Gastronomical Odyssey at Dôme

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

Last week I had another edition of my Gastronomical odyssey, were I basically combine a great restaurant and friends. Nothing different than usually you might say… That’s where you are wrong, the big difference here is that I always go with the same group of friends, as for other restaurant visits the company always changes 😉 (red wire great food). For this edition I took my friends or partners in crime to the Michelin awarded restaurant Dôme in Berchem (just outside Antwerp). It is already for years that I felt like going to Dôme and at some point back in time I had a table booked, but had to cancel it for some reason and didn’t manage to get there ever since … Until now that is 🙂 . What you should know about Dôme is that it is one of the 3 food related places of owner/chef Julien Burlat and his wife (who studied with my cousin’s husband I found out later 🙂 ). They also own restaurant Dôme sur mer and Domestic a bakery where they sell the bread and sweet delights served in their restaurants. They are located at the point where 3 streets come together and on every corner you have one of the 3 places, so you might even say all ways lead to Dôme 🙂 . Something that always attracted me wanting to go to Dôme is the beautiful building which is a true architectural delight. For the architects amongst you it is an art nouveau building with a magnificent decorated dome (what’s in a name 😉 ) build by Jos Bascourt in 1893.

When it comes to food, I was always convinced it would be good, despite some slightly ‘negative’ comments I heard…but one is only guilty when proven guilty! I can only say I had an evening filled with great refined food and friendly/ professional service (and cute waitress, sorry it just had to be said!). You can either go for one of the 2 menus (7/9 courses) or just choose à la carte, my friends and me went for the 7 course menu . The 9 courses would make me feel too greedy 😉 and choosing à la carte would make the experience less adventuress to my opinion (ok, I know it’s not I’m deciding to make trip through the Amazon or so, but still…). For the wine pairing with the menu I loved Dôme’s way of working as you never know which wine you’re drinking until the end of your course… and there is also no way to sneak peak as all wines are served out of a decanter :-)… I like this way as it will make one drink his wine differently and can lead to a nice discussion with your table guests of which wine you’re drinking (you might throw in a little bet… who loses pays dinner 😉 )

Please feast your eyes on the menu they served us. We started (after some appetizers) with a silky soft and smooth Jerusalem artichoke velouté with truffle and I believe they said there was coffee oil in it?? (but not 100% sure 🙂 ) I could have emptied a few more bowls of that baby.

What followed was one of my preferred shell fish, fresh scallops with cauliflower shavings and olive cream that got accompanied (and previous dish) a white Weißburgunder trocken Muschelkalk… the part we had figured out before they told us which wine it was, was that it was German 🙂

The following dish was a good example of a dish that I wouldn’t order myself, but thanks to the tasting menu I get to taste: fresh duck foie gras with balsamic vinaigrette, hazelnut crumble, cranberries and caramelized endive. I’ll admit I will never be a huge fan of foie gras, but this dish did bring me a step closer. This dish needed a totally different wine, this time they chose to serve us an Austrian Schilcher frizzante which would be a light sparkling wine

What followed was red mullet with clams and celery gravy, I was pretty convinced I took a picture of the dish, but I guess I was wrong … so no picture to feast your eyes on. What I can do is tell you that the wine served with it was a white Masieri from Veneto . (Italian wine, so they couldn’t go wrong there 😉 )

Our ‘main’ course was without any doubt one of the two favorites I had that night a homemade ham with Basque way black pudding and green apples. I love ham!! This came with a red French Les Premières Faugéres from the Languedoc.

From this moment on it was dessert time, starting with the pineapple, tapioca, and coconut milk mousse and coriander meringue accompanied by a glass of 5 year old Madeira by Barbeito.

But the absolute star of the evening was without any doubt the chocolate pie. I have NEVER eaten a chocolate pie that was so light and fluffy and had had a crispy crust at the same time!! I don’t know how they do it, but it is definitely one of THE best I ever had!

