It is all about the experience

October 15, 2014October 15, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Life is all about experiences, basically trying things you have never tried before. My wife and I have already been together for 15 years (although every day still feels like the first) and have already had so many wonderful experience together that finding new isn’t always that easy. Last week, to celebrate our 15^th anniversary, I arranged an experience she didn’t expect at all. I’m sure you now are all thinking I took her to some posh restaurant or some trip abroad, but those are things she would have expected me to do… and I guess that the eating part is mostly my favorite part (I’m sure she prefers the gift receiving). I took her to a restaurant chain called Colmar. For you who don’t know Colmar, Colmar is a Belgian chain of family diners that recently renovated all their restaurants :-). I bet you didn’t expect I would ever take her to a restaurant like this? Like I said before life is all about experiences and this doesn’t mean places like this can’t be an experience?! For me it was a totally new experience as I never ate at Colmar restaurants and for my wife it would be nostalgic as she used to come here from time to time with her parents when she was still a child… (and for some reason only ate hard boiled eggs). The food being served fast is a bonus now my wife is pregnant and doesn’t feel like spending hours at a dinner table 🙂

Something I never doubted was the quality they serve for an honest price. There are soooo many people who eat at Colmar restaurants and every time I drive by one of their restaurants they always seem to be full. This can only indicate that the price/quality is good and you can also be sure you’ll be eating fresh food…Right? After my meal I can only confirm and agree with all those people. This is of course no top gastronomy (that is also not Colmar’s ambition), but good food for a good price and nothing wrong with that at all.

Colmar has 3 menu options (4 if you take into account the special for kids) with Express as the most ‘basic’ menu and Enjoyer as the most elaborate menu and lover just in between those 2.

Express: Main course + drinks
Lover: Main course + starter or dessert + drinks
Enjoyer: Main course + starter + dessert + drinks

My wife and I decided to take the Enjoyer formula. I was surprised though with the variety of dishes going from burgers to spare ribs to kangaroo filet to codfish, etc… to even vegetarian dishes. They have something for everybody. The starters and desserts are to be taken by yourself from the buffet, the main course you order and it prepared in the kitchen. My wife had the salmon ‘en croute’ with bearnaise sauce and french fries as main menu. I had the Gourmand burger, but like in every other restaurant it was a tough decision to make as I saw lots of dishes I wanted to try… but for some reason greasiness always wins 🙂

What I also enjoyed seeing is that every child I saw entering in the restaurant had a enormous smile of happiness. I also found out the reason why they have this smile, the waiters /personnel!! At one moment I even saw a little girl running to one of the waiters and jumping in his arms… if this doesn’t prove Colmar is a kid friendly environment I’m not sure what will?! I must also say that even for the grown-ups Colmar is a nice environment to sit, they did a great job with the renovation!

I do know it is in contrast with the restaurants I usually write about, but nevertheless I found it essential to write about this experience is an experience like any other experience I had so far. I am also sure this wasn’t our last time at one of the Colmar restaurant. FYI we ate at the Colmar Wezenberg.

Food & Friends at Graanmarkt 13

October 6, 2014October 6, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

It might seem that I’m not writing that many restaurant blog-posts anymore lately… I just visited fewer restaurants in Belgium this last year as I’ve been more abroad and visiting vineyards. I had to choose, one or the other…

Like every year, this year I organised another dinner with a whole group of friends. What is so special about these dinners and different than other dinners we organise is that once a year the restaurant is more Gastronomical. The last few year’s we used to go to Sergio Herman’s 1 Michelin restaurant Pure C (where we have always had great meals). This year however we chose to do it closer to home as the only date we could find where most people could come was a Friday evening. This year “our” choice (or better my choice as I tend to push my choice 🙂 ) went to restaurant Graanmarkt 13 that earlier this week was elected as best Flemish vegetable restaurant of 2015. Even before they had been elected it was already known that Chef Seppe Nobles liked working with vegetables as he is one of the few (or to my knowledge the only) restaurant with a city garden on the roof of his restaurant 🙂 (including beehives to make his own honey).

Graanmarkt 13 has already been in Antwerp for a few years now, but it was not until recently the restaurant came on my radar of restaurants I want(ed) to try… The dinner with friends seemed like the perfect occasion to try it and spoil my taste buds. I’m not sure when they exactly changed their concept, but until recent Graanmarkt 13 was like most gastronomical restaurants in the area with an ‘ à la carte’ menu, tasting menus, tablecloths, etc… Nowadays Graanmarkt 13 exchanged all that for a cozy and comfortable interior only serving a 2 course menu for lunch (29EUR) and a 3 course menu for dinner (39EUR), that both can be extended with a few appetizers (at normal prices), 1 extra dish or course and/or cheese (the last to either on top of or replacing dishes in the menu). Also both menus have a vegetarian alternative. So basically gastronomy that is reachable for everybody to try without the posh atmosphere around it. I’m also sure that this way of working makes it both easier on the kitchen as the customers as too much choice only complicates things.

