Welcome Malcolm McChouffe

April 24, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

I don’t know if you guys remember it, but last summer the mascot of the La Chouffe brewery Marcel Chouffe (on picture below) got stolen. I’ve got no idea how they did it as the wooden sculpture weighs over 200kg , so it’s not that you can quickly move it…. but it seems that La Chouffe items are very wanted.

This Saturday we were proud and happy to be able to welcome Malcolm McChouffe aka Marcel’s cousin. Malcolm will now be pointing the direction towards the little town called Achouffe (where the La Chouffe beer is made), overlooking his cousin’s empty barrel, hoping one day he will be joined again by his missing cousin! As the name might have already revealed, Malcolm is Scottish. So I cannot think of a better way to welcome Malcolm than on the tunes of the bagpipers?? Could you? I know not everybody likes it, but I really do (that’s the little drummer in me)!! I always feel like taking a snare drum and marching along!

I first feel like sharing a piece written by a Walloon writer and Beerologist Rony Couteure after a visit to the La Chouffe brewery. I really couldn’t express it better myself:

“In the annals of his forefathers McChouffe, a Scottish gnome from the Edinburgh woods, discovered the origins of his lineage. More and more he became suspicious that long lost nieces and nephews were waiting for him in the Belgian Ardennes. One Scottish morning he decided to bid farewell to the land of his birth and to go and seek out his foreign family. He travelled for months and took shelter in many golden mushrooms along the way. He enjoyed luxurious herbs in the Belgian beer land until suddenly he found himself at the edge of the dark Ardennes wood. Without hesitation he entered the deep wood but swiftly lost his way between the trees which resembled each other more and more. For days he wandered around until suddenly a stimulating smell of hops lured him to the brewing village of Achouffe. McChouffe was welcomed with open arms by the Achouffe gnomes. They told him all about themselves and their lives and this culminated in a great feast which went on until the early hours of the morning.

During this intoxicating feast McChouffe met the fairy Fleurdor and, as if a bolt of lightening hit his heart, he fell madly in love. The beautiful fairy persuaded him to give her the secret recipe for a brown beer which was once brewed in his fatherland. With his Ardennes family he set everything in motion to brew this beer. As an old and wise gnome he returned to Scotland with the fairy Fleurdor. Their many children are still roaming around there.

In order to keep up this tradition, Brasserie d’Achouffe is still brewing this special brown beer: McChouffe which is rightfully named “Skotch van de Ardennen” (Scotch beer of the Ardennes).

This legend was told by Professor Servoisius, alias Ronny Coutteure, God rest him…”

Of course after all this visiting and listening our throats needed some moisture! Being a very curious person (at a brewery) and wanting to make sure I only give good notes to my readers I felt obligated to test all the types of beer the La Chouffe brewery offers (Yes, this is how much I love you guys). It must be said that the beers were served in tasting glasses, otherwise I’m not sure how my visit would have finished ;-). Anyhow please find the whole La Chouffe gamma on the following link. I did learn during this ‘tasting’ that I prefer dark beers :-), I’m not really into the Houblon Chouffe (aka Triple) as for me it is a bit to bitter, but according to what I’ve learned during my introduction in the world of beer & women, women prefer drinking bitter drinks… so ladies do the test!

At the end there is only one question to ask ourselfs

I do hope you guys will one day be able to visit this brewery and very beautiful part of Belgium! With a good glace of La Chouffe of course… I got enchanted, hope you will too. We can only hope that one day the empty barrel beside Malcolm will be joined again by his cousin Marcel.

FYI, Malcolm is under camera surveillance, so don’t get any crazy ideas!

For some reason I think I’m related to Malcolm (picture taking after tasting)

A million reasons to go to the Taste of Antwerp

April 17, 2013April 17, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

Not that I need that much convincing to go to the “Taste of Antwerp”, but maybe you guys do? So let me give you a looooooooot of reasons why shouldn’t miss this year’s edition that will take place from May 9^th to 12^th.

