Ristorante del grano, a lunch in paradise

August 13, 2012August 13, 2012 / dolcevitaspinelli / 2 Comments

Saturday I was lucky enough to have lunch at ‘ristorante del grano’ in the middle of the wheat fields or ‘paradise’ as I would prefer calling it. My reason for being here was to try a few new creations of fresh foods producer ‘Come a Casa’ (you know, I’m sure you’ve seen them in the supermarket).

When arrived at the fields, I have to admit that I somehow indeed felt like ‘come a casa’ because the first thing I saw was a ‘Piaggio Ape’ just like my Italian grandfather used to have (without the logo that is 🙂 )

But I came here to try some new dishes… So let’s follow the arrow and find our way home

Somehow following the arrow seemed really like going to paradise (but this time I reaaaaally wanted to follow that light)

I have to be honest that when I got asked to try packaged lasagnas, I wasn’t too enthusiastic

I mean, being an Italian and eating lasagna that is not freshly made just doesn’t work (or so I thought)… I have never in my life eaten pre-packed lasagna’s or even other dishes. But I did want to give come a casa the benefit of the doubt, because you can’t judge a book by its cover….

So with an open mind I was ready to try the new products lasagnas ‘Come a Casa’ wanted to introduce, the ‘Lasagna Verdure’ and ‘Lasagna Bolognaise’. For both lasagnas ‘Come a Casa’ used whole wheat flour instead of regular flour to make the pasta.

Why whole wheat? It is said this is more healthy for us, so reason enough 🙂 (FYI, I personally also make my pizza dough with whole wheat flour instead of regular… for me it just gives an extra punch of flavor to your dish).

To my opinion there was no better place for the big introduction than in ‘Ristorante del Grano’

But check out the pictures and you be the judge ….

I shouldn’t forget to show you guys our little place in paradise

So setting perfect-> Check

To open our taste buds, we received some antipasti and some caprese as starter dish (For the wine lovers amongst you, we first got served a Prosecco gran Riserva with the antipasti and a 2010 Pinot Grigio from Veneto with our starter)

But of course we were here to try the news lasagnas… (I love having more than 1 main course) a bonus was that it got served in style

First we received the Lasagna Verdure served with a 2011 organic southern Italian rosé wine: Era Terre di Chieti

After that we tried the Lasagna bolognaise served with a 2010 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Col di Sotto by casa vinicola Botter

I did indeed like both lasagna’s, first of all because you can taste that they used fresh ingredients and not only tomato (for the vegetable one), although I personally preferred the bolognaise, I think it is because I need meat 🙂 but I’ sure my veggie friends will enjoy the Lasagna verdure as much…

The only thing I do find strange is that the lasagna got served with salad… but as it looked so good I ate it after my lasagna’s (it would have been a crime throwing this away)

And as if this was not enough, they spoiled us with a trio of desserts lined up for us 🙂

Mascarpone with fresh strawberries and a meringue crumble, panna cotta with red fruit coulis and a classic Tiramisu.

The perfect end of a perfect lunch. If paradise would exist I sure hope it would be like the Ristorante del Grano!

Even though I would prefer making my own lasagna, BUT if I ever won’t be able to make it (or be too lazy, I admit) the Come a casa whole wheat lasagna would definitely be my first choice as a replacement… I’m sure you also won’t regret it

Thanks to the come a casa team and the wonderful hosts for all their care!

Walrus and me

August 2, 2012 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

If you are expecting a heroic story about me and a walrus, I’ll have to disappoint you…

What I do have for you guys, is another great spot to do some nice eating, called Walrus 🙂

I actually got to know this eatery thanks to my mom, she ate at Walrus with a couple of friends and liked it. I, trusting my mom’s taste, of course wanted to try this… (just to change and not go to the same restaurants again). I can say for a fact that I officially like it :-). Summarizing my impressions: Good honest food, good portions, a pleasant environment, cute waitresses and last but not least, normal and correct prices for both the food and drinks.