My wife, who is pregnant for over 3 months now (you cannot believe how long I’ve wanted to say it on my blog) and therefore has a few restrictions of things she’s allowed to eat,was happy when she found out and saw Graanmarkt 13 had alternatives for her to eat 🙂 🙂 . They also indicated that if there were still some things in the menu that had to be replaced there was no problem (we can also say for a fact they do like this). So also here size doesn’t matter, even on a small menu you’ll find something of your liking 😉 😉

As we were all greedy people we (not only me) choose to take some extra appetizers where fresh vegetables play a lead role. Normally a plate of appetizers is enough for 2 people. I do advice you to take “Tomatoes with black chocolate” as those were some of the best tomatoes ever!! They had so much more flavor than the regular tomatoes you buy!! Not sure though if they were from his own garden or if they came from a farmer?? Please feast your eyes on our appetizers (scroll over the picture to know what it was) I was also a big fan of the Farm egg with black summer truffle. I didn’t try the figs with goat cheese as I’m not really crazy about goat cheese … but my friends ordered 2 plates of it so I guess they liked it.

The menu of the night:

Meagre / sorrel / chervil / fennel / cabbage / algae / sake

Horn of plenty / leek / monkfish / lentils / Lardo di Colonnata
or
Young carrot / artichoke / Holstein “Sirloin” / quinoa / pepper

Banana / butterscotch / hazelnut / chocolate / Jack Daniel’s

The extra course was a Barley risotto with porcini

Alternative starter was Tomatoes with Burrata

With these dishes Seppe Nobels shows that with a few simple ingredients brought together one can make a whole celebration meal that doesn’t have to be expensive 🙂 as that is how I saw this anyway…You guys also know how I like it when a chef has the motto “Keep it simple”!! Simple is best (If the simple is well prepared that is)

My biggest “fear” for our dinner at Graanmarkt 13 was that they would only be having Organic or Bio wines. Some or of them are good but lots of them are not and have a weird taste to them… luckily they had very nice wines on wine list 🙂 🙂 and when seeing Filipa Pato wine on the menu I just felt obligated, first of all because I like her wines and because via this way I support Portuguese wine!! After that we chose to take a bit “stronger” wine, a Sancerre Rouge ( Loire Valley)by Paul Cherrier which to our opinion would match good with the Holstein sirloin.

Ending your dinner at Graanmarkt 13 can be in no better way than with warm homemade Madeline’s with homemade honey (and on top get the recipe to try it at home). A perfect ending of a perfect time with friends paired with the perfect food.

For people between 18 -30 years old are lucky as Graanmarkt 13 is also participating with Jong keukengeweld you can eat a 3 course menu (drinks included) for 45 or 55 EUR. Every year the list of young chefs participating gets better and better and every year more and more restaurants come on my list to try …

Top lunch with Top sommeliers at a Top location

August 29, 2014October 16, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / 2 Comments

It is not every day that you get a blind wine tasting lunch in the company of 11 top sommeliers and if they then add that it is at Villa Lorraine in Brussel aka one of the most historical restaurants in Belgium, one just cannot refuse. For those who don’t know Villa Lorraine, this was the first restaurant outside of France to be awarded with 3 Michelin stars in the 1970’s. In 2010 after 61 (opened in 1953) and the founder’s death, Marcel Kreusch ‘s family decided to sell the restaurant. Nowadays it is head chef Alain Bianchin taking the lead and making sure very delicious dishes leave the kitchen. Since the re-opening 4 years ago Villa Lorraine has already been awarded again with 1 Michelin star. FYI The restaurant is divided in 2 parts. One part is the “gastronomical” part and at the other side there is a brasserie, where in case you find a bit more economical or better less “complicated” but still very refined dishes on the menu than at the Michelin awarded part.

Before I continue I do want to add that for this post I chose to use the pictures taken by the professional photographer (Pascal Hermans) from that was present during the lunch as I would never be able to make such beautiful pictures myself. Just FYI in case you thought I became a great photographer over night 😉

The aim of this lunch was to learn more about and to discuss the theme wine(s) and to get to learn new products or get a new impression of ones you already knew. I also think there’s no better way to do this than amongst professionals (besides me, as I’m not a pro yet) This is why they had brought togehter 11 top sommeliers like William Wouters (previous Comme Chez soi, Villa Lorraine) Cesar Roman (Comme Chez soi), Gregory van Acker (De Jonkman), Antoine Lehebel (Villa Lorraine) Luca Gardini (Italian sommelier nominated in 2010 as World’s best sommelier) to name a few and Lorenzo Zonin (winemaker and ambassador of Zonin winery) who was also the person who to take the initiative to have this kind of lunch. To make the lunch more fun and also more open for an honest discussion he decided to make the wine tasting during the lunch a blind tasting. Due to the fact that you don’t know the wine you are actually tasting you won’t be influenced by its name or the vineyard and therefor you’ll be more honest in your responses. What basically happened during the lunch is that with every course we got 3 different wines from which (without being able to see the bottle) you had to tell if the wine was either French or Italian and from which Vintage it was 🙂 . This is where you separate the boys from the men and you get to see how the pro’s do it 🙂

