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)

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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 🙂 .

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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.

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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).

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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!!

Healthy High tea

November 23, 2015November 23, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Normally I don’t write 2 times about the same thing, but sometimes I make an exception, either because I like the product/place very much or the people behind it (in this case both). Although it has already been a few months since my first healthy breakfast experience by “Floom” during one of its famous brunches. It didn’t make me a lesser fan. My only problem was that due to lots of full weekends I wasn’t able to join the other brunches they held after the one I went to :-(. This weekend the tables turned. I found out they would not only have their ‘traditional brunch, but also a high tea in the afternoon!!! I cleared my agenda and contacted Floom to add a chair at the the table of friend who told me 🙂 I know it seems like me inviting/pushing myself at my friend’s table…but I just wanted to get floomanised again!!! So if for that I need to push… be it 😉 🙂 but for the record, my friends were more than happy to have me at their table… I obviously first asked them… if they would have said ‘No’I would have asked for a free table riiiiiight next to their table and looked at them in a very angry way 😉

So all of this just to say I joined Floom’s high tea aka Floom delight 🙂 :-)It was only the 2^nd time I tried Floom’s dishes, but just like the first time I was surprised how njammy all of this food is even it being of a healthy level I usually don’t have in the morning/afternoon. Part of the temptation is also because of the nice presentation… the eye wants what they eye wants. Just like with the ‘regular’ Floom brunches they always try to find a nice and unique location, which in this case was very unique! At some point I was afraid they were gonna ask me to do some push-ups after eating as the high tea took place at m4teria. M4teria is basically a gym where you train with a personal coach 🙂 luckily it wasn’t part of Floom’s concept this time… it would have taken eating healthy to a whoooooole new level.

What makes me even happier is to see that Floom tries to involve other local products in its brunches or better the passionate people behind these products. Like for last weekend’s event Aldo Neri a bakker (with a big B) that brings bread to another level or Migino that is famous for its oils made out of nuts ( a favorite of lots of famous chefs) that made in case of the brunch his Nutella-like chocolate paste but without added sugars 🙂 . Even the Bubbles, Cuvée Joseph, we had were local … basically nothing but getting surprised and learning new things this afternoon….

Let us not forget the Floom home made products as that’s what the whole high tea or brunches are about (well that and being healthy). Please feast your eyes on a the list of some of the bits and bites we got to enjoy

Scones
Dried fruit jam (I ate the whole jar)
Raspberry chia jam
Granola bites
Mini chocolate donuts
Carrot cake flap jacks
Granola cookies (they came with a raspberry jam on top of them, njaaaammy…)
Raspberry cookies
Raw cookies
Sandwiches with salmon and cucumber ; beetroot and carrot (on of my favorites) and egg-salad

Glad I was part of this edition!! Fingers crossed I make it for their next brunch or delight event!! If you would want to be part of their next brunch of delight event, check their facebook page!!

Spanish premium style bubbles

November 6, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

When people talk about Cava wine they always feel the need to compare it with Champagne (the same goes for Spumante or Prosecco). They mostly also see Cava (or prosecco or Spumante or any other sparkling wine) as an inferior product compared to Champagne. To my opinion the only things they have in common is the way they get produced and the fact they both have bubbles in them… besides that it are products that have their own style with their own identity and characteristics. That one prefers drinking Champagne over Cava (or another sparkling wine) or vice versa is a matter of taste and preference for a particular style (or that’s what it should be, not just because of the name of a product). This doesn’t mean I don’t like Champagne, I’m just saying there is more than only Champagne 🙂

A few weeks ago I joined a dinner hosted by the Spanish Ambassador to get to know the top segment of Spanish bubbles aka Premium Cava’s. The choice of restaurant for this dinner at ‘Le Chalet de la fôret’ didn’t come as an entire surprise knowing the restaurant recently added a new TOP member to their team. After working 4 beautiful years at the legendary restaurant ‘Comme Chez Soi’ my dear friend César Roman decided it was time for something new and joined the 2 Michelin starred restaurant ‘Le Chalet de la fôret’s team. I cannot imagine a better ‘ambassador’ for Spanish wines than César, he’s one very proud Spanish person 🙂 (who can blame him?). César’s aim at ‘Le Chalet de la fôret’ is making their wine cellar the most beautiful/best in Belgium…

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Did you know the following things about Cava? Did you know that yearly there are produced around 241 million bottles on over 33 352 hectares of land ? With 97% of the land being in the Sant Sadurni d’Anoia region, basically the area around Barcelona (to keep it simple). It also seem that Belgians are on the most important cava drinkers. There are 3 kinds of Cava: Cava (around 9 months of aging), Cava Reserva (around 15 months of aging)and Cava Gran Reserva (around 30 months of aging)? Of the 241 million bottles I mentioned before 30 million are considered as Premium cava which are Special Cuvées, Reserva’s and Gran Reserva’s….

