Gastronomical Odyssey at Dôme

January 20, 2014January 20, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / 2 Comments

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

A light version I like

December 4, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Every time a new restaurant opens I try to hold myself from immediately wanting to eat there. I say again, I try it as mostly in the beginning the machine is not oiled up yet… but sometimes (more than I feel like admitting) I am weak and get tempted on going there after all 🙂 A good example of one of those places is restaurant ‘Te Kook’ by Johan Segers or as I like to call it” ‘t Fornuis light”. Te kook is the newest restaurant from chef Johan Segers, who is first of all known because of his 2 other restaurants in Antwerp ‘t Fornuis that already holds a Michelin star since 1986 and “De Koraal”. (Funny enough all 3 restaurants are a stone throw from each other) But I’m sure most Belgian People know him because of his cooking shows on Njam TV.

The reason why Johan Segers wanted to open another restaurant is (or so I think) as he already has 2 classical restaurants serving classical French/ Belgian cuisine it was time for something more modern, but still having the same respect for the products as in his other 2 restaurants and keeping it simple… so basically classic dishes in a modern jacket.

What tempted me to come here was besides the fact I wanted to see the yellow bar/counter everybody kept talking about, and that I wanted to try the ‘light’ version of ‘t Fornuis (that has already been on my wishlist for a while now) and this way I get one step closer to ‘t Fornuis 🙂

Although it is a different chef/ team(Thijs Vervloet) cooking you still see the touch of John Segers. With he best example the ‘Crab sandwich0’ I found on the menu. I know lots of you might think a dish like this doesn’t belong here and probably lots of young chefs wouldn’t serve something like, but to my opinion it does deserve a place on this menu!! A dish like this is exactly what I’m talking about when I say ‘keep it simple’ and a dish like this proves that when it is prepared with the best fresh ingredients possible even something as simple as this can taste incredible.

How the menu at ‘Te kook’ works is you can either share ‘tasters (can be taken per 2 as portion is big enough) or you can take the tastings as a starter and afterwards choose a main course from the main course menu 🙂 and that’s what we did. We took 3 tasters , 1 main dish and when I saw they had ‘pain-perdu’ aka ‘French toast’ I just had to have a dessert 🙂

The tasters without the picture of the Crab sandwich from before: (scroll over the pictures to see what it is)

The Main course

The Pain Perdu:

My personal favorites were besides the ‘pain-perdu’, the Portobello mushroom and the Langoustine. Oh oh and it really made me happy to see that they have some Oroloso sherry by Lustau on the winelist (which I obviously tasted). I love it!! As for the other wines they suggest us first the aFrench (Loire) chenin blanc Arcane by Chateau de Fosse-Sechè and as red Italian wine, a Nau di Sardegna cannonau (you can never go wrong when serving me good Italian stuff 😉 ). I also think they kept the best for last as I got one of my preferred sweets with my coffee, the ‘canelé de bordeaux’ (see picture below)

I’m not going to lie about it, Te kook isn’t the cheapest restaurant in Antwerp.But then again you can make a lunch/dinner as expensive as you want and I’m sure you aren’t all as greedy as me :-). On top of that they do also only use the best and fresh products that are prepared correctly and you don’t go home hungry… and I’m sure I’ll be back (after I have finally tried ‘t Fornuis that is, as I can’t wait to taste one on Johan’s famous stews!!!)

Before I forget to mention it, ‘Te Kook’ is more something to do with 2 or 3 as it is not the place for big groups as you can only sit at the Yellow bar/counter… just FYI

Restaurant Te Kook

Website: http://www.tekook.be

Address : Vrijdagmarkt 7, B-2000 Antwerp

Phone n°: +32 (0)3 689 39 29

Lunch on top of Antwerp

September 30, 2013September 30, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 4 Comments

It took me a lot of time, but I finally had a meal at the restaurant with the most beautiful view over Antwerp… I’m talking about 2 Michelin star awarded restaurant ‘t Zilte. I’m not sure why it took so long, but thanks to a good friend of mine, who insisted (a few times)I just had to try ‘t Zilte, I finally made it there (in his company)… and I’m happy he did as I had a wonderful experience. I have to correct myself I was already at ‘t Zilte, but this was for the press conference of ‘Taste of Antwerp‘, but that time I didn’t have a meal.

