Two days ago I had a nice dinner at Bistro and winebar “The Glorious”. I actually arrived a little bit too late, so my friends already started with a glass of champagne (not bad for a Tuesday night). When I arrived I could off course not do less than my friends, so I joined them in their champagne vibe. It was a nice glass of champagne, but for a winebar I would have expected that they would have chosen a more special champagne.  The “amuse-gueules” were really nice, freshly made grissini and tapenade… So basically a flying start. After that I had the “Seawolf accompanied by a risotto with in olive oil marinated summer vegetables and basil”, my friends had the “Sweetbread (Kalfszwezerik) with artichokes, mushrooms and port jus” and   “Rib-eye with red raspberry tarragon sauce”… I had a taste of all 3 dishes (don’t worry, I left some for my friends J ) and I have to say that all 3 were very good! You really taste the good quality of the ingredients and the plats looked like beautiful paintings . Off course we didn’t drink water to accompany this meal, as the choice of wines at “The glorious” is wide, we just asked the sommelier what he would recommend. He suggested us a South African Red wine, the Pinotage (a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault)  from Sumaridge winery. We really enjoyed the choice, the wine was a little bit sweeter and fruitier . We didn’t have a starter, so we felt morally obliged to have a dessert (every excuse is good). It was actually a big surprise because most desserts were made by Master chocolatier Pierre Marcolini. My friends actually discovered it, they took the” Biscuit from dark chocolate , crème brûlee  with Madagascar vanilla , pieces of red raspberry, sabajon of milk chocolate and red raspberry sorbet “ and the other one enjoyed his “Chocolate pie with a hazelnut crust, orange, chocolate mousse from dark Ecuadorian chocolate  with a little Moelleux au chocolat”. They discovered it, because without knowing, they had exactly the same dessert a few weeks ago at the Pierre Marcolini shop…  funny stuff!!  The coffees were also accompanied by Marcolini sweets…

All by all a very nice restaurant and I would definitely return.

 Restaurant The Glorious:

 Website: http://www.theglorious.be/

Address:

                Burburestraat 4a

                 2000 Antwerp, Belgium

 Phone n°: +32 (0) 3 237 06 13

I highly recommend this restaurant everyone, it is perfect for 2 or for a whole group! A while ago the guys from work wanted to have dinner somewhere, and as you all might know finding a place where you can enter with 10-12 people is not always easy. So I suggested to go to Smooth & Tasty, a restaurant I had already enjoyed eating at a few times before. What actually surprised me is that when I called to reserve the table, we didn’t have to take a menu with the whole group… Yes indeed, you’ve heard it correctly

The owner prefers it this way as it  might be too difficult to find dishes everybody loves, etc….  The day we went to the restaurant I think almost everybody took something different… and still everything got served at the same time and we didn’t have to wait endlessly but we did take some tapas to start to give the kitchen some time (as we were not the only people in the restaurant). I remember everybody having enjoyed what they had ordered. And this for very reasonable prices.

Smooth & Tasty has all kind of different dishes on their Menu. At first you might think that this will have an influence on the food, but everything you eat there is from high quality and well prepared. I usually eat Thai food there as the Thai food at Smooth & Tasty is – in my opinion – better than in some Thai restaurants I’ve been before.  Colleagues of mine tried duck, steaks, etc… and they also had to admit that the quality was superb.

Mussels and restaurant Maritime, they go together like a horse and carriage …. Not only are they well known for their mussels, but my personal favorite is the sole with freshly made tartar sauce and French fries… The first time I tried it at Maritime, I was silent for a few minutes (and I don’t shut up easily). I had never eaten such a good sole! Perfectly prepared! When you are at this restaurant, you can really feel the history. Not only because it already the 3rd generation that this family owns this restaurant, but also the fact that you are in the oldest part of town. Surrounded by The Cathedral, the Renaissance City hall (on UNESCO list) and only 2 steps from the Scheldt (Schelde) river and Antwerp oldest streets. Maritime is also a must -during the Hunting season! Everything at Maritime gets prepared in the classical way and with love, you can just feel and see it when you get your food. Maritime also has a wonderful wine selection, we have to thank Glen (the 3rd generation) for that! Glen & his team really make your visit to Maritime a memorable moment and show you that food doesn’t have to be complicated to be at its tastiest !

Restaurant Maritime:

Website: http://www.maritime.be/

Address:

Suikerrui 4

2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n°:  +32 (0)3 233 07 58

You know the feeling coming home and don’t feel like cooking and don’t really feel like going too far to have dinner…. I know I do!  One of those nights I decided to try out restaurant Mess Officier, about 4 min by car from my house (remember it was a lazy night, so walking was out of the question). After my first time at Mess Officier, I’ve been going there ever since J. One of my favorite Belgian dishes would be “Stoofcarbonade” or “Stoofvlees” as most of us would call it. “Stoofvlees” is a Belgian beef stew made with dark Belgian beer that just has to be served with French fries and accompanied by a nice Belgian “Trappist” beer. I’ve already tried “stoofvlees” in a lot of restaurants and lots of times it is too dry, or they didn’t leave it to rest long enough (what usually should be at least overnight) and therefore the taste isn’t what it should be…. But at Mess Officier it is always sooooo good (writing this makes me actually pretty hungry) and on top of that they make their own French fries and their own mayonnaise (made from mustard and a bit of lemon). This is exactly what I like about places like this, they try to give their best to satisfy the customer!! For people who like organ meat, this restaurant is also for you as they always have some suggestions for Organ lovers, like marrow (mergpijp), calf brains, etc…. Don’t worry guys they really have a wide variety of different dishes!! Mess Officier also always have some nice international wine suggestions that can be taken by bottle or by glass.

Bon appétit!

Retaurant Mess Officier:

Website: no website

Address :

De Burletlaan 187
2650 Edegem, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 3 294 73 61