I’m a quit big eater and usually feel like eating a starter, but the problem is that sometimes I’m the only one at the table to feels like eating 2 whole dishes… Lucky for me Walrus had a great solution for this, a Tapamix (with some very nasty meatballs). So the tapamix made my evening even better 🙂

Our choice of dishes tonight went to the Vol-au-vent (I really love this dish) and for my company Salmon with baby spinach and mashed potatoes. A feast for both the taste buds as the eye…

To make a long story short (or shorter, because I always like to give you guys the whole picture 🙂 )

If you don’t feel like cooking and want to have some good food in a nice environment, Walrus is the place for you…

Hope you’ll like it!

Walrus eatery

Website: http://www.eetcafewalrus.com/

Address:

Jan van Beersstraat 2

2018 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 3 238 39 93

TheTricolere a piece of Belgian pride

July 18, 2012July 19, 2012 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

For the Belgian National celebration the 21^st of July, the fast-food chain Quick has create an exclusive burger to make the national celebration even bigger. They created the Tricolore, a hamburger in the colors of the Belgian flag. A black bun, some red tomatoes and yellow golden cheddar cheese and this for only 2,50 EUR. The best of all, it will be available from July 20th untill the 22nd in every Quick restaurant in Belgium.

FYI, Quick is also organizing a Drache contest , via the following facebook page you have to guess (before Friday) what temperature it will be on Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Royal Palace in Brussels. The price is a Free Quick menu for you and 20 of your friends.

Good luck and if you don’t win I hope you’ll at least be trying the Tricolore.

Tomorrowland with a Gastonomical touch

July 8, 2012July 8, 2012 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

Who knew a Festival could get a Gastronomical touch? When I think of a festival, I usually think of hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries… but certainly not of gastronomy

This year Tomorrowland decided to combine dance music with good food. During the 3 days of the festival from 27 to 29 July you’ll be able to enjoy all kinds of gastronomical food, going from a healthy or gluten free snack to a three to Michelin star meal.

Please find below a list of the gastronomical delicacies you’ll be able to enjoy during these 3 days:

Vegetarian and gluten free:

One of THE Belgium’s healthy food ambassadors Alain from the Antwerp veggie Walhalla Lombardia. FYI for the 2009 edition of tomorrowland he made a special ‘Tomorrowland Magic Mushroom’ per request of Moby. For people wanting their gluten free meal, they can already reserve it or request more info via lombardia@tomorrowland.be

Refined dining

Tommorowland also thought of the people wanting something more refined. These people will REALLY get spoiled.

At the main stage you’ll be finding nobody less than Wout Bru with his team from the Michelin star awarded restaurant Chez Bru (located in South of France). Here you will be able to try a top dish with a nice glass of wine. For Wout, this is not the first visit to the festival, last year he served more than 1000 meals in 3days.

For our friends with a sweet tooth Tomorrowland has asked Master pastry chef Roger van Damme from restaurant ‘Het Gebaar’ (FYI, he has the only Michelin star restaurant in the world that is only open for lunch). He will be in his ‘peperkoekhuisje’ aka the house of cake from the fairy tale Hansel and Grettel , where he’ll be serving a dessert specially created for Tomorrowland

For those who want the TOP OF THE BILL, they can go for the 3 Michelin star 7 course meal at a for the moment still secret location and chef at the festival (my personal guess would be Sergio Herman) Unfortunately only 8 lucky people will be able to enjoy this meal. What makes it even more special is that you cannot buy the seats for this meal, you can only win them. On top of the gastronomical dinner, you’ll also be getting some FULL MADNESS COMBI (VIP) tickets for the festival. More info on this later.

And as if this was not yet enough, they Tomorrowland has also forsee a Cocktail bar, where Manuel & Olivier Wouters from cocktail bar Sips will be showing the art of making cocktails (and letting everybody drink them aswell of course).

Hope this will make your Tomorrowland experience even more unforgettable! This even makes me want to go 😉

WHAT DOES THIS ALL COST?