What makes this restaurant extra special is first of all of course its wonderful location on the 9th floor of the MAS… which gives you the best view over city of Antwerp. And secondly the vibe. The first vibe you get when entering somewhere is the most important one (or it is to me), so the same goes for when you enter a restaurant and although I was sure the vibe at ‘t Zilte would be good, but you never know 100% in advance.. anyway it was good 🙂 and it only got better by the minute…

I know it is expected of restaurants like’ t Zilte that they serve very nicely presented plates, but still it must be said they have outdone themselves as we saw some very nice looking dishes that day and with keeping my preferred saying in mind keep it “simple”. As even though all the dishes looked amazing they still wanted to make sure you understand what is in your plate and want to respect every product/ingredient.

As I arrived last (my table guest was already there) I just joined him with starting our lunch with perfect drink, a glass of Blanc de Blanc Ruinart champagne 🙂 With this we got served a variety of delicate “amuse bouches” which were great to already start to tickle the taste buds and stimulate the appetite (for as far as I needed it 🙂 ) and as if that wasn’t enough they came to us with a breadcart filled at least 15 different kinds of fresh bread!!! I’m a huge bread lover and it was more than only a treat for the eyes as man that was some good bread!!! I would already return just to have more of their bread.

hapje 2 met crispy parsley

I wasn’t wrong was I when I said there dishes looked very njammy?? And they tasted even better. Anyhow now it was time for some real business…. As it was lunchtime it seemed best for us to go for the lunch menu… although I must say the other menus also seemed great, but sometimes you just have to make some though decisions… but as a peace offer we took and extra course with our lunch menu… as who could say no to turbot with porcini?

Finding the right wine with your food is never an easy task, especially when they give you a wine list from which you would want to order everything that it on it… luckily ‘t Zilte has not 1 but 2 sommeliers to help you make a choice. One of the sommeliers was another reason I wanted to come to ‘t Zilte as it is none other than my friend Gianluca that you might remember from my blogpost about Spiga d’oro(the better Italian restaurant) as Gianluca is the son of the owner 🙂 (and their former sommelier). So to make a long story short I was pretty sure I was getting some great wine pairing 🙂 (with a bit of consulting by the long time sommelier from ‘t Zilte Sepideh Sedaghatnia)

The first dish of our menu was a Crab and foie gras “pâté” with tomato, mushroom and curd (this some kind of drained yogurt ). With this dish my good friend paired us a Slovenian Rieseling from Joannes Protner, because because the minerality of Riesling goes well with the crab, greasiness and filming character for the foie gras and acidity of the wine is for the tomato and the earthy character of the wooden casks for the earthiness of the mushroom. BTW these are Gianluca’s words, I really couldn’t define it as well 🙂

The next dish to put our teeth into was the turbot, for this dish we had a bit of a blind wine tasting as we got served two wines that both fit this dish but both in another way… and as it was a blind tasting we didn’t know in advance which ones we would be trying. The first wine was a 2010 Burgundy – Meursault Tessons Clos de Mon Plaisir which is actually a Chardonnay. The other wine was a wine that if I had to pick on on color this would be my preferred one 🙂 it on top of that came from a region in Croatia aka Istria where I still have some family living (my grandfather was originally from Croatia), it was a white blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Malvazija, and Pinot Gris called Ottocento made by Giorgio Clai. I’m still not sure which of both wines fitted more with this dish as both gave the dish another dimension

The last dish we got served before the dessert was lamb with zucchini, ricotta, panisse (kind of polenta made from gram flour) and cremolata. The lamb was cooked with perfection and melted on the tongue. With this came a lamb tartar and a lambstock with herbs. This time Gianluca chose a Austrian red wine to go with our dish, a 2010 Burgenland which has lots of common characteristics with Syrah wines, but the Burgenland is a bit smoother.

I’m glad the menu “ended” (it wasn’t totally over yet) with a refreshing dessert with strawberry varieties with crushed Gin ice and white chocolate… I must admit that I wasn’t really a fan from the Gin ice, but together with the white chocolate it got balanced (I don’t like bitter tastes 🙂 ) . I normally don’t like wine with my dessert, but who could refuse it when it is presented with so much enthusiasm? He did surprise us by giving us a glass of Riesling (not a dry Riesling obviously) with the strawberries, it was a 2011 Kabinett from the Reinhold Haart wine estate.