I can only conclude that this was a great evening with great food and I’ll be back without any doubt!! What did surprise me was that when leaving the restaurant we got a bread as gift 🙂 so maybe I should eat at Dôme every Friday or saturday, this way I won’t need to go to the bakery shop the next morning…

Restaurant Dôme

Website: www.domeweb.be

Address: Grotehondstraat 2, 2018 Antwerp – Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0)3 239 90 03

2013 not over just yet

December 17, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

My New Year’s resolution for 2014 will be to eat less at restaurants (When I said this last year, a few days later I booked a table at El Celler de Can Roca 🙂 ) and I’ll try to stick to that resolution… BUT it is not 2014 yet 🙂 So Last weekend I had a nice dinner with my buddy Bram (aka one of the top sommeliers @ Pazzo Antwerp). It was Bram’s turn to pick a restaurant and he picked “’t huis van Lede” which I had never heard off before. Sometimes I prefer not knowing something, this way the experience will be much better as you go there without expectations. Something I should maybe also mention that the restaurant got awarded with 1 Michelin star, which is something if you enter the restaurant you wouldn’t expect as it is very unpretentious and not that fancy like usually is the case. I mean they don’t use tablecloths, they have very basic chairs, etc… Once you taste the food and see the wine they have you know why they have that Michelin star… and personally I prefer a low profile interior, this makes one feel more comfortable and/or cozy.

If I should describe the type of food they serve, I would say that they serve a classical kitchen with a bit of fine-tuning and replacing some “classic” ingredients with a ‘newer’ one. What I liked about this kitchen is the fact they didn’t hold back on the ‘real’ butter :-). Which doesn’t necessarily have to mean it is heavy food. Picking what to eat was more than ever the most difficult part as again I liked everything on the menu. The dishes that stood out for me were as starter the ‘Fried langoustines, Iberic ham, croquette of pork leg and mustard, celeriac salad and puree of roasted onion’ and as main course the ‘Vol-au-Vent from range chicken, sweetbread, veal tongue, salsify and mushrooms with a mash from Rat potatoes’ (this just stood out as I love Vol-au-vent). Bram first had the ‘Goose liver cannelloni with scallops’ followed by the ‘Slowly in Westmalle beer cooked hare buttock with plum, black pudding, endive with fresh herbs salad and fries’. Before we stared with all these treats we got a pigeon mousse taster… very light consistency, but very rich of flavor (great way to pet the taste buds).

I cannot speak for Bram’s dishes, but the combinations I had on my dishes I liked. The surf and turf in my starter worked just great, and the combination of the croquette of pork leg, mustard and celeriac salad gave me a christmas spirit… when tasting it I pictured myself at a German Christmas market eating “sauerkraut with sausage”… So basically felt like a little holiday at my table ;-). For my main course the fresh grey shrimps and mousseline that came with the dish definitely did the trick for me and were as they say ‘the frosting on the cake’ :-).

To pick the wines I gave full trust to Bram as he for sure knows more about wines than me…Bram trusted sommelier Stijn 100% (who Bram knows from when he was doing an internship @ 3 Michelin star awarded restaurant Hof van Cleve, and Stijn was their sommelier at that time) and gave him carte blanche with a glass of white wine for with the starters and a bottle of red for the main course. To make it more interesting Stijn never told us in advance which wine it was… For the white wines I have to plead guilty I forgot to write down which wines it were (but once I find out, I’ll share it). As for the red wine, Stijn couldn’t have done a better job as he gave us a 2010 Valpolicella by Pieropan which happens to be a wine of one of my preferred Italian wine regions (together with Piemonte and Valtellina for red wines).

A dinner wouldn’t be complete without a dessert … I went for a dessert that my chocoholic fiancee would die for 🙂 chocolate mousse with a chocolate brownie, sour cream sorbet and vanilla caramel (FYI the chocolate mousse was served like a Melo cake with chocolate mousse instead of egg white and without the cookie). Bram picked the Dame Blanche or was it chocolate sauce with a bit of ice cream 😉 .