The first reason would already be the fact that some friends and acquaintances of mine are participating at this year’s edition, like 12 place du marché, Comocomo, mamakookt, De Schone van Boskoop (Michelin awarded), restaurant Ardent , ‘t Leeuwekopke and also Cheese masters Van Tricht… and if those names are not enough do check the rest of the list of participating restaurants and get blown away!! There are even some restaurants on it that I have on my wish list (some got added during the press conference 🙂 ) and I’m not only talking about the still to open “La Chapelle” 🙂

This year’s edition has changed a bit according to last editions. First of all “Taste of Antwerp” changed the location from the Vlaamse/ Waalsekaai to Waagnatie (in Navigation system you need to enter Rijnkaai 150). Secondly, and I know it might seem like bad news at first, but since this year an entrance fee of 5 EUR will be asked… but in exchange and in addition to your “entrance ticket” they give you 2 beverage vouchers… so the entrance fee is more a symbolic fee if you ask me.

Something else that is new on this year edition is the “Bowers & Wilkins Theater”. At this theater you’ll be able to follow master classes and cooking demonstrations from participating chefs, Beer & wine tastings, Autographing sessions, etc… The full schedule will soon come online.

I hear you think, this all sounds nice, but will the actual food cost me? Well the dishes will be costing between 4 and 7 EUR, which is a very reasonable price considering you’ll be able to try dishes from 3, 2 and 1 Michelin star awarded restaurants, explore new types of cuisines like Peruvian, Nepalees or Ethiopian. If you are as greedy as me and feel like trying everything from every restaurant, it might indeed get more expensive than imagined, but you guys won’t worry that is just very greedy me talking 😉

In case you feel like lifting it up a notch, you might consider taking the VIP-arrangement? This arrangement costs 99,99 EUR and has to be booked online via following link . But what do you get for this price? A very important question, I’ve listed it up for you:

1 + Entrance to Taste of Antwerp and the Bowers & Wilkins Theater (valid whole day)
2 + Access to the luxurious VIP pavilion.
3 + Reception by a hostess
4 + A glass of Perrier-Jouët champagne at arrival
5 + Coupons for Taste of Antwerp dishes with a value of 40 EUR
6 + Beer and cheese pairing with the Cheese masters Michel Van Tricht & Son and the Duvel Moortgat Brewsery
7 + Beverage à volonté
8 + Goodie bag

You can check the Taste of Antwerp website for more details.

It doesn’t matter which formula you choose to come to the Taste of Antwerp, the most important of it all is that you can enjoy some of the best food Antwerp has to offer! Nothing better than friend, family and great food all in 1 spot! FYI I have already tried some of dishes that will be served and I can say for a fact they are tasty!

Anyway I could keep naming reason why to come, but I have to stop somewhere

I do hope to see you guys at the Taste of Antwerp!

Thursday May 9^th between 14.00 – 24.00 u
Friday May 10^th between 14.00 – 24.00 u
Saturday May 11^thbetween 14.00 – 24.00 u
Sunday May 12^thbetween 14.00 – 22.00 u

My fiancée’s birthday weekend

April 9, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

It seems I didn’t only make my fiancée curious for her birthday weekend, also some colleagues and friends started to ask me yesterday when I’d finally start telling what I had planned 🙂

My fiancée is without any doubt one or maybe even the most important person in my life, she always believes in me, supports me and so much more. So spoiling her is my life mission and I’d do almost everything to make a smile appear on her face (and boy that is one beautiful smile). For me her birthday celebration has to be something to make her feel even more special! Usually my planning already starts around Christmas! Yes Christmas and her birthday is not until April….I just want to make sure that I have time enough to organize everything the way I want it, where I want it and to get everybody free (as people’s agendas are fuller every year). It is indeed a fact that it does become more difficult year after year to still find something as already on her first birthday that we were a couple I took her to Venice and since that time cities like Turin, Rome, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Thailand, etc….have passed the review! So you can see the “trouble”…

Celebrating only between us two wouldn’t just do the trick, or at least when we go abroad we obviously celebrate it there always by us two, but to compensate it before our trip I organize (without her knowing of course) either something with her friends or her family (or both). This year I chose to do something with her family and I chose restaurant Kamu. Why restaurant Kamu, well it was already on my wish list for a while 🙂 it might not be my birthday, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to eat well 🙂

If you haven’t been to Kamu yet, you should there’s a really good vibe in this restaurant. I definitely also had the best seat in the house (with the best view) of the evening and this was with a view of the open (but with a window in front for the smell) kitchen.