A ticket for both restaurants (Wout Bru and Roger van Damme) can be booked via http://www.tomorrowland.be/. Wout Bru will be serving 3 dishes for 27,5 EUR (includes a glass of wine), Roger Vandamme will be serving his dessert for 17,5 EUR including a glass of dessert wine or a cup of coffee. I’d advise you to be quick, as there limited seats available

Enjoy

My birthday weekend part 2

June 5, 2012 / dolcevitaspinelli / 2 Comments

So as you could read in my previous blogpost, I’m a real spoiled boy! The first part of my birthday was already mind blowingJ. For who thought it stopped there, I’ve got something coming. This year my fiancée really had outdone herself to make it something great. She had a family and friends part, which are both very important to me. I can reassure you that they really made my day(s). Ok the looooots of gifts I got (like a Le Creuset pot (I’m too cheap to buy it myelf) didn’t make my weekend worse 😉

After the amazing dinner with my family and a brunch with my best fiends (I’ve got the best friends ever!), I actually thought that was it. But noooooo sir, as cherry on the cake my girlfriend had booked a table at restaurant Veranda. You cannot believe how long I’ve already tried to get into this restaurant!!

If I would have to describe this restaurant in a few words I would say that this is a restaurant serving highly gastronomical food (Michelin star level) with no nonsense attitude, in a normal brasserie I might even say bar like setting (which actually makes you feel more comfortable ) for a very normal price.

I did have high expectations as many great Chefs had told me so many great stories about this restaurant… I do indeed have to confirm what they said, as it was a very nice experience. The restaurant only has one menu that changes every x days, but also the wine list changes constantly.

Our menu for the night was Rouget with fennel (served with white Bastingage from the Loire Valley 100% Chenin) . Followed by Encornet (a kind of calamari)with green asparagus (served with a Bellotti Bianco, even though it is a table wine I still liked its rich taste). As a main course they served a lambs shoulder served with Grenache from the Languedoc (with the dish it worked, I wouldn’t drink it without food) called Matin Calme . We finished off with getting 2 different dessert (yes per person, we’re greedy I admit 😉 )

A true petting of the tongue (I think the pictures speak for themselves), this is definitely a restaurant I’ll be returning. (If I manage to find a free spot). A true price – quality value! So thank you to the team of the restaurant and also to my fiancée for making this all possible. One restaurant less on my to do list 🙂 jeeeeeeeej

Restaurant Veranda

Address:

Guldenvliesstraat 60

2600 Berchem, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0)2 18.55.95

My birthday weekend

May 29, 2012 / dolcevitaspinelli / 2 Comments

I really consider myself very lucky, especially after I have seen how much my girlfriend, my family and my friends have done to give me a wonderful birthday weekend filled with lots of friendship and a looooooooooot of food!

My birthday weekend or I might even say week, as last already started last week J. Last Wednesday I already celebrated it with my dad. My dad suggested a Spanish or rather for Basque cuisine at restaurant Comocomo. yes,that is right, an Italian going to eat Spanish, funny stuff 🙂 )

I can only say that this restaurant really surprised me in a very positive way! The first time I passed the restaurant I thought it was a sushi place (without looking at the name that is), because there is a long flat-belt conveyor (transportband in Dutch).Just like at Harvey Nichols in London at the top floor.

The way it works is actually the following. Comocomo have 7 different colors of plates, every color stands for the type of dish. For example Yellow was for dishes with cheese, blue for dishes with fish, green for veggie dishes….

At the end of your meal they’ll just count the amount of plates you have in front of you, the more plates you eat the cheaper it gets 🙂

They have about 60-70 different pintxos and if you saw something on the blackboard that you didn’t find on the carrousel yet, you can just ask for it… FYI, they have their hams, etc…. imported from Spain!

And don’t worry, you’ll eat more than enough, in fact I think you’ll eat even more as there are soooo many yummy things passing by (I had to stop, because my girlfriend started giving me a ‘ didn’t you have enough’ look… so I stopped, but I could go on and on and on 🙂

Also the wine lovers will like this place as Beatriz has made a very nice selection of some of the best Spanish wines (most of them can also be taken per glass). To help people to know where a certain Spanish wine is from, they added a map that indicates all the great Spanish vineyard regions (so you can even learn something about Spanish wines). We went for a Tempranillo by Aranleon (we had 3 bottles, so I think we liked it)

So if you want to have a nice evening with friends and try something different, Comocomo is definitely something for you!