It was Lorenzo Zonin himself who had picked out the wines for the blind tasting, both wines from their own estates as from French friend estates. Which shows that winemakers are also open for other wines then their own :-). Unbelievable but true, 3 people where able to guess the country and vintage of all wines… I unfortunately wasn’t one of those 3, but I was pretty happy with my result that from 95% of the wines I was already able to tell if they were French or Italian. (Proud of myself). In my defense, I don’t get to taste new wines every day like a pro :-). The problem with these kind of tasting (for me) is that lots of times the wine smells and tastes familiar, but I just can’t put my finger on which one it is or from where I know the smell. Just like with sports or with anything you want to be good at, here it is also practice that will help you to get better and good guidance by a pro (which I’m very happy to have).

I’m sure you guys are very curious on finding out which wines it were we had to guess and what we ate with it? I’m gonna tell you anyhow (even if you don’t want to know 😉 ) and I’ll be honest what the answers were that I thought they were (the ones that I can still remember that is 🙂 )

After some bubbles (Ca’bolani prosecco) to open out taste buds it was time to start our lunch and the real work. For our first course, raw and smoked salmon with a dill cream we were served the following wines:

Wine 1: 2013 White Bordeaux by Doisy-Daëne -> very floral smell, but you could immediately guess it was from Bordeaux
Wine 2: 2009 Aquilis by Ca’bolani -> I first thought this was more a Vernaccia from Monte Oliveto, but I was wrong 🙂 (but at the moment itself I wrote Vermentino, but I actually mend Vernaccia)
Wine 3: 2008 Sancerre Blance by Vincent Delaporte (from Chavignol terroir). This was the most difficult to guess from the white wines. Couldn’t immediately place it, besides it being from France.

The mean course we got served Cuckoo from ‘Malines’ with girolle mushrooms and grenaille potatoes. I glad they chose for a lighter main course. Very soft flavors and cooked “comme il faut”.

With this dish we were served the following wines

Wine 4: 2010 Rocca di Montemassi
Wine 5: 2010 Margaux by Chateau Siran For this wine Luca Gardini could even tell the vineyard it came from (#impressed 😉 )
Wine 6: 2010 Clos Floridene

What followed was some cheese. Now I’m not sure that you know this, but I’m not a cheese lover, so I just had the salad… I know, I have already tried it a lot, but most cheeses just don’t float my boat.

Wine 7: 2009 Acciaiolo by Castello d’abola: One of my favourites from the Zonin Gamma and is the best of Tuscany in a glass.
Wine 8: 2011 Château Valandraud: This what a tricky one :-).
Wine 9: 2011 Symposio by Principi di Butera: the thing with southern wines like this is that they seem aged, but in fact aren’t. The reason for this is the strength of the grapes and its alcohol percentage (thanks to the lots of sunhours year round)

One just has to end the meal in beauty, both for the food as the wine. For as far as the wines were concerned 1 I recognized immediately as it is one of my favorites and one of the best of its kind aka the Vin Santo from Castello d’albola. Like an angel peeing in your mouth….For the dessert or better desserts 🙂 Yes one cannot stand on 1 leg very long. I’m sure the pictures of the dessert say enough?

Just for the record, the wines we had with our desserts

Wine 10: 2004 Vin Santo by Castello d’albola (A must try for everybody!!!)
Wine 11: 2010 Sauterne by Doisy-Daëne

And as this was not enough I enjoyed another glass of Vin santo with some ‘friandises’

FYI, this was a tasting, so we didn’t always drink the entire glasses of wine 🙂 just a sip of every glass…

I couldn’t encourage initiatives like this more than I do know… may lots of these follow!!I had a wonderful meal and wonderful wines….

The moral of my blog post and this lunch is basically that wine is such a wonderful product and that even-though you might drink it every day, there is more in it than that… I mean so many new tastes to discover and when you think you know something 100% I’m sure one moment or the other you’ll be proven wrong. Basically a subject where the conversations about it will never stop. The outcome of this lunch is that everything we wrote down about the wines during the tasting will help wine estates like Zonin to keep making good products for everybody’s taste. So basically next time you taste a wine you’ll know that for 1 millionth I helped making that wine 🙂 🙂

I do know that not everybody will be able to have a tasting this way, but I’m sure if you go to Villa Lorraine (or any other restaurant with a good sommelier) and ask Antoine to surprise you with the wines and keep it a secret until the en… I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to take you on a journey through the wonderful world of wine!

One last special message to Gregory: I didn’t forget that you’re going on holiday to Santorini (it only took you to tell me 3 times) . The reason I’m saying this is because I asked Gregory 3 times during the lunch where he was going on holiday (I swear it was NOT the wine and I was listing to what he was telling, I sometimes just forget quickly) 🙂 🙂 🙂

Thanks again to everybody for making this such a great experience! Also a special thanks to Hasselt Millesime (especially Cathérine) for helping Lorenzo getting this organized in Belgium!!