To finish what was already a perfect evening in good company, Stijn had us taste a few of the many ‘Stählemühles’ AND still warm Madeleines with he coffee (I like) . To make long story short Stählemühles’ is aquavit that comes in 1001 different flavors and combinations (just check pick from the closet) made by Christoph Keller and Christiane Schoeller who Gin lovers will know from their gin ‘Monkey 47’. For the record I just had a sip of the aquavits 🙂

Restaurant ‘t Huis van Lede, a unpretentious restaurant serving honest food at a Michelin star level !

Enjoy !

‘t Huis van Lede

Website: http://www.thuisvanlede.be

Address: Lededorp 7, 9772 Wannegem-Lede – Belgium

Phone n° : +32 (0)9 383 50 96

A light version I like

December 4, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Main course

The Pain Perdu:

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

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

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

Restaurant Te Kook

Website: http://www.tekook.be

Address : Vrijdagmarkt 7, B-2000 Antwerp

Phone n°: +32 (0)3 689 39 29

Bistronomie at its best

November 26, 2013November 26, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

That I have a long restaurant wish list isn’t a secret, I literally have a spreadsheet subdivided per country and city which restaurants I want to do… you could see it as my list of how many restaurants to do before I ever die 🙂 and by the looks of it I’ll be living for eternity ;-). Anyhow a restaurant that has been on my list for a while now is restaurant ‘Les Eleveurs’ lead by Andy De Brouwer who is already the 4rd generation in the De Brouwer family to keep the restaurant.

Maybe it was destiny, but there was no better time to visit restaurant ‘Les Eleveurs’ as lots of changes happend in its scenery as after a having had Michelin star and Andy being the Best Belgian sommelier, they changed their way of working and exchanged their Michelin starred food for an affordable and more basic Bistronomie cuisine. What this basically means is that they are a ‘bistro’ serving more gastronomical dishes than in a regular bistro, but still keeping it simple. So I couldn’t have asked for a better table guest than Mr. Bistronomie himself Steve Engels 🙂

Something good to know before I go on is that ‘Les Eleveurs’ is a hotel and restaurant… so basically no excuses not to drink 🙂 that’s all I’m saying. I wanted to share this as with a top sommelier as Andy De Brouwer in the restaurant it would be a shame not to go 100% for the wines, beers and other great beverages (like Madeira or Sherry) they have.

Les Eleveurs’ Chef Nico Corbesier might be a lot younger than Sofie Dumont who used to be headchef at ‘Les Eleveurs’ (who decided to go her own way), but when it comes to experience Nico has already worked in lots of great restaurants and has been leading the kitchen upon Sofie’s maternity leave. I know it might sound cocky , but to my opinion age or where you learned how to cook or did chef school doesn’t really matter, it might influence you… you either have it in you or you don’t and I think Nico has it.

I don’t know if you guys like wild game dishes, but if you do it is worth to pass by ‘Les Eleveurs’ as they now have something called the “Wild Festival” (no, not the wet t-shirt kind). Basically they are serving different kinds of meat from wild animals (for the non-wild game lovers, they still have few other dishes on the menu). We took the tasting menu, this way we got to taste several things.

We started with an assortment of 4 pieces game pies with lettuce, red cabbage, celeriac and an authentic made remoulade sauce. With which Andy paired a white2011 Spanish El Pajara.

We continued our meal with a “vol-au-vent” of pheasant that Andy served with a Lustau Solera Reserva . A combo of one of my favorite dishes and one of my favorite drinks… so an easy score 😉

The main course of the evening was a deer loin with beetroot, pomegranate, truffle potato(purple), red onion and cherry sauce that got paired with a herby and bit stronger wine what is needed for piece of meat like deer loin (but not tooooo strong dough). It was a French Malbec, Les Escures by Mas Del perie

To finish this wonderful meal and evening we were served a nougat ice cream with quince and nuts that got served with a Gran Riserva PX by Toro Albala so basically stuff I like… because of the PX grape it is of course a sweeter drink, but a nice sweetness and not a toooo sweet drink.