Restaurant Comocomo

Antwerp restaurant:

Kammenstraat 75
2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0)3 232 02 10

Brussels Restaurant:

Antoine Dansaertstraat 19
1000 Brussels, Belgium
+32 (0)2 503 03 30

Stay tuned for the second part of my birthday…..

My first ‘official’ slow food experience

May 17, 2012May 17, 2012 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Yesterday I had my first official ‘Slow Food’ experience. What is Slow Food you might ask? ‘Slow food’ is a ‘movement’ that try to show and teach people that there is more than only Fast Food, as for some people that is where the gastronomy stops. They do this by putting cultural and traditional cuisines and the picture in the picture prepared with ecological and/or artisan products. This movement actually originates from Torino and was founded around 1986 by Carlo Petrini.

I had already heard about Slow food and had already seen some restaurants in Torino that are proud being part of the Slow food movement. I k now I make it sound like some kind of religion, but it’ not, it is just a way of respecting what nature gives us and handle it with lots of respect and care. Technically speaking most of the elder Italian mothers and grandmothers prepare their food like this every day, so looking at it like that I have already tried it, but not really at a restaurant. Not until yesterday and I didn’t even try it in Italy, but at restaurant (or rather trattoria) Rossi in Leuven. It might have not been in Italy, but the interior, food and chef make you actually feel that actually are in Italy.

Let me give you an example, you can choose between dishes the ‘à la carte’ menu or you can that the ‘Sorpresa’ menu (aka surprise menu) that the chef changes every day according to what he can get hold of that day. But funny enough, sometimes nothing on the ‘à la carte’ is there, so you just have to take the taste menu 🙂 If this would be in a regular restaurant, people wouldn’t be amused, but in this kind of place it is just part of the Italian experience (this is really how it also happens in Italy).

Yesterday’s menu was Zucchini Flower filled with ricotta and parmesan cheese, followed Asparagus ravioli ‘al burro e Salvia’ and as main course Cod fish served with Panzanella

You could really taste the freshness of the ingredients used and that the chef knows ‘de kneepjes van het vak’ as we say in Dutch (meaning that he really knows what he’s doing). I have enjoyed every bit of every dish. The food that Rossi serves really shows what I’ve been saying in lots of my blog posts, the simplest things are always best! You don’t need millions of ingredients to prepare a tasty dish, just a few ones from a good quality.

So basically if you feel like enjoying a night with great company (which I had) honest food (REAL Italian food) for an honest price (30EUR pp for a sorpresa menu) in a normal environment (not posh), this is your place! Booking a table is recommended.

Hope you’ll be enjoying the slow food as much as me!

FYI, this is also one of the only restaurants where they make and serve their coffee with a traditional Bialetti

Restaurant Rossi

Address:

Standonckstraat 2

3000 Leuven, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 16 62 48 48

Homecooking without cooking at home

May 8, 2012May 8, 2012 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Just two weeks ago Mama Kookt opened its doors. Mama kookt is a caterer/delishop that focuses on making home cooked meals. Mayda andBeatriz ( owners) are of the opinion that people don’t take enough time to eat a decent meal (I fully agree with them), which often results in eating fast food or unhealthy food. Eating a good home cooked meal is so much tastier (I sometimes dream of home cooked meals, I really do 🙂 ). That is why they decided to change this by offering a home cooked meal for a modest price of 9,5 EUR, that you can either pick up or get delivered at home. Mayda and Beatriz prepare their home cooked meals with a Hispanic twist as Mayda is from Venezuela and Beatriz from Spain.

Just in a few clicks or via the phone you order your home cooked meal either per day, a week or a whole month. FYI, the menu also changes every day and for what you can see on their website looks very yummy :-). Every day you can choose between meat, fish or veggie always accompanied with vegetables (so you even get your daily vitamins) and for those who want also some desserts. You can also just pass buy their shop in the trendy Antwerp fashionstreet Kammestraat. In their shop they also cell imported Spanish, Italian and English deli products.