One year older

June 13, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

The fun part about celebrating your birthday is getting gifts (no doubt about that!). When my fiancée asks me what I want for my birthday, my answer is usually the same… having a nice meal 🙂 FYI having a nice meal doesn’t mean it has to be a fancy restaurant, if it is that’s a bonus. For me the most important is that I get to eat/drink well and this in her company! And ok, she spoils me a lot as she always gives me some extra presents on top of the meal. What did differ from last year was that this time I gave no tips on where I wanted to go, I just gave her the names of a few friends who could advice her where to take me (in case she didn’t know it herself that is), this way it stays a bigger surprise than when I give her a list of places…. It got proven once again that I’m a very lucky guy, she took me to “La Table de Maxime” in a little town near the Luxembourg border called ‘Our’. Even though it was ‘only’ for 1 day and night we were gone, it felt like much longer. La Table de Maxime is located in a green relaxing oasis… talking about the full experience: good food, nice drinks, great company and the outdoor silence. Some people might find it hard to believe I like complete silence, because I have the tendency to talk A LOT (I hate awkward silences)… but believe it or not I do love the sound of silence from time to time and I enjoyed every minute of it! I find it unbelievable that there are still places in Belgium where you hear NOTHING!! Like most restaurants in places like this, La Table de Maxime also has a few rooms to spend the night. Either you stay in one of the few rooms attached to the restaurant itself in the “La fabrique du pré maho” or alternatively in one of the rooms in a house they have 1km from the restaurant (that’s where we were) also known as “Les Jardins de Maxime” as this is where he also has a little vegetable and herb garden.

I can strongly suggest a nice walk, bike ride or visit to some of the little towns in the area like Rochefort, Bouillon (some nice cheese and beer makers in this area) or maybe a kayak sail on the “Lesse” is more something for you? ( I have already done it twice, the sunny day had my preference).

As if the fact that we were in such a relaxing place wasn’t enough, drinking a glass of a grand cru Blanc de blanc from Pierre Moncuit and getting our appetizers served in La Table de Maxime’s garden (or terrace, depending on how you see it 🙂 ) gave us an even bigger “on holiday” feeling as this was beautiful sunny day… I was also soooo glad my hay fever/allergy didn’t ruin the moment!!

La Table de Maxime either serves a tasting menu (3 – 5 course menu) or either you can choose ‘à la carte ‘ (with also other dishes than on the tasting menu)… Although I did feel like going the whole way, I decided not to as I’m trying to eat less (Not on a diet, but just watching out with my quantities 🙂 )… so we took the 4 course menu with wine pairing. There were a few Jean-Luc Colombo wines on the wine list that did catch my interest, but I always like to see and taste the wines the sommelier pairs with the dishes. We were served the following menu:

Trout fillet from the Ardennes with zucchini parfait, cucumber flower, a fennel gazpacho and puffed Beluga lentils. Served with a 2011 white Bordeaux (Chateau Penin)

Birch syrup lacquered cod, poached Rhubarb with hibiscus, barigoule style artichoke, minted peas and dried ham. Served with a 2012 Riesling (Dirstelberg)

Local veal with a wild garlic crust, green asparagus, morille mushrooms, capers, parmesan and fried Gnocchi . Served with a 2012 Sancerre (François Crochet)

Wépion strawberries, lemon sorbet and emulsion, almond cream and Japanese pearls (FYI, no real pearls that is 😉 ). Served white an everybody’s friend a glass of Cremant dAalsace (Jean-Marc Bernhart)

Overall a very refined meal with local products playing the main role in all dishes with lots of them grown in his own garden (I like, compliments to Maxime Collard). It is very satisfying when chefs are proud of their local/own products, especially when they have so many good ones!! BTW, I’m not sure what the sommelier’s name was, but for what I could tell he really seemed like a perfect “Best Belgian sommelier contest” candidate! (You could just feel his passion for wine when he was talking about them) He reminded me of some of the candidates from previous years and I think he would make a chance… nothing ventured, nothing gained I’d say…

I finished my meal with a nice tea to set the mood for a good night sleep…to eventually wake up with that same nice sound of silence (not taking the birds into account that is, I love the sound of birds in the morning)

People who have already met my fiancée will know that what I’m about to tell is true… I always look forward to my breakfast when I go to sleep, even more when I’m in a hotel!! Maxime’s breakfast met to ALL my expectations (I even didn’t want to take the time to take pictures). Something I must absolutely add is that La Table de Maxime has very hospitable people working for them that make on top of the good food and location this weekend get-away even more harmonious and worth a going/coming back place 🙂 (too bad I only have 1 birthday a year).

Thank you woman of mine for yet again a perfect birthday gift (on top of having you in my life every day that is….)