Strawberry variaties

But best was yet to come as now instead of the the bread cart, the now came with the “cookies” for with the coffee cart 🙂 I wasn’t planning on being greedy, but I just couldn’t stop myself and I honestly didn’t care what they thought of me!! everything looked just sooo good, like the mini Berliner’s (in this case grease is very very good) or the Madeline set in a rum, vanilla and sugar jar… you would think it would have a too strong taste, but it didn’t it was juuuuust right 😉 … the reason to go back for a meal at ‘t Zilte just keep adding up 🙂 (BTW I didn’t take a picture of everything I had, that would have been to confronting 😉 )

friandises

I can only say that I had an amazing lunch that because of the good coordination and professionalism from Viki Geunes’ team (multicultural team even) became an every greater experience!! I’m sure this isn’t the last you’ve seen of me. Thanks!

Restaurant ‘t Zilte

Website: http://www.tzilte.be/

Address: Hanzestedenplaats 1, 2000 Antwerp – Belgium (in the MAS museum at the 9th floor)

Phone n°: +32 (0) 3 283.40.40

Dinner in a perfect summer setting

July 24, 2013July 24, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 4 Comments

Eating dinner along the waterside is the ideal setting for at the end of a sunny day. Wouldn’t you agree? Last weekend we went out for dinner with some friends in that exact setting. I’ll admit that when going to a brasserie I’m always in doubt of the quality I’ll be getting on my plate, but Brasserie Montreal definitely served us some good quality! Brasserie Montreal is located at a fishpond right outside of the city center of Mechelen and I did enjoy our setting for the night overlooking the fairly big pond.

Having a view is nice, but more important is what you get on your plate… They had outdone themselves and I didn’t expect to see such refined dishes. As an appetizer we got a soused herring with cucumber and black olive which already helped to get more appetite (if that is possible as my appetite is always pretty big). From this point on it only went crescendo.

The starters for the night were for me pickled herring with jonagold apple, beetroot and dill. My table guests took Buffalo mozzarella with tomato varieties, a goat cheese salad with bbq pineapple and Granny Smith and some King crab with courgette, tomato and kaffir. A true treat for the eyes.

This got followed with for me a classical Belgian Blue Chateau Briand (I was craving for some red meat) with béarnaise and freshly fries. The ladies at the table took a Gilt-head bream and BBQ salmon “label rouge” with some green asparagus, kohlrabi and beech mushroom.

We combined this with a 2007 Spanish red Herencia del Padri from Priorat made by Bernard Magrez. The herbal like taste and stronger body of the wine went really well with the Chateau Briand (my modest opinion)

The best is yet to come as the dessert can either ruin the whole meal or make it an even better success… in our case luckily the second one 🙂

Not that we didn’t see any good dessert on the menu, but as we saw the chef (Toon) could be very creative with the previous plates we decided to let him free-wheel for dessert and be creative (with what he has in his fridge of course). This resulted in two njammy desserts: the first dessert was a fresh red fruit dessert with a white chocolate cream, flower bouillon (yes flower, this is not a typo). FYI all the herbs and flowers used in the dishes are all grown in their own garden!! The second dessert was chocolate inspired with mascarpone.

I really like being surprised and to find out my prejudgment was totally wrong!! Once again it got proven to never judge a book by its cover. I really enjoyed my dinner at Brasserie Montreal and as cherry on the cake I had some great table guests! I’ll definitely be back 🙂

Brasserie Montreal

Website: http://www.brasseriemontreal.be/

Address: Duivenstraat 56, 2800 Mechelen

Phone n°: +32 (0) 15 20 40 77

The gastronomical Odyssey continuous

July 15, 2013November 29, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 3 Comments

It had been a while so I figured it was time again for another edition of my “Gastronomical Odyssey “that combines the things I love most friends and gastronomical food ( and drinks). This time it brought us (me and my usual partners in crime) to restaurant ‘De Schone van Boskoop’. I could really give a million reasons for choosing ‘De Schone van Boskoop’… Like it already being a fix value in the gastronomical world for 20 years or that is nostalgic to come here as I came here a few times with my parents when I was younger, but also because I really like chef and owner Wouter Keersmaekers who does his ‘job’ with so much passion that when you hear him talk about food it is like hearing a poem… and on top of that he’s just a great guy! Or because I said so in one of my previous blogposts ‘a pupil in the footsteps of his master’.