Technically speaking ‘Les Eleveurs’ can be taken of my wishlist, but I think I’ll keep it on there as I’m pretty sure I’ll wanting to come back here and the experience will be as enchanting as this time!

Hope when you get to go you’ll be having the same opinion as me, but I’m sure Andy and his team will do their best that you do.

Restaurant Les Eleveurs:

Website: http://www.les-eleveurs.be

Address: Suikerkaai 1A, 1500 Halle – Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 2 361 13 40

Rock-fort the restaurant, not the beer

October 24, 2013October 24, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

I have been wanting to try restaurant Rock Fort for a long time but every time I wanted to go it was either fully booked or something came in-between or it was weekend and therefore closed… but like they say in Dutch “De aanhouder wint” which basically means if you try long enough eventually it will work 🙂 so after a few years I finally made it here thanks to a very good friend of mine who likes eating almost as much as I do 🙂

Good thing we didn’t enter the wrong door, otherwise the bill might have been a big surprise as “Rock-fort” is right next to the 3 Michelin star awarded restaurant Karmeliet… and their entrance doors are next to each other. One thing is for sure, I’m not sad to have chosen the door of Rock-fort (Maybe next time I’ll take the other door 😉 ) as it reminded me of my all-time favorite restaurant Pazzo in Antwerp… it is not too fancy, modern and even trendy but with comfortable furniture and a cozy vibe (I loved their chairs!!) .The choice on their menu is just lovely (with the keep it simple motto in mind) and they have a great selection of wines that can be taken either per glass of bottle and you get a great view of their open kitchen (it was separated by glass)… so basically the recipe for success and a great night out.

Rock-fort is “subdivided” in 2 parts. The first part (where you enter) is the bar where you besides drinking (they have a big Gin collection) you can also have some tapas to go with your drink. The second part is the actual restaurant where you can see their “open” kitchen. The reason I say “open” is that the restaurant and kitchen are separated by a very big window, so let’s call it semi-open ;-). I actually like it when a restaurant has an open kitchen, this proves they have nothing to hide… (too bad I can’t show a picture, but you’ll see it yourself when you go)

Choosing what to eat is as always very difficult or maybe even more difficult than ever as everything on the menu looked so good and to make us doubt even more they also presented the Chef’s menu to us (which also sounded great)… in the end we took the Chef’s menu:

We received some homemade popcorn before to go with our glass of bubbles

We started with a Tuna tartar with cucumber and seaweed . A very refreshing combination I might add… I couldn’t imagine a better drink to go with it than a refreshing glass of 2009 Jané Ventura ‘Reserva de la Musica’ cava.

We continued with some scallops with a black pudding crumble, pumpkin and peas. I initially thought when they set the plate in front of me that it would be a dry dish, but I was very wrong it was a well out balanced dish and not dry at all 🙂 With this I drank a 2010 Morgadio Da Calcada Tinto. I know most people would drink a white wine, but this red wine was not too overpowering to go with the scallops.

Our main course was pheasant with chicory and earth apple (aka Jerusalem artichoke) cream. These are the dishes I just can’t get enough of 🙂 rich, full of flavor and the taste for more (that and stews). With this I went for a wine from one of my preferred wine regions, but made by a Belgian, it was a 2010 Langhe rosso from Le Cecche. One sip of the glass and you know why I like the wines of this region 😉

We finished our meal with a chocolate and figs dessert. Again a winner! I’m glad there was some fruit with it the refresh the dessert.

Moral of my story at Rock-fort, my fiancée can be glad this restaurant is closed over the weekend as otherwise we’d be spending lots of weekend in Bruges 🙂

Restaurant Rock Fort

Website: http://www.rock-fort.be/

Address: Langestraat 17, 8000 Bruges, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0)50 33 41 13

Date night in Ghent

October 22, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

I don’t know about you men out there, but I take my fiancée out for a date from time to time as even after being together for 14 years I still love spoiling her! It is a fact we see each other every day, but having a special night with just us 2 without having to cook and getting served can be very nice. Don’t you agree?