The reason this restaurant actually came on my list thanks to my fiancée’s sister 🙂 as she likes Kamu a lot. Anyhow I’m wondering off, we came here to eat something and I’m glad we did! Chef Emanuel opened our taste buds by serving us a homemade spring roll filled with duck confit, young spinach and black olive crumble as appetizer. I
also couldn’t imagine a better beverage to start the festivities than some
sparkling wine? Our choice went to the Joan Sarda cava.

At restaurant Kamu you can either go for the 3 or4 course menu or you can choose “à la carte”. We took the 3 course menu that we accompanied by a 2009 red Italian Barbera d’Alba by Reverdito. Piemonte is one of my favorite wine regions, after Valpolicella and Valtellina… I like them as the wines always have these very round tastes…

After the appetizer the first dish chef Emanuel prepared us was a Carpaccio from sea bass (if I remember it well). This got followed by some veal with black salsify and what we call in Dutch “smoutebollen “or “Oliebollen” (in Dutch from The Netherlands). Normally these are served at a street carnival and are sweet, but in this case Chef Emanuel made “salty”ones to fit the dish. I always get so happy when I see creative dishes like this.

For dessert we could choose if we wanted either a chocolate or lemon dessert. I picked the lemon dessert. On the tune of Stevie Wonder’s Happy birthday and some fireworks they also brought my fiancée’s dessert 🙂

Overall a very nice meal and a true price/quality value and a successful first part of my fiancée’s birthday as I saw the smile 🙂

So the family part has been done, now our “couple” part starts, but you’ll have to wait for tomorrow to read all about it… I could give a tip, but I actually already gave a tip in one of my previous blogposts about my fiancée’s birthday planning

To be continued ….

Taste of Antwerp: News flash

March 28, 2013March 28, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

The list of chefs that will be present at “taste of Antwerp” next month just keeps getting better and better! They already had an impressive list (including some friends of mine) with cheese maturers Michel & Frederick Van Tricht, Thomas Coenen with his team of 12 Place du marché, the lovely ladies of Mama kookt and a bunch of Michelin star awarded chefs, restaurant Ardent, ‘t leeuwekopke, etc…. but the cherry on the cake for me is without any doubt that Sergio Herman and Nick Bril (Sergio’s sous-chef) will be presenting some of “La Chapelle’s” dishes. For you who don’t know “La Chapelle” yet, this is the new restaurant project of Sergio Herman in Antwerp on which they have already been working for 2 years and will finally be opening January 2014 (I’m counting the days for it to open!!). The executive chef in this restaurant will be Nick Bril who has already been for a while at Sergio’s side. So if you already want a sneak peak of what “La Chapelle” will be offering on their menu! (Although I think you’ll have to wait in line for a bit).

Hope to see you there!

You can find the list of restaurant that already confirmed their participation on the following link

Taste of Antwerp

9 – 12 May at “Waagnatie”

Rijnkaai 150, 2000 Antwerp

PAZZO goes Funky

March 6, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

For all of you who like wine and some great soul music, Pazzo’s winebar is THE place to be! This Friday 8/03 as of 11pm YUREK ONZIA (aka Captain Soul) will put on the groove and get it ooooon 🙂

Stax Records-Motown-Atlantic-Hi Records-Memphis-New Orleans-Hot Wax-P-funk-northern-JB-blue eyed-brazil & boogaloo soul … the list goes on and on

Unfortunately I won’t be in the country (sad as they’re combining 2 of my fav. things), so you guys just have to fill my seat and groove the night away

Get Funky!