The motto Wouter Keersmaekers uses at ‘De Schone van Boskoop’ is one I cherish a lot ‘keep it simple’ which doesn’t necessarily have to mean boring… it just means only mixing a few ingredients and having respect for the products you use (and honestly those usually taste best!). A great example of this would be Wouter’s homemade veal sausage with truffle and springs Savoy cabbage mash he served at “Taste of Antwerp”. Simple and yet very refined and only using few ingredients.

One thing I already decided before I came to ‘De Schone van Boskoop’ and that was I would take beer pairing with our menu instead of the usual wine. The main reason because a while ago Wouter was telling me about his new beer cellar, which made me very curious to discover it. (the beer list they have is a very nice one).

I’m also very happy the weather gods were good to us and we could eat outside.

At gastronomical restaurants like ‘De Schone van Boskoop’ I rarely choose ‘à la carte’ dishes as prefer discovering new dishes and eat things I would never pick myself and the best way to do it is choosing one of the tasting menu’s. It is Wouter Keersmaekers himself who comes to each table to explain the menus and suggestions, the only problem about this is that you want to have the menu with all the extra suggestions on top of that making it maybe a 15 course menu 🙂 🙂 (sorry I just love food). Anyhow after a minute of discussion with my table guests we choose to take the ’terroir’ aka “from the field” menu.

Every dish we received that night was a really pleasure for the eye and the taste buds! Via my blog I can only offer you the pleasure for the eye, the taste you’ll have to go and try it yourself 🙂

The gastronomical spoiling started with some ‘amuses’: starting with a calf brain croquette (I know what you’re thinking, but it was better than it sounds…. this is btw a great example why I take a tasting menu as I doubt I would ever order it myself) and fresh herring with amongst other beetroot and horseradish. Continuing with Sea robin (aka snapper, altough for some reason I doubting if we didn’t have barbin instead) with a flan made from broad bean and marinated tomatoes (they were really good!). Our ‘amuses’ got served with a Hopus

Our actual menu started off with Italian veal tarter (a classical dish from Piemonte) topped with Australian truffles. Yes Australian! You honestly didn’t taste they were from Australia. Served with a ‘Chimay Triple‘

It got followed by smoked Scheldt lobster with the last asparagus from the season and a sauce made from milk and bacon. I this might have been one of my preferred dishes of the night. Served with a ‘La chouffe’

Our 3^rd dish of the evening was 3 types of lamb meat all prepared in a different way. First there was the ‘hamburger’ made with the cheek meat, secondly the neck which was slowly cooked and came with a kind of gravy and the third piece was the crispy belly. A dish that fitted perfectly with the Rochefort 8 they served with it

Another dish I will be remembering a while was the dessert ‘vacherin’ with red fruit. Served with ‘Oude Kriek’ which is cherry beer (pretty sour) made at a very small artisan brewery (Hanssens).

The second dessert was a “boskoop” compote with curry, a special combination but not wrong at all 🙂

The crown on the whole evening were the refreshments that came with the coffee… the mind was weak (very weak) I just love ‘canele de bordeaux’ and ‘petite madeleines’… I wouldn’t mind eating a few right now 😉

It got proven to me once again what separates a regular cook from a big chef and why after 20 years they are still and established value! (A big chef with a great team behind him)

Great job guys! Thanks Carlos, Gilles and Stijn for being my partners in crime once again!

A million reasons to go to the Taste of Antwerp

April 17, 2013April 17, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

Not that I need that much convincing to go to the “Taste of Antwerp”, but maybe you guys do? So let me give you a looooooooot of reasons why shouldn’t miss this year’s edition that will take place from May 9^th to 12^th.