The biggest “problem” during the dinner was keeping up the pass :-). There were about 10 different Cava’s served during our 5 course meal. It might not seem a lot, but you would be surprised…. You probably think I will say I loved every Cava we were served during the dinner, to that I say no! There were some I preferred over others, but this doesn’t mean they weren’t good, they just were not my cup of tea… (of course not, you were having Cava not tea 😉 OK, bad joke). We started and ended in the same way, with beautiful bubbles 🙂

Just FYI the full list of cava’s we tasted:

2012 Microcosmos by Llopart (rosé)
2013 Privat Brut Nature Reserva by Alta Alella
2012 Reina Maria Cristina Vintage Brut Reserva by Codorniu
2012 Carles Andreu Reserva Brut (rosé) by Carles Andre
2006 Casa Sala Gran Reserva by Freixenet
2008 Gran Claustro Gran Reserva by Perelada
2005 La Capella Gran Reserva by Juvé & Camps
2010 Núria Claverol by Sumarroca
2004 Particular de Recaredo Gran Reserva by Recaredo
2013 Subirat Parent Brut Reserva by Vilarnau

My preferred Cava’s of the night were the 2010 Núria Claverol by Sumarroca because of its complex brioche/almond/ smokey aroma’s with citrus accents and even hinds of pear… basically a rich cava with refined buttery touches 🙂 (butter = good). Fun fact, the bottles of the Núria are numbered… Another favorite is the 2012 Maria Del Mar Brut Nature Gran Reserva by Pere Ventura that has a ‘creamy’ texture with more or less the fruity accents as the previous one, but this time more herbal tones as well. Next in my favorites list would be the 2004 Reserva Particular by Recaredo. I notice loads of tropical fruits, ‘jammed’ citrus (like a marmalade), fresh bakery accents with sweet spices with a very fresh and pleasant elegance with a medium long after taste… simply beautiful!! Last but not least the 2013 Subirat Parent Brut Reserva by Vilarnau. The last one is one that I think is the biggest ‘everybody’s friend’ of the whole evening as the other cava’s were more complex and therefor more special… The Vilarnau had a very fruity (lycee, peach) smell, the taste reminded me a bit of a tropical fruit salad 🙂 basically a very pretty and distinctive wine. I was surprised that eventhough of the premium Cava’s came from bigger Bodegas, they were not of lower quality!! SO basically size doesn’t seem to matter in Spain 🙂 😉 (just pointing out the facts)

As we ate at a lovely restaurant like Le Chalet de la fôret something must also be said about the food?! In general you can say that ever dish looks like a picture and you can see the advanced way of cooking from the first look you give to the plate…however you do see that the chefs knows his basics as they come back in every dish (you need to know the basics before you can start experimenting). The first dish one the menu was (after some appetizers) a grilled cadoret Oyster from Bretagne, buckwheat and iodée vinaigrette, followed by a seabass (line caught) salisfy, Jerusalem artichoke and a Xarel-Lo sauce . To continue with pheasant breast with white truffle, foie gras sauce, pumpkin variation and sautéed ceps. Followed by a melted Old Bruges cheese. To finish with a chocolate dessert with mushrooms. Yes mushrooms 🙂 I must admit that this was the strangest dish of all and not really my thing, but i finished it anyhow

The dish that after 2 weeks is still the first image that pops in my head when thinking of Le Chalet is the pheasant breast with white truffle, foie gras sauce, pumpkin variation and sautéed ceps. Maybe for that reason the Cava served with this (Particular de Recaredo Gran Reserva by Recaredo) was one of my favorites? Who knows 🙂

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The dinner wouldn’t end perfect without all the ‘friandises’ aka sweets that come with the coffee 🙂 The chefs have outdone themselves as I like every piece of the assortment 🙂 🙂

An evening to remember!! In case you would want more info on Cava don’t hesitate to contact the Cava Rugulatory board as they will be able to answer all you questions 🙂

Life is better with a box of chocolates

September 17, 2015September 17, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

My mom has been a loyal client at one of Belgium’s best ‘chocolatiers’ aka Del Rey for many years. Or at least of their tasting lounge that is located right next to their shop where you can eat some of the best desserts (also salty dishes) you can imagine. Me having inherited my mom’s sweet tooth, I am her usual partner in crime when she goes to the Del Rey tasting lounge. Sometimes a son has to make sacrifices for keeping his mom happy :-).