Pazzo: Oude Leeuwenrui 12, 2000 Antwerp – Belgium

The gastronomical Heart of Europe: final part

March 5, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

You know what is the difference between a local “farmer/craftsman” and multinationals? The sparkle in their eyes! When you see and hear the local “farmer/craftsman” talk you see the excitement, enthusiasm and the love or better the passion for their product and for what they do…. which results to unbelievable products waaaaaay above average quality! The 2 I mentioned in my previous post are just two examples, but every single person I talked to on this little ‘trade fair’ had the passion in their eyes. Another good example of such a person is Frank van Eerd from Bisschopsmolen, who really knows everything about whatever has to do with bread, pies and baking, a walking encyclopedia if you ask me! Next time I’m in Maastricht I just have to pass by his bakery to buy and try some stuff!!

I have to admit that after all that talking (and I talk a lot) I started to feel hungry and thirsty, lucky for me they were just ready to serve a wonderful lunch prepared by 3 Michelin star chefs that I now am a big fan of: Hans Snijders (Chef Chateau Neercanne) took care of the appetizers, Arabelle Meirlaen (Li Cwerneu) and for the main course they choose the chef that up to today has prepared the best piece of lam I ever had in my life, Giovani Oosters (Vous Le Vous). They made a lunch all prepared with local ingredients and served with wines from local vineyards.

And man what an incredible table! You might recognize this from my post about “friends of the taste”, where you basically all eat at one long table and sit with people you have never seen before 🙂 which for me couldn’t be better as I was surrounded by the people from Livar, Schorpion, “tourisme de la Province de Liège”… and boy did we talk, good thing there was enough things to smear the throat.

I unfortunately wasn’t able to take nice pictures of the eye catching dishes the chefs prepared as there was not enough light for good pictures, but like I said they all 3 convinced me taste more of their food (yes, again more restaurants on my wish list), I can only suggest you guys to the same :-)What I can do is list what we had and what you’ll notice is that they all have a motto that they highly valued just like me “Keep it simple” as that is 98% of the time the best!

Appetizers which were served with perfectly matching Brut Nature Gold sparkling wine from Schorpion:

Trilogy of ham:

‘Jambon d’Ardenne’ mousse (from Montenauer) with cave mushrooms jelly
Jamón de la Sierra’ (Livar) with spelled bread (Bisschopsmolen)
Crispy Livar porkneck with a “Loonse’ syrup sauce

First course that got served with one of Belgium’s most famous white wines a 2011 Genoels-Elderen Chardonnay:

Mackerel fillet marinated in fleur de sel with a spray (yes, like a perfume spray) of Lambertus juniper and bergamot accompanied by a refreshing beet and Montzen goat cheese.

Main course served with an Aldeneyck Pinot Noire, again a very nice choice a little herby and full of taste despite its young age (made me think of Burgundy wines).

Livar bacon (cooked 3 days at 69°C) with mushrooms from the Kanne caves, a sauce of Val Dieu triple and potato gratin with Livar pork cheek, turnips and parsnips from De Wroeter. Sprinkled with Maasland’s land seasoning salt

Dessert: my all-time favorite rice pie by the Seigneurie de la Vervi-riz!! Man that is some damn good pie.

If you feel like trying all this of having the same breathtaking experience or want to know more about this region and maybe visit some local farmers do check the website from “heart of europe” you won’t regret it! I know I will be back in this region very very soon 🙂

The gastronomical Heart of Europe: Part 2

February 28, 2013February 28, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 2 Comments

As you could read in my previous post I was really ‘in love’ with the spot where the event ‘Heart of Europe’ was held. You might also remember that the reason for me being here is that the regions Belgian & Dutch Limburg, Liège and for a part Aken are joining their forces to show people the many hidden treasures on all levels (Gastronomical, museums, etc…) there are in their regions. All these treasures are bundled on the website “Heart of Europe” which is available in Dutch, German and French (I’m sure English will soon follow).