This time I decided to take her for a night out in Ghent also known as the city where we lived for 2 years, it is a bit like going back in time. I took her to restaurant “Coeur d’Artichaut” located in the heart of the Ghent for dinner. It was the first time we ate at this restaurant, it did already exist when we used to live here, but we never made it here.. .BUT we did already have a meal made by the team from “Coeur d’artichaut” as they do the catering for the Liefmans Brewery and we once celebrated Valentine Day at the brewery. In the blogpost I wrote I said one day I’d be eating at the actual restaurant… and so a few weeks ago we finally made it there 😉

I do remember every time I passed by the restaurant it always looked very cozy and warm inside, so I hoped once I got inside it would be as I imagined it… it was. I don’t know how I could describe the interior of the restaurant, a mix of old and newer I’d say :-).

Their concept is actually eating healthy and showing the people this doesn’t necessarily means having boring low/light flavored food 🙂 and if you ask me they succeed very well in this “mission”… I have to admit that during my whole meal I felt like biting a piece out of the “pata negra” ham standing next to me 🙂 but I (or maybe it was my fiancée) was able to keep myself under control. What we did eat that night was as good as the ham probably was. We started with for me lobster with confit tomatoes, beurre blanc and hazelnut. My lovely fiancée had the terrine of foie gras with popcorn, mango and cashew. It tasted as good as it looked, maybe a bit too much foie gras, but who’s complaining 🙂 (Better a bigger portion than something to fill your hollow tooth)

We continued our meal with for me Cod with spice crust, whelks, a cauliflower and coconut cream and a curry mayonnaise. My fiancée took the Oven roasted figs with quinoa, goat cheese and crispy bread

Having a chocoholic fiancée I couldn’t finish this date with anything else than a nice chocolate dessert a white chocolate mousse with lychee, ganache and raspberry.

The perfect ending of a perfect night… it might have been the moment or the Romeo in me speaking, but my fiancée looked more beautiful than ever that night… (well she actually looks great every night)

Restaurant Coeur d’Artichaut

Website: http://www.artichaut.be

Address: Onderbergen 6, 9000 Ghent, Belgium

Phone n° : +32 9 225 33 18

A trip down memory lane

October 18, 2013October 18, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

If I would ask 100 people what they think of when I say Delacre, 99 of them will say of their grandmother (same goes for me) as everybody’s grandmother had a tin box filled with the delicious Delacre cookies at home… I personally also remember eating lots of them 🙂

I also remember when I was in primary school we used to collect the empty boxes from the Delichoc cookies from Delacre, as the school who collected the most got a as price a concert from a than very popular Belgian band called “The Radios” (unfortunately we didn’t win). Check out the following links and listen to the songs, so you can see why I was buying (and eating) cookies like a real cookie monster: Link 1, Link 2 and link 3. I think I still have a cassette or a disk from them at home 🙂

So when I walked into the Delacre shop a few weeks ago a lot of my childhood nostalgic memories came back… I made me feel very warm inside 🙂 (Ok, I’ll stop being sentimental 😉 ). Not only did I enter the shop I (together with 3 lovely ladies) got to make our own cookies with the guidance of the Delacre lady pastry chef Nadia, who is actually French-Canadian who got stuck in Belgium thanks to love 🙂 and is very passionate about what she does (that’s the way I like them)…

Anyhow I didn’t know there was a Delacre cookieshop in the city center of Brussels it is even located in between the “Grand place” and “Manneken pis”… so all you people out there, next time make a detour via this sweet shop next time you’re walking from the “Grand Place” to “Manneken pis”.(or just when you feel like having some great cookies) They don’t only sell the classic cookies in the famous boxes, they also sell cookies you’ll only find in this shop and all freshly made in the shop itself by Nadia and her colleague.