Last weekend we were fortunate enough to have a sneak peek behind the scenes of this wonderful chocolate shop to see the beating heart of the best Belgian chocolates. Officially Del Rey opened its doors in 1949 (back then it was called Maison Ray). But it is not until 1975 that Bernard Proot comes into the picture to learn his craft (art of chocolate) from Chef Arnout Marchand and take over Del Rey in 1983 with his wife (and what a lovely year that was, I was also born that year so it was the best year ever) and making Del Rey a success story! Such a success that since 2004 you can also buy their chocolates in Japan (which is the only country outside Belgium where you are able to buy them) and being awarded with many prestigious awards.

Del Rey is also a member of the Relais of desserts. The fact that Del Rey was accepted to join this prestigious organisation says enough. The Relais Dessert is basically a group of the best 100 pastry chefs and chocolatiers from all over the world, you can compare it with the San Pellegrino list for restaurants. My mom and I are fan without any doubt.

It was actually Bernard’s son Jan Proot (2^ndgeneration and as passionated as his dad when I hear him speak) to give us the tour. Jan joined the company 7 years ago and learned his craft by working at Del Rey and by doing some internships at 2 top pastry/chocolate masters Wittemar and Oberweis (you try looking at those 2 or Del Rey’s website without getting hungry!? I dare you). I’m also convinced that the 3^rd generation is assured as Jan’s oldest son (around 3 years old) was asking the whole time if he could make cookies together with his dad or granddad 🙂

Del rey creaties

What some people forget, is how time consuming it is to make chocolates, they just think it is pouring it in a mold and it is done 🙂 I can say for a fact that there is more to it then that (I also learned how to make chocolates when I was in Chef school). Chocolates are made in different stages, first you need to create a base in the mold, let the chocolate set, do the second layer, create filling, etc… with the most important thing to keep in mind -> Patience 🙂 as in between every step you have to wait to be able to continue with the next, multiply this step by X chocolates a day 🙂 (check link for the whole Del Rey chocolate range) and this is only the chocolates, I’m not even talking about making cakes, american style wedding cakes, ice cream, macarons or any other type of dessert. This is also why Del Rey is not working with 6 people or less anymore like back in 1975, but with 30 full time people 🙂 I found their area were they work very big, much bigger than I had imagined it… but if I hear Jan or his dad, a bit more space would not hurt 🙂 If I remember it correct they have 1 house from 5 houses. Maybe they should consider a 6th house to create even more space.

The difference between a chocolatier like Del Rey or for example Leonidas or Godiva is that everything made by Del Rey is handmade, homemade and gets quality checked one by one… as for the other two I mentioned there are more of the mass production (which isn’t necessarily bad, but less refined). I think that what makes their chocolates so special is the combination of high quality chocolate, know-how that they built up over the past 60 years and renewing yourself without forgetting where you came from or your basics. And in this case it are the small details that count, for example when my mom and I eat at the chocolate lounge I usually eat (before I attack the sweet stuff) a quiche Lorraine as they even make their own shortbread base which gives even a ‘simple’ dish like a quiche a total different dimension! It is also that same dedication of perfection that Del Rey puts into it chocolats, desserts, its famous macarons, wedding cakes, etc…

If you want to try the Del Rey desserts, ice cream, etc… I suggest you come to Antwerp, go to the Del Rey Chocolate Lounge, order yourself a coffee Del Rey (which is basically a coffee that gets served with 2 home made chocolate, some cookies, 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream and some whipped cream (the real stuff)) and one of their desserts and I’m sure on your way out you’ll be walking out with a box of chocolates 🙂 because life with a box of chocolates is soooo much nicer!! I know I’ve been eating them at least 30 years 🙂

P.S.: I had taken my own pictures to share on this post, but due to problems with the SD card from my camera I wasn’t able to retrieve them yet. Once I have them I’ll share them 🙂

The first Belgian wine bar

September 11, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Belgium is not really known as a wine country, unlike Italy or France for example. However did you know that there are over 80 official winemakers in Belgium? Well there are!! Until a month ago it was very hard to actually find out which ones existed and I’m not even talking about tasting some… with exception for maybe 2, 3 or maybe even 4 wine houses like Clos d’opleeuw that is internationally known for its high quality and in blind tasting is thought of being an expensive Burgundy wine… but no my dear friends it is Belgian wine. A few other more well-known Belgian Wineries: Genoes-Elderen, Ruffus or Schorpion… People following my blog for a few years might know a few more Belgian wine estates as I have written about a few… Anyhow to make a long story short there FINALLY is a place/ bar where they only serve Belgian wines 🙂 :-)and it obviously is in Antwerp 😉 🙂 Where else 🙂 . It doesn’t even stop with an extremely wide assortment of Belgian wines that can be enjoyed per glass or bottle (you just pay 15 EUR on top of the price you would pay if you would take a bottle home)… you can also enjoy these wines with a plate refined Belgian meats or cheeses (artisanal from small local producers). If you are a pâté lover like me do try theirs because it is deeeelicious .