The first reason would already be the fact that some friends and acquaintances of mine are participating at this year’s edition, like 12 place du marché, Comocomo, mamakookt, De Schone van Boskoop (Michelin awarded), restaurant Ardent , ‘t Leeuwekopke and also Cheese masters Van Tricht… and if those names are not enough do check the rest of the list of participating restaurants and get blown away!! There are even some restaurants on it that I have on my wish list (some got added during the press conference 🙂 ) and I’m not only talking about the still to open “La Chapelle” 🙂

This year’s edition has changed a bit according to last editions. First of all “Taste of Antwerp” changed the location from the Vlaamse/ Waalsekaai to Waagnatie (in Navigation system you need to enter Rijnkaai 150). Secondly, and I know it might seem like bad news at first, but since this year an entrance fee of 5 EUR will be asked… but in exchange and in addition to your “entrance ticket” they give you 2 beverage vouchers… so the entrance fee is more a symbolic fee if you ask me.

Something else that is new on this year edition is the “Bowers & Wilkins Theater”. At this theater you’ll be able to follow master classes and cooking demonstrations from participating chefs, Beer & wine tastings, Autographing sessions, etc… The full schedule will soon come online.

I hear you think, this all sounds nice, but will the actual food cost me? Well the dishes will be costing between 4 and 7 EUR, which is a very reasonable price considering you’ll be able to try dishes from 3, 2 and 1 Michelin star awarded restaurants, explore new types of cuisines like Peruvian, Nepalees or Ethiopian. If you are as greedy as me and feel like trying everything from every restaurant, it might indeed get more expensive than imagined, but you guys won’t worry that is just very greedy me talking 😉

In case you feel like lifting it up a notch, you might consider taking the VIP-arrangement? This arrangement costs 99,99 EUR and has to be booked online via following link . But what do you get for this price? A very important question, I’ve listed it up for you:

1 + Entrance to Taste of Antwerp and the Bowers & Wilkins Theater (valid whole day)
2 + Access to the luxurious VIP pavilion.
3 + Reception by a hostess
4 + A glass of Perrier-Jouët champagne at arrival
5 + Coupons for Taste of Antwerp dishes with a value of 40 EUR
6 + Beer and cheese pairing with the Cheese masters Michel Van Tricht & Son and the Duvel Moortgat Brewsery
7 + Beverage à volonté
8 + Goodie bag

You can check the Taste of Antwerp website for more details.

It doesn’t matter which formula you choose to come to the Taste of Antwerp, the most important of it all is that you can enjoy some of the best food Antwerp has to offer! Nothing better than friend, family and great food all in 1 spot! FYI I have already tried some of dishes that will be served and I can say for a fact they are tasty!

Anyway I could keep naming reason why to come, but I have to stop somewhere

I do hope to see you guys at the Taste of Antwerp!

Thursday May 9^th between 14.00 – 24.00 u
Friday May 10^th between 14.00 – 24.00 u
Saturday May 11^thbetween 14.00 – 24.00 u
Sunday May 12^thbetween 14.00 – 22.00 u

My fiancée’s birthday weekend

April 9, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

It seems I didn’t only make my fiancée curious for her birthday weekend, also some colleagues and friends started to ask me yesterday when I’d finally start telling what I had planned 🙂

My fiancée is without any doubt one or maybe even the most important person in my life, she always believes in me, supports me and so much more. So spoiling her is my life mission and I’d do almost everything to make a smile appear on her face (and boy that is one beautiful smile). For me her birthday celebration has to be something to make her feel even more special! Usually my planning already starts around Christmas! Yes Christmas and her birthday is not until April….I just want to make sure that I have time enough to organize everything the way I want it, where I want it and to get everybody free (as people’s agendas are fuller every year). It is indeed a fact that it does become more difficult year after year to still find something as already on her first birthday that we were a couple I took her to Venice and since that time cities like Turin, Rome, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Thailand, etc….have passed the review! So you can see the “trouble”…

Celebrating only between us two wouldn’t just do the trick, or at least when we go abroad we obviously celebrate it there always by us two, but to compensate it before our trip I organize (without her knowing of course) either something with her friends or her family (or both). This year I chose to do something with her family and I chose restaurant Kamu. Why restaurant Kamu, well it was already on my wish list for a while 🙂 it might not be my birthday, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to eat well 🙂

If you haven’t been to Kamu yet, you should there’s a really good vibe in this restaurant. I definitely also had the best seat in the house (with the best view) of the evening and this was with a view of the open (but with a window in front for the smell) kitchen.