As if I wasn’t already enough down memory lane in this shop, the baking workshop brought me whole the way back to chef school during the baking classes :-). The cookies we baked during our workshop were the “Palais de Dame nougatine” and the “Ultime cacao” (a real treat for chocolate lovers). The bags I took home didn’t even make through the next day 🙂 so I think the question “where they good” shouldn’t be asked anymore…

Cookiemaking 2

Cookiemaking 4

Wanna taste them? Pass by the Delacre shop and feast your eyes on cookies and tin boxes as far as the eye can see 🙂

Or you wait a bit and find the recipe on my blog … or do both 😉

Delacre Boetiek:

Address: Oud Korenhuis 27 – 1000 Brussels, Belgium

Open every Tuesday to Sunday between 11h and 18h30

Cheers!

The 2013 Best Belgian Sommelier Trophy

October 17, 2013October 16, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

What a day!! My respect for professional sommeliers got bigger by the second during the annual Belgian Sommelier Trophy. First things first, before I start talking about anything else I want to clear out something. The title of “Best sommelier of Belgium” given yearly by the Belgian Sommelier Guild is the one and only real title as they are the only association recognized by the ASI or “Association de la Sommellerie Internationale” to hand out this title. During this competition there is also no favoritism as this contest gets observed by a bailiff to make sure the whole contest happens correctly. Secondly, during this contest every participant gets thoroughly tested on his/her knowledge and get judged by an international jury with special guests like Bernd Kreis (Best Sommelier of Germany 1990, Best Sommelier of Europe 1992, Semi-finalist Best Sommelier of the World 1992), Jan-Willem Van der Hek (Best Sommelier of Holland 2013, Candidate for World and European championships 2013), Cees Vos (Past president of the Dutch Sommelier Guild), Louis Havaux (Past president of FIJEV, Concours Mondial de Bruxelles…), international winemakers, me 🙂 and a few more… so basically people who know what they’re talking about. I (together 5 other judges at my table) had to evaluate the participant’s handiness, efficiency, politeness and professionalism during his tests. It might seem an easy task, but it really wasn’t!!

Now you know the above I can continue with talking about the actual competition. Last Sunday 3 young sommeliers (remaining from the 11 candidates that participated the semi-finales) Yannick Dehandschutter (Restaurant Sir Kwinten), Antoine Lehebel (Restaurant Villa Lorraine) and Jan Rots (Restaurant Brasserie Latem) competed against each other to become the this year’s Best Sommelier of Belgium . I was really honored to be part of the jury and glad I was at the good side of the table as it wasn’t easy competition :-).

To give you guys an idea how difficult a contest like this I’ll give a few examples of tests they had to do. The first test they had to do might seem like a very easy test, but don’t get fooled!! They had to serve (according to the rules of the art) my table of judges a 2006 Telmont Blanc de Blancs Champagne and also tell us more about this champagne… to make it more difficult they also put a 2004 Blanc de Blancs and a totally different champagne in the ice bucket and to do this all they had 5 minutes. Only 1 of the 3 participants’ served us the correct bottle… it did cost them a point, but this way I got to try 3 different champagnes 😉

The most difficult tests were saying from 6 glasses of alcoholic drinks which kind of alcohol it was and the country it comes from or maybe telling from 3 glasses of wine as much as much as possible and which wine it is… all this just by looking at the color, smelling and tasting again for which they only had between 5-9 minutes to accomplish. Or was it the 7 course menu for which they had to give 7 different wines from 7 different countries and tell us why? Although finding the mistakes in a wine list also didn’t seem like child’s play as the mistakes could be typo’s, but also references to wrong regions or vintages… so if after this test your respect doesn’t get bigger for them I don’t know what will?! Next time I’ll see a title like this given by some magazine or guide I’ll think twice and wonder on what they based themselves to determine the winner of their title!!