I said to myself before entering the Belgian Wine bar I was gonna try a wine I didn’t know, but the meat was weak when I saw they had Clos D’opleeuw 🙂 But more reason for me to go back and try something different. I’m a fan and even prouder to be a Belgian 😉

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You can find the Belgian Wine bar at the Oudevaartplaats 24 in Antwerp. For people who know Antwerp is basically is at the square in front of the “stadschouwburg” theater or where you have the open air market in the weekend.

Never judge a book by its cover

August 31, 2015August 31, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

“Never judge a book by its cover” has been more accurate than ever before!! Last week my friends and I decided (or better I told them where we were going 😉 ) to have a meal at Friture René (as part of our gastronomical odyssey ). For the people who don’t know what a ‘Friture’ is, it basically is a place where you can get French fries for ‘take out’ and sometimes you can even eat them at the place where they make em. Usually you can also buy a piece of chicken, sausage or something else to go with it… kinda like a fish and chips place in UK.

Basically nothing fancy… Friture René is a ‘brasserie’ like place with old school red/white checkered tablecloths (like you can see on the pictures below) where you can eat French fries (or better Belgian Fries) with either meat(steak), meat (entrecôte), meat (other meat preparations like Belgian beer stew) and mussels 🙂 . So in case you are a vegetarian, I would stick with the Belgian Fries 🙂 or maybe a dessert. For the meat eaters amongst you, the piece of meat (Cube roll) we had was one of the BEST pieces of meat I have EVER eaten!!!! I am not kidding!! On top of the fact that they have amazing meat (also local Belgian meats) they have an amazing wine list that some fancy restaurants would jealous of, a wide assortment of refined tea’s and coffee’s (Colombian, Peruvian and other South American blends) and beers from small local breweries…. You have to see it to believe it. I would have never expected to find all of this in a ‘friture’ 🙂 (especially the tea’s 🙂 ) It might not come as a surprise that amongst the ‘habitués’ or regular customers there a lots of famous Michelin Star chefs and sommeliers… who were actually the once telling me to come/go to Friture René.

The fact that all 4 friends who were with me were talking to everybody about it it the best sign that I’m telling the truth about how good it is! And again it is the simple food that rules our night and is spoken about many days after it 🙂 A place for people all levels of society and for everybody’s wallet.

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As if a 400g piece of Entrecote wasn’t enough, just to make sure we wouldn’t leave home hungry we each took a starter (all homemade) … also here nothing fancy, but oooh so good. In case you missed it, we didn’t think of our cholesterol at all that night…not that on other occasions I think of it, usually I have my wife with me for that 😉 , but she wasn’t there 🙂 …no just kidding, I have wonderful wife (who I think has already given up after 16years 🙂 )

I don’t anything else to add to this article besides the fact that I (we) had a f..king great meal and get hungry just the thought of it!!

Friture René

Address: Verzetsplein 14, 1070 Anderlecht

Website: Friture René

Little film of friture rené

Like coming home

August 26, 2015August 26, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

I get red cheeks of shame when I think that after all the times I have eaten at Brasserie Lids, I have never written about it!! Brasserie Lids is a lovely neighborhood restaurant in the heart of the old part of Antwerp city where I always like to go with my family (My wife, my baby girl and me (and sometimes our moms)). It is one of those places where I don’t have to worry if my baby girl makes a bit more noise…sometimes when she does make a bit more noise, Raïssa (owner) picks her up and does a little tour with her in the restaurant (FYI, my daughter always likes to see everything) after which she calms down and falls asleep.

Elo & Raïssa

We also like to come here because Raïssa, the owner and cook, studied together with my wife at University and is a friend of hers 🙂 It’s surprising though the career switch Raïssa has made from communication science to cooking in her own restaurant. One thing I’m sure about is that she is happy about the switch because you can really tell she is in her element in the kitchen and she brightens up the restaurant with her big smile and man does she like to laugh 🙂 :-). Because of all the things I said before eating at Brasserie lids feels like coming home. You also be surprised how peaceful it is at Brasserie lids considering it is in the city center 🙂 like an oasis of peace in the city

You don’t need to expect molecule or Michelin star food, but just good homemade classic Belgian/French dishes like Vol-au-vent (that has won a few awards for best of Antwerp), steak,etc… and weekly changing suggestions depending on what the market offers. Dishes (good portions) that you enjoy with a good glass of wine of local Belgian beer and for an affordable price. She even makes her own mayonnaise, which is something you don’t see that much anymore…

So next time you don’t feel like cooking and feel like a home cooked meal and you are in Antwerp … do try Brasserie Lids and hopefully you’ll enjoy it as much I always do!

Brasserie Lids

Address: Veemarkt 4, 2000 Antwerp – Belgium

Website: www.delids.be

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