The reason this restaurant actually came on my list thanks to my fiancée’s sister 🙂 as she likes Kamu a lot. Anyhow I’m wondering off, we came here to eat something and I’m glad we did! Chef Emanuel opened our taste buds by serving us a homemade spring roll filled with duck confit, young spinach and black olive crumble as appetizer. I
also couldn’t imagine a better beverage to start the festivities than some
sparkling wine? Our choice went to the Joan Sarda cava.

At restaurant Kamu you can either go for the 3 or4 course menu or you can choose “à la carte”. We took the 3 course menu that we accompanied by a 2009 red Italian Barbera d’Alba by Reverdito. Piemonte is one of my favorite wine regions, after Valpolicella and Valtellina… I like them as the wines always have these very round tastes…

After the appetizer the first dish chef Emanuel prepared us was a Carpaccio from sea bass (if I remember it well). This got followed by some veal with black salsify and what we call in Dutch “smoutebollen “or “Oliebollen” (in Dutch from The Netherlands). Normally these are served at a street carnival and are sweet, but in this case Chef Emanuel made “salty”ones to fit the dish. I always get so happy when I see creative dishes like this.

For dessert we could choose if we wanted either a chocolate or lemon dessert. I picked the lemon dessert. On the tune of Stevie Wonder’s Happy birthday and some fireworks they also brought my fiancée’s dessert 🙂

Overall a very nice meal and a true price/quality value and a successful first part of my fiancée’s birthday as I saw the smile 🙂

So the family part has been done, now our “couple” part starts, but you’ll have to wait for tomorrow to read all about it… I could give a tip, but I actually already gave a tip in one of my previous blogposts about my fiancée’s birthday planning

To be continued ….

Taste of Antwerp: News flash

March 28, 2013March 28, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

The list of chefs that will be present at “taste of Antwerp” next month just keeps getting better and better! They already had an impressive list (including some friends of mine) with cheese maturers Michel & Frederick Van Tricht, Thomas Coenen with his team of 12 Place du marché, the lovely ladies of Mama kookt and a bunch of Michelin star awarded chefs, restaurant Ardent, ‘t leeuwekopke, etc…. but the cherry on the cake for me is without any doubt that Sergio Herman and Nick Bril (Sergio’s sous-chef) will be presenting some of “La Chapelle’s” dishes. For you who don’t know “La Chapelle” yet, this is the new restaurant project of Sergio Herman in Antwerp on which they have already been working for 2 years and will finally be opening January 2014 (I’m counting the days for it to open!!). The executive chef in this restaurant will be Nick Bril who has already been for a while at Sergio’s side. So if you already want a sneak peak of what “La Chapelle” will be offering on their menu! (Although I think you’ll have to wait in line for a bit).

Hope to see you there!

You can find the list of restaurant that already confirmed their participation on the following link

Taste of Antwerp

9 – 12 May at “Waagnatie”

Rijnkaai 150, 2000 Antwerp

A pupil in the footsteps of his master

March 22, 2013March 22, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 3 Comments

Last week I thought it was time for some bounding time with my future brother in law (hope he doesn’t freek out me calling him this) and what better way than with food (knowing he’s a big food lover). Deciding where to go was not too difficult; the name of restaurant Ardent came pretty quick as I already wanted to eat here for a while now! Especially after reading a lot of positive comments. Knowing that he had worked a while at “De schone van boskoop” (a restaurant I’ve already been quite a few times with my family when I was younger and I’ve always liked) and learned from a chef like Wouter Keersmaekers I already had a small suspicion that he would also be a lover of local products and forgotten vegetables….And I was right, I could see the hand of the master in the “pupil’s” dishes and I’m pretty sure the pupil will soon be a master himself! All dishes were (for me) perfectly seasoned. I’m a bread lover (guilty as charged) , spreading real butter on it is like being in heaven. So trying something else when they serve butter is unlikely to happen, but I have to admit the little cup with a butternut “cream” with parmesan cheese on our table looked tempting… to make a long story short we were almost scraping the glazing off of the cup 🙂 (Need I say more?)