Grading the 3 finalists wasn’t an easy task as they matched on many levels… I mean they all had parts they did less or better, but in the end it evened out. I waited until I had seen all 3 participants before grading. I personally didn’t know as there were around 20 judges each judging a different aspect so it could go every direction… but in the end the best man won, the 2013 Trophy of Best Sommelier of Belgium went to Yannick Dehandschutter from restaurant Sir Kwinten

Check the following link for a little video of the awarding ceremony

With every victory there must be a good meal and celebration and boy did we eat and celebrate, but I’ll talk about that another time 😉

Congratz Yannick and see you soon @ Sir Kwinten 🙂

Lunch on top of Antwerp

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

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

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

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

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

hapje 2 met crispy parsley

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

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

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

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

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

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

Strawberry variaties

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

friandises

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

Restaurant ‘t Zilte

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

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

Phone n°: +32 (0) 3 283.40.40

The way the cookie crumbles: Ingrid Neven

September 20, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

I hope you guys already had the chance to read some of my new blog items where I ask chefs 10 question. The previous 2 chefs I question were Syrco Bakker and Giovani Oosters. This time the I asked the questions is one that just couldn’t miss on my list. In the 14 years I eat her dishes not once I have been disappointed!! (and trust me I’ve tasted quite a few in all those years) On top of that she’s a great chick 🙂 She no one else than Chef Ingrid Neven from my all-time favorite restaurant Pazzo!

1. What is your favorite local product(s) to work with? And in which way should it be prepared?

Especially the things the seasons produce time after time, in autumn(my fav season) the wild forest mushrooms, the Polder hare (TOP!). Brussels sprouts, Belgian endive, …. In summertime all the njammy local fruits like strawberries, raspberries and in spring asparagus. In our kitchen we just love to mix all those things to get surprising results like mixing them with products from Italian and Japanese cuisine. Although the best way to prepare them is the most natural as possible!

BTW, we have a friend (no name) who searches for wild “rucola” or eatable mushrooms in roadsides, forests and fields (snappy and local).

2. Is it important for you to use local products?

Yes, but only if it are products of high quality… I mean if a product from down the street has a bad or poor quality, I prefer getting a product from high quality even if it has to come from somewhere else. Also because of our Italian and Japanese influenced dishes some ingredients can’t be found locally 🙂

3. An ingredient you couldn’t miss in your kitchen?

Spices, first of all salt & pepper, preferably sea salt, but also spices like ras- el- hanout, wasabi, fresh herbs in general, they always give a different dimension to a dish.

4. When did you get the passion for cooking?

From my mom, I’m a real farmer’s daughter. My mom always made her own ice-cream from fresh milk from our own cows (nothing beats that!!). She was also butcher and for a long time we butchered and prepared our own animals… so I basically always had great and fresh food already from a young age.

5. Who is your big example in the gastronomical world?

I’m a huge fan of Nobu Matsuhisa, I have all his books and already ate at his original restaurant in LA, amazing Japanese cuisine with little twist.

6. Where do you get your inspiration for making new dishes and combinations?

Going out to eat, cookbooks, but also by just walking around in food stores, open air markets or supermarkets (mostly sun wah an Asian store in Belgium).

7. What has been the most culinary experience? (The restaurant was already on my list, but now I got even more curious)

My last culinary highlight was last year in NYC at the Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, a very unique dining experience, nice pure flavors with Japanese influences. No nonsense!

8. For which dish would you make a big sacrifice to be able to eat it?

Well, if I would ever be in dead row, you never know, my last wish would be a last supper at Nobu LA!! (My ultimate dream would of course be Japan)

9. What is your most wonderful memory of chef school?

Without any doubt the practical classes by Mrs. Vanderstraeten, a small a small delicate woman who knew how to give gas, not your average teacher, but a real worker!! Every time it felt like it was the real thing, I learned a lot from her!

10. A culinary experience everybody should have had besides have a meal at your restaurant?

There are so many, but a piece of advice I’d like to give is that no matter at what level you eat, ENJOY it and go somewhere without expectations… only then you’ll have a total experience of a restaurant! Usually it is not only the influence of the waiter or food that counts, but also the atmosphere or company…so again ENJOY and every culinary experience will be an incredible one!!

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