La Table de Maxime

Website: http://www.tabledemaxime.be/

Address: Our 23, 6852 Paliseul – Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 61 23 95 10

My visit to a culinary institute

June 4, 2014June 4, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / 2 Comments

Celebrating a birthday is always a good reason to go to a restaurant. When it is my birthday the restaurant can be a bit better than usually 🙂 🙂 There is no restaurant that speaks more to my imagination than the restaurant I treated myself to for my birthday, the one and only “Comme chez soi”. Comme chez soi, just like Le Cinq, La Tour D’argent, Bocuse’s auberge du Pont de Collonges, are restaurants that are part of culinary history! If it weren’t for these restaurants or the chefs of these restaurants, the gastronomical world today would be totally different… Some people may say that these restaurants didn’t meet up with their expectations when they visited, obviously this depends on what your expectations were before you went?? If you expected a Noma-like restaurant (aka a lab) you indeed wouldn’t have found it at these restaurants… For me it met my expectations 100% or maybe 99% as meeting Pierre Wynants would have made it 100% 😉 You immediately feel this restaurant has a soul when walking in… you could compare it with the ‘Mona Lisa’ it is so much more than just your average portrait of a woman… but that’s my opinion of course :-). If I would have continued chef school and the restaurant business for sure Comme chez soi would have been one of the places where I would have wanted to work as to me still up to today it is one of the culinary highnesses in Belgium. (Admitted the way they work also reminded me a bit of chef school)

If you would ask 10 Belgians what “Comme chez soi” is or represents, they will all say it is absolute top of gastronomy… and everybody and I mean everybody knows “Comme chez soi” generation over generation. Just for those few who don’t know if yet let me tell you more about this piece of Belgian patrimony! The reason why Comme chez soi (or Chez Georges how it was called from 1926 – 1936) became an institute thanks to 1 man Pierre Wynants who took over the restaurant from his father in 1973 (he already worked there from 1961) already having 2 Michelin stars and getting awarded in 1979 with their 3^rd Michelin star that they kept until 2006 . The Michelin guide took away 1 Michelin when Pierre retired in 2006 and his son in law Lionel Rigolet (and his wife aka daughter from Pierre Wynants) took over the restaurant. Pierre Wynants was also given the title Dr. Honoris Causa by the “Université François-Rabelais de Tours”… yet another proof of mr. Wynants/ Comme chez soi’s greatness.

Some people say things changed when Lionel Rigolet (Pierre’s son in law) took over the restaurant from Pierre Wynants, but I’m not able to compare and I also believe it should not be done as Lionel is Lionel and Pierre was Pierre 🙂 and both have their own way of cooking and for me “Comme chez soi” will always stay the institute I imagined it would be (Although I must admit I would have loved meeting Pierre Wynants and I missed him by a hair as he just left a few minutes before I entered…).

Besides serving great food, Comme chez soi is also well known for its fabulous wine collection… people fly in from all over the world because of the beauties they have in their cellar. A Wine Walhalla!! (Believe you me 🙂 ) On their wine list they have 1600 different wines that results in 24000 bottles in the cellar (it used to be 50000). Entering in their cellar is like a candy store if you are into wines as they have wines in it that you can only find in a hand full of places… naturally the big names like Petrus, Latour, Margaux, but also from vineyards that as a non-connoisseur won’t say a thing, but for winelovers and sommeliers they are even more special than all the big names 🙂 Like the wines from Henri Jayer from before his dead or their collection of Côte Rôtie or the Chartreuse something a lot of people prefer over a glass of cognac (is comparable to Elixir )… To find you way through all these wines Comme chez soi has had a special app created to easily find back the wines you want.

An eye-catcher for me was the collection of Château d’ Yquem (one of the most famous vineyard for sweet white wine) from 1831 -> 1980 or better what is left from it after an historical tasting they did from these wines around 1980…

BUT, I was here to eat 🙂 , we took the lunch menu… why? Well we were there for lunch. After a refined appetizer we were served the following menu

Hake clear soup with star anise, sautéed black tiger shrimps with small onions and mint (FYI, they pass another time to fill your plate )

Pork fillet with carbides, mixed vegetables with mustard seeds

Macerated peaches with a reduction of old balsamic vinegar, pineapple sorbet with kirsch

Not only a treat for the eyes, also for the taste buds, all prepared how it should and topped with some of the tastiest sauces you have ever tried. You might have already noticed that I’m a big Sherry fan? So to make my visit to Comme chez soi an even better one, Cèsar (Comme Chez soi’s sommelier) had paired sherry with my menu instead of ‘regular’ wines… something I appreciated and enjoyed a lot as Sherry is so refined and yet complex… I love it. FYI, this is something every can experience if you want (and ask Cèsar)

I know it might sound to enthusiastic, but I’m a very enthusiastic person that wants to share how happy experiences like this make me :-)… My goal in life is see and make people smile and basically make them happy, but first of all keeping myself happy… living your life with a smile is so much nicer!!