Deciding what to eat was again (like every time) the most difficult part of the evening as again (like every time) everything on the menu look and sounds tasty… so best alternative just taking the tasting menu. We took the 4 course menu (a 5 course menu is also available) with the matching wines.

Before we started our trip through Ardent’s menu they served us an “amuse” which was crispy pork with smoked duck breast which (after we had eaten shamefully emptied the butternut cup) was a great way to prepare and open our taste buds for all the delights still to come…

The first stop of our trip was spicy Simmental tartar and fried langoustine with sourdough toast and horseradish cream. Correctly prepared (Langoustine also fried as it should) and too spicy and a balanced out dish if you ask me. It accompanied by a white German wine “S cuvee” that had a typical Mosel wine smell and taste which I love so much and which went very good with the subtle taste of the dish.

The next stop shortly fried scallops with cauliflower in 3 modes, hand peeled grey north sea shrimps (so much better than the packages you buy in the shop) and parmesan sauce paired with this time a white Austrian wine called ‘Austrian Pepper. This paired wine was a bit more subtle then the previous one.

Our last stop before my sweet tooth would get spoiled brought us braised pork cheek with truffle gravy and “macedoine” of parsley root and lentils. For people who are scared to order dishes like this, pork cheek is not fat, but rather subtle and tender meat! Definitely one of my favorites of the night together with maybe also my favorite wine of the night a red Portuguese wine called “dill” (like the herb), I unfortunately can’t remember the vineyard anymore 😦 (I’d suggest to go to Ardent and try it)

As dessert they brought us a Vacharin which is freshly prepared vanilla ice cream with meringue, whipped cream, chocolate crumble and chocolate mousse… I honestly was afraid the portion would be too big, but lucky me it was just the right size and accompanied by a lovely Don PX Jerez wine that went really well with the chocolate flavor of the dish.

I can only compliment the young chef on his talent (and his team).I’m a fan! It is true that there were a few minor things or points that would need some attention during our dinner, but I’m 100% that they only need some extra time to make a visit to this restaurant a perfect and even better experience! (not even open for 6 months I think). One last quick word (I promise) about the Ardent’s sommelier, he reminded me of Steven Wullaert (from restaurant NUANCE **). as he had the same sparkle and passion when talking about wine. (maybe even his way of talking, but then without the Ghent accent)

Keep up the good job! I will definitely be back at Ardent! (Not sure yet when,as too many restaurants still to try)

P.S: A message to my tableguest: we’ll be having some new “bounding time” very soon and I have a feeling it’ll be at Wouter Keersmaekers’ place 🙂 just to show you where Ardent’s chef got his magic.

Restaurant Ardent:

Website: http://www.resto-ardent.be/

Address: Dageraadplaats 3, 2018 Antwerp – Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0)3 336 32 99

Bistronomie 2013

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 9 Comments

Yesterday the new Bistronomie guide for the year 2013 got introduced right in the heart of my favorite city in Belgium (Antwerp), namely at the “De Koninck” Brewery. For you who don’t know Bistronomie , Bistronomie is a guide of restaurants spread all over Flanders and Brussels that serve affordable gastronomy… (mostly also hidden treasures) What is not to like about that? Good food for a correct price?

I can also say for a fact that there are some real beauties in the Guide like L’épiceriedu cirque, Barta vin, àl’improviste, Veranda, BistrotMi’ró and JEF to name a few I’ve been to! Although there are still lots of them to try (my wishlist is getting inhumanly proportions). So I can really advice to go and get this guide or look on their website for more info! Hope you guys will like as much as I do!

BTW, I got a taste of my own medicine, you remember that in my previous blogpost I mentioned about ”gastronomical heart of Europe” that I was trying to make my fiancé curious about her birthday? Well now she will be using the Bistronomie for my birthday and I have no clue where she’ll be taking me 🙂 🙂 (Checkmate, that how they call that I think ;-))

I do hope one day Bistronomie will expand their guide with some great spots abroad (keeping my fingers crossed)

I would like to thank Johannes Denis and Steve Engels(founders Bistronomie) for showing and teaching everybody Gastronomy doesn’t have to be expensive!

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