? Getting to know something you have never tried before and want more of it 🙂

Yanick

My friend and I chose the 4 course menu not that the ‘à la carte’ dishes didn’t fancy me, but my friend forced me to take the menu… If I can make people happy by such a small gesture I do it. I’m such an easy person if you look at it, my wife is such a lucky person 🙂 🙂 Feast your eyes on the menu we had:

We started with a few appetizers: 1^st was local Fresh cheese with radish, eel and buckwheat. For the other dishes I confess I know they were veeeeeeery tasty and that there was something with Lamb, goose liver and a veal tartar with beetroot and kohlrabi… but that’s as far as I remember it as I wasn’t really planning on writing a blogpost (rather enjoy and relax), but I had such a great evening I just had to write and share 🙂 To accompany these appetizers we had rose bubbles from my dear friend Luis Pato adding a bit of fruitiness to harmonize our appetizers

We continued our meal with for me Limousin veal (3 different preparations) with Jerusalem artichoke, chestnut and miso. For my friend a revisited “Chicon gratin” (chicory) . Let’s say we didn’t feel like sharing food and they were able to put the plates right back in the cupboard (we emptied them well). These dishes got accompanied by the wonderful Belgian white wine I described earlier.

20151210_200126

The next dish in line was Pieterman (Weever fish) with Vichyssoise (potato and leek), butternut and purslane that was served with a Romanian white wine aka Budureasca Fume… again very impressed, I didn’t know they made wine of this quality!! Definitely I would have never picked myself if I would have seen it on a wine list (damn pre-judgements).

20151210_203911

As main dish a pleasant pheasant 🙂 with cantharel mushrooms, parsnip and rillettes… with which we didn’t get 1 wine, noooooo sire we got 3 that matched perfectly with them… again here e didn’t know which ones we had… I did immediately recognized the 2010 Barolo (by Marziano Abbona) amongst them 🙂 The other 2 were a Bulgaria Allegro Barbaro Marselan, which is a more classic taste because of the syrah/merlot blend (80% merlot). The 3^rd one was a French Cuvée violette by Clau de Nell, less my cup of tea on its own, but it worked with the dish 🙂 what disturbs me about this wine is the ‘bio/natural’ taste in it… dunno what it exactly is but I know I don’t like it 🙂 but again it worked perfectly with the dish.

We finished off with some tangerine with almond, white chocolate and lemongrass served with a Belgian icewine by Hoenshof … in contrast to what you think I must say this icewine was really good!! Not too sweet FYI, for those who don’t know what icewine is, they basically freeze the grapes at a temperature of -8°C and at when grapes are frozen they press them to get the most concentrated juice out of them…(in a few words)

I had a delightful evening filled with amazing food and wines!! Can’t wait for my next Sir Kwinten experience!! Thanks to Yanick and his team!!

Spinelli's Dolce Vita

My passion for life

Author: dolcevitaspinelli