Anyhow this was definitely not my last visit to Comme chez soi as Lionel and his team have giving me the taste for more… with as aim to sit at their famous kitchen table where some amazing people have enjoyed a meal before with the best view (besides if my fiancée sits across of me) over the kitchen!

Comme Chez soi

Website: http://www.commechezsoi.be

Address: Rouppeplein 23, 1000 Brussels – Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0)2 / 512 29 21

Dinner in the Citadel’s shadow

April 9, 2014April 10, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

I love eating, which doesn’t come as a surprise I guess… I also like to try new places, both closeby as far away, with the only problem being that the eating at the faraway places happens less (as they are far away 🙂 🙂 ). So every excuse I get to travel and try them is good enough for me… of course some excuses are better than others! This time I had a really good one and is even one reoccurring every year aka my fiancée’s birthday. Although I usually take her abroad to celebrate it, this year I wanted to keep it closer, but still far enough from home that we can actually call it traveling. This year I took her to Namur, one of the bigger cities in the southern part of Belgium (aka Wallonia). It was already for a while I wanted to go to Namur as I don’t remember ever having visited it.

My main reason to come to Namur was because it was for a while now I wanted to have a meal at the restaurant of hotel the Royal Snail, Agathopede (I already said it and will keep saying it, the heart wants what the heart wants 🙂 ). I first saw the restaurant one of Gault Millau inspectors’ fb page, the pictures he posted made me curious… what pulled over the finish line was that a very good friend of mine also enjoyed her meal at Agathopede a lot. So my mind was made up. The restaurant is situated in the shadow of the Citadel with view over the Samber (River)… so an ideal setting to have a walk long river after dinner (hahaha, it rimes 🙂 )

I mentioned the restaurant is located in the Royal Snail hotel (which is a lovely hotel btw), so to get to the restaurant you have to walk through the hotel lobby. I already had a very good feeling about the place as I had the feeling just like when I visit a house or go to a job interview… the click is there and you just know it will be good! (or don’t you have this??). A few things I liked besides the good food/wine, very friendly staff (who even tried to speak in Dutch)and the beautiful interior… was (without doubt as important as the food) the good acoustics and room around the table, meaning that you didn’t have to shout to have the person across you to understand what you are saying and if you go to the bathroom you have enough room to actually get out of your seat without pushing over the glass of the people at the next table… 🙂 🙂 Oh and I also enjoyed kitchen window 🙂

Of course the reason we were here was to eat and celebrate my fiancée’s birthday… To warm up our taste buds the served us along nice glace of Blanc de Blancs champagne , Chips with mayonnaise Lemon Myrtle, a ravioli with wild garlic and Petits gris de Namur (escargots/snails from the “Ferme du Vieux Tilleul”) and as last amuse we had an egg filled with spinach and an espuma of smoked salmon. All 3 nice appetizers, although if you are not a garlic lover I think the ravioli wouldn’t be your cup of tea 🙂 as the scent of the “stock” they put on top was very garlicky (luckily I love all food (or almost)). Its good that the introduce the snails as “Petits gris de Namur” as this way most people have no clue what it is…

Our first course was green asparagus with morchella mushroom ‘yellow wine’ (not too sure what it is) and onions served with a 2011 white wine from the southern part of the Côtes du Rhône « Viognier » from Domaine viret made through ‘cosmocultur’

The second course was Foie gras with beetroot, smoked eel,apple and vinigar served with a wine that brought be back to my bike ride through the Loire valley, a 2012 « Chinon » Cuvée les Terrasses made by Domaine Pascal et Béatrice Lambert. I’ve never been a Foi gras fan, but it all depends how it is prepared (that actually goes for everything)… and this got proven again…

Our main course was pluma of smoked Bellota (ibéricomeat) broccoli, hazelnut , kohlrabi and miso. Served with a 2012 Spanish Bierzo from Domain Raul Perez.

We finished our meal with a lemon and gin berry dried foam… it literally melted once you put it in your mouth (very refreshing) and was served with Blanquette de Limoux (sparkling wine… I love bubbles)

Overall a very nice meal, although I think some people might find the portions smaller than they would want them to be, but it must be said that at the end I ate more than enough…so it’s all good 🙂 . There also hangs a very calm and relaxed atmosphere in the restaurant which gives you the opportunity to have a relaxed meal, I mean you don’t feel like hurrying to get out of the restaurant. OK, true the company also does a lot, but still…I liked the vibe that was around. I know I always say food is the most important thing for me when I’m going somewhere, but it mostly is to get to see the most beautiful smile in the world aka my fiancée’s smile! As when she is happy I’m an even happier camper. And let’s not forget when I give her a good b-day, she’ll do an even bigger effort for mine 🙂 🙂