So if you’re in for a nice home cooked meal with a southern influence, you should definitely check out Mama kookt!

I’m sorry for my foreign followers, for the moment it is only available in Belgium… but who knows, maybe someday they’ll be thinking of expansion 🙂

Mama kookt:

Website: http://www.mamakookt.be

Address:

Kammenstraat 79

2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0)3 232 03 10

One step closer to feel like a top chef

May 7, 2012May 7, 2012 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Louis XV, Bras, Hof van Cleve, Chez bru, Oud Sluis ,… some of the best restaurants in the world and they have one thing in common, they all use plates from a Belgian (Antwerp) company called Serax maison d’être. I have to be honest, that had already heard talking about Serax, but I didn’t know they were this big. Even lots of airlines use these plates to serve their food in first class… who knew?

Eventhough they are world renowned for their plates, the initially made flower pots :-). What actually made them famous. Around the 1980’s the owners from Serax (Serge and Axel) took over their mother’s pottery business and decided to take the pottery one step further… (they of course also still design pottery)

What Serax tries to do is bring and create affordable design created by artist who respect the rules of the art like Pieter Stockmans (he’s the one who designed the plates used for the wedding of Prince Albert of Monaco), Ann Van Hoey (for Belgians, she is Mrs Mark Uytterhoeven), Antonio Sciortino, ….

What I noticed in all the elements that get designed for the tableware, pottery or even the glassware, is that all designers get their inspiration out of nature or just objects that nobody ever thought of giving a different function. So basically they have the same motto as me, Keep it simple! I couldn’t agree more, as the simplest things are usually the most beautiful.

Sometimes designers work together with chefs to make an own plate line. Like Michel Bras and Roos van de Velde for example. Take a look at the picture below and tell me what it reminds you of?

Yes, it reminds you of cabbage

I know it might frighten you, the fact that they design tableware with famous chefs (especially for the price),don’t be! As I already mentioned Serax makes and wants to make affordable design in which they succeed

Yet again a products that makes you proud to be Belgian and will help you to get one step closer of being a Masterchef with Masterchef material 🙂

Il macho bien soigné

April 27, 2012April 27, 2012 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

You can really see that people like it to go out for dinner, as even during the week it is so difficult to find a restaurant that is not fully booked! Even with a long list of restaurants I want to try, it still stays difficult. Thanks to my guarding angel, I managed to get a spot at restaurant ‘Il Macho’. I have to be honest, that I had never heard about this restaurant, I actually discovered it while looking on the website of restaurant ‘Bien soigné’ which is of the same owner. The pictures I saw from Il Macho looked very inviting, so I figured, why not try it… My fellow eater and I got a spot at the bar, I know lots of people don’t like this spot, but for me this is one of the best spots in a restaurant

Yummy food, friendly staff (not sure who of both guys was the macho 🙂 )and a relaxing interior with a good price-quality-quantity value, that is how I would describe restaurant Il Macho. Although they have nice dishes on their ‘à la carte’ menu, my friend and I choose something the suggestions on the blackboard, where you could clearly see that Il macho only wants to work with products in their season. My friend took the grilled asparagus, with smoked salmon and beurre blanc. I on the other hand took the garden salad with Gambas, what was nice that they also put grilled/in oil marinated paprika in the salad which gave it a nice extra flavor.

The restaurant also has a nice selection of wines all for a normal price, per glass you’ll pay between 4-6 EUR. We started our Macho adventure with for me a spumante from the in Friuli based Tenuata Pinni and my friend a prosecco from piemonte by Araldica. The fact that they took sparkeling wines from these regions, shows that they really try to be different than all the other restaurants. As Friuli is more known for its white wines and Piemonte for its red wines and not really for their sparkling wines! Good job guys!

We continued our dinner with for me Cod fish with asparagus, samphire, apple and hollandaise sauce. My fellow eater had risotto of wild king scallop, asparagus and lamb ears (the vegetables, not the animal).