I’m sure that next time in Namur I’ll know where to eat, I hope you do to

Hotel The Royal Snail/ Restaurant Agatophède

Website: http://theroyalsnail.com/en/

Address: Avenue de la Plante 23, 5000 Namur – Belgium

Phone n° : +32(0)81 57 00 23

The Bistronomy story continues

April 2, 2014April 2, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Sunday I was at the introduction of the already 3^rd edition of the Bistronomie guide. I’m a fan of the bistronomie concept! No I’m not saying this because they invited me for the introduction…. I’m saying it because they (Steve, Johannes and all the chefs who are in the guide) have the same idea as me about food… Keep it simple and no nonsense. For me it all comes down to that as you now more than ever you see people all going and wanting to go back to basics. Everybody (including me) wants honest food, for honest prices and without too much fuzz. A good example would be restaurant Les Eleveurs that changed its concept from having a Michelin star into stepping in the Bistronomie “concept”. To quote Andy De Brouwer “the fact that I can wear a polo-shirt instead of a regular shirt is a huge difference”… there obviously is more to it than only the clothing, but I’m sure you know where I’m getting at 🙂

The fact that the Bistronomie guide every year has more restaurants in it proves that what I said before is right :-)…if you know which ones got added, only one way to find out 🙂 🙂 When I read through the guide I’m always surprised how many restaurants I already did, but even more how many more there are still to try…

Not even Odysseus would be able to resists this

February 24, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

I love and look up to Icons… An icon or iconic place is something or someone whose legacy survives time and will always exist. An example of iconic persons related to food would be Auguste Escoffier or Paul Bocuse who have changed the world of gastronomy in such a way that like in case of Auguste Escoffier almost 80 years after his dead he still influences this world every day. When thinking about iconic (local) restaurants I could name a few in Antwerp that have earned their share in the history books. Like restaurant Sir Anthony Van Dyck for example that was one of the first restaurants in the world that gave back his Michelin stars. There are also restaurant that are iconic to and for me as after 50 years without advertising or having a flashy website or even having lots of articles written about them they are still on top of their game and have a full house almost every day (thanks to people talking them)! A restaurant like this would be restaurant La Sirena in Antwerp (something to read when you don’t know what a Sirena is). It was in 1967 that Fausto Prantoni who arrived from Genova (nowadays it is his son keeping running the restaurant) first opened the doors of restaurant La Sirena that at that time was one of Antwerp’s first pizzerias right in the heart of the Antwerp Diamond district. In 1972 they had to enlarge the restaurant due to the success and had their last change in 1988 where the restaurant got its form like it is today… but no longer as a pizzeria but a restaurant serving high quality Italian/ French cuisine and being one of the most well-reputed restaurant in Antwerp. Even-though I must confess that their interior might be a bit outdated (but still classy), once you start eating you forget ALLLL about that and just don’t care anymore about their interior being trendy or not and understand why after almost 50 years they’re still as busy as back in the 80’s.

It all comes down to the food and the impeccable service, all dishes are prepared how they should be prepared (in the classical way with real butter, cream or whatever original ingredient goes into a recipe) but keeping it simple. For example one of my friends that joined had the seafood pasta, nothing special you might thinking… but instead of the usual 1 shrimp and miniature piece of salmon you get at most restaurants, at La Sirena they give you real, good and a correct portion of fish that will actually make your pasta taste like real fish and not to fish stock cubes :-). I started my dinner with some “king scallops” with leak.( Also great I didn’t have hunt to find a piece of scallop as they were well represented 🙂 ). I must say they lobster they had on the menu seemed tempting, but tough choices just have to be made (and I also didn’t want to seem too greedy)

For the main course I shared a Turbot that came with with a dijonaise and déarnaise sauce ( 30EUR pp). Another Friend had the Seabass cooked in a salt crust. Both fishes were cut and filleted by the waiters in the restaurant itself, something you don’t get to see too often anymore nowadays (to me that also shows the know-how and professionalism of the waiters). All dishes look “simple”, but you can just taste the quality and the fact they are well prepared! With all this we drank a 2012 Chardonnay from Alto Adige by St. Michael Eppan (it went down a bit too easy if ask me 🙂 )

There was not too much room left anymore, but there is always room for dessert… especially when they bring the assortment on a cart and I can actually see it all 🙂 I’m not gonna tell how many pieces I had as higher forces are also reading my blog (aka my lovely fiancée)

Why you should come here? If you like good quality food, prepared how it should (classical way) and afterwards you want to go home as a satisfied person that didn’t feel ripped off 🙂

I must also add I could have been in worse company, wouldn’t you agree? Thanks ladies 😉

Thanks to Tino and his team for their good care! I will definitely be back

Restaurant La Sirena

Address: Statiestraat 7, 2018 Antwerp – Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 3 233 01 02

In the hands of Belgium’s best sommelier

February 21, 2014February 21, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

I had been looking foward such a long time to have dinner at Sir Kwinten, the restaurant from the 2013 Best Belgian Sommelier (my blogpost)… but when the day was finally there I was feeling sick or rather at that moment not 100% Not that this stopped me from going. The partner in crime joining me was the one and only Bram Van der Aa (Also one of Belgium’s best sommeliers)… So 1 thing was already clear before coming here, I wasn’t going to pick the wine myself :-).

When ordering our food, I was still convinced I was able to manage it all. To open our taste buds they served us some smoked duck with young goat cheese accompanied with a glass of Argentinean sparkling wine made from 100% malbec grape (the colour was slightly pink) by Bodegas Alma Negra. I could also have taking a glass of champagne, but when they suggest something special like this I’m always keen on trying it. Anyhow this was already a good start.

As First course I choose the catshark (funny that if I would translate its name from Dutch to English it would be dog shark 🙂 ) with a parsnip cream, Thai soup and sot l’y laisse. I was a big fan of the Thai soup, it had the coconut cream/light curry taste I like. Bram took the Beef cannelloni with crab, razor shell, a cream of artichoke and wakamé. By the look of his empty plate it wasn’t a too big struggle 🙂 with this our friend Yannick paired what looked like a bottle of Matteüs wein, (but luckily wasn’t) he paired a 2012 Hans Wirsching Silvaner.

As “in-between” dish was prepared according to a authentic recipe they had learned in Bologna: Ravioli stuffed with lobster, organic vegetables served with a consommé. Here Yannick want to test us (mostly Bram I think) on serving us to wines without telling us which ones… these (at the end) seemed to be a 2010 Bon Baron (a Belgian wine of high class I must add, we never guessed it was from Belgium) and a Sauvignon Blanc by Gross

For the main course I had the Guinea fowl with sweetbreads, a cauliflower and parmesan cream and hazelnut. Bram on the otherhand took a 2 months aged Holstein with béarnaise, hand cut fries and a garden salad both paired with a 2011 Dolcetto d’Alba Giuseppe Mascarello.

Unfortunately I was only able to taste all the dishes and wines and not able to finish all of them as otherwise my way back home would have become more adventurous as a safari 🙂 We also didn’t have dessert, what we did have was a glass of Riesling (Docil) by Niepoort (which really made me feel better that evening, but didn’t cure my illness unfortunately). I’m still feeling bad for not finishing everything 😦

The above did look tempting I must say!

The fact that the food tasted good now that I was feeling sick, I’m sure if you are healthy it can only be better :-)… But just to make sure I’ll have to come back and try Sir Kwinten, again when I’m feeling 100% 🙂 😉

Restaurant Sir Kwinten

Website: www.sirkwinten.be

Address: Markt 9, 1750 Lennik – Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0)2 582 89 92+32 (0)2 582 89 92

Simple is better

January 27, 2014January 27, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

Simple is better. I know with all my visits to Michelin starred restaurants this saying doesn’t seem believable… but we’ll have to be honest, no matter how great all those restaurants are the best dishes are always the classic and simple dishes. A good example would be strawberries with a bit of sugar and lemon juice that has set a while in the fridge, it is very simple but I could keep eating it.

My visit to ‘Fino zuid’ just proved simple is just so good. Fino zuid is a small shop/caterer around the corner of the ‘Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp’ where can either take some of the dishes home or just eat them there at one of the few tables in the shop (I think 5 or 6). Fino zuid is their second eatery, they also have a restaurant in the North of the city of Antwerp. I had already been to the ‘regular’ restaurant 2 weeks ago with my dad, but wanted to wait before writing something until after visiting both places… this way I could somehow compare and see what the whole Fino concept is all about. The food is in both places very nice because of the simplicity that make you feel like in Italy. (BTW the reason why food tasted great in both places is because it gets prepared by the same people 🙂 ) But my preference goes towards Fino zuid, as it is more relaxed and less fuzz… I mean at ‘regular’ Fino you have the real restaurant feel as for ‘Fino zuid’ it feels more like a trattoria where you can just take your own glass of wine (don’t worry if you want they can also serve it 😉 ) and just point at the food you feel like eating…so to my opinion more low profile. Although I’m sure all depends of the occasion for your dinner.

To decide what you want to eat at Fino zuid is very simple you can either give them the full trust and let them decide for you (fix price of 35EUR without the drinks) or you can just walk up to the counter and point to what you fancy eating 🙂 We gave them full trust and had them serve whatever they wanted to give us… this resulted in us being completely full at the end 🙂 so now I was sure it was just like in Italy as I always feel the same when I’m eating at my grandmother or aunt in Italy… I think we almost tried every single thing in their counter (ok, maybe not everything, but a lot of it)… Their melanzane alla Parmigiana was one of my favourites (I had already eaten them at the other Fino restaurant)…

My biggest problem is ‘l’appetito viene mangiando’ so I get more hungry while I’m eating so it could get ugly 😉 Luckily my beautiful fiancée was with me and at some point will give me a certain look that I know what she is actually trying to say is: “don’t you think you had enough?” 🙂 BUT there is still always room for dessert… I’m normally not a fan of Tiramisu, but theirs wasn’t as heavy as it is at lots of restaurants. I do realize I’m always very enthusiastic in my blogposts, but good food just makes me very happy and this happiness unleashes a enormous and unstoppable amount of enthusiasm where I want to convince everybody to try the place themselves… that’s just the way I am 🙂 🙂