I’m being honest when I’m saying that is a very user friendly website! Really!!! On the website you are able to look on whatever interests you most either per region or across region and country boarders. Are more into food/gastronomy or art and culture…? Just click on it and the website will guide you through the best these regions have to offer and you’ll find whatever your little heart desires. The best period to visit this period to me (but this pure personal) is spring time, as this is the moment that all plants, fruit trees and flowers are blooming. Just imagine yourself cycling through beautifully colored landscapes as far as the eye can see feeling a light spring (slightly warmer than in winter) breeze and stopping once in a while to visit a local farmer, winemaker or any another craftsman to enjoy their local products with the sun shining down on you … but then again every season has its beauties. Try all 4 and then decide 😉

I’ll let you in to a little secret of mine, the website has helped inspiring me and organizing my fiancé’s birthday 😉 I know she’ll be reading this (am I mean to make her this curious?) so I won’t go into details, but I’ll share it when the time is right. Ooooooooh yeah baby!

Not that I needed more convincing that this region is beautiful in every sense of this word, but if they want to convince me with food, who am I to stop them 🙂 🙂

At this “event” or maybe meeting is better word, they had also invited some local culinary craftsmen (winemakers, cheese makers, etc…). I arrived at 10 a.m. so I didn’t feel like trying the beer or wine yet (I just felt wrong) although there are some really good wines in these regions. Something that did catch my attention from the moment I walked in was the ham’s, that is a big weakness of mine I love ham’s both cooked as dry-cured ham (like Parmaham and Pata negra). The “LIVAR” booth was one that immediately got my attention. Livar is actually a ‘pig’ farmer that besides selling the “regular” meat of his pigs also makes some delightful hams!! From the moment you put a piece of that ham in your mouth it immediately melts like butter. Livar has 3 nominations of their ham (from the same kind of pig) the first “Livarsijnk” is dried and aged in the headquarter near Maastricht, the second part gets dried and ages in Spain “Jamon de la Sierra” and the third part “Proscuitto di Monastero” gets dries and aged in Italy near Parma . With the last two as my favorit ones, not that the Livarsijnk wasn’t good, but the other two just had that flavor I love! (They are aged longer). What makes the difference between Livar ham and other hams you’ll find around is the fact that the Livar pigs’ meadow doesn’t have a fence and they get fed things like nuts, etc… I can really recommend trying this ham and/or even visiting Livar whenever you are near Maastricht. I’m a fan!

Although I really loved all of the ‘craftsmen’ that were here had great products, other one that caught my attention were the “Seigneurie de la Vervi-riz”, they had with them my all-time favorite dessert (besides tarte tatin) Rice pie and man this was THE BEST I have ever had!!! It was all I ever looked for in a rice pie 🙂 and I must say they were the fanciest dressed of us all! (check the pic below).

BUT, the best was yet to come!

To be continued….

The gastronomical Heart of Europe

February 25, 2013February 26, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Breathtaking, that is the first word that comes in mind when I think back of the event I was fortunate enough to be part of. This event was to put the local products from 4 regions that to my opinion deserve more attention. I’m talking about Limburg (Belgian & Dutch), Liège and Aken-Düren-Heinsberg (Aken doesn’t contribute to the culinairy part).Not sure how good your geography is, but maybe you’ve noticed that these are neighboring regions (even crossing country boarders)

Chateau Neercanne was the location of the event, why exactly this location? Well first of all because Maastricht is the point where countries from the 4 regions come together and I think also the historical past of Chateau Neercanne might have been a reason. Chateau Neercanne is the place where the Maastricht Treaty has been signed on 7 February 1992 (Treaty on European Union). So basically they used this historical location to write history all over again! 4 regions spread over 3 countries collaborating and joining forces to put, what is a wonderful piece of Europe in the spotlight.

Chateau Neercanne itself is already a good example of the treasures that are hidden in this “Heart of Europe” (and a reason to come here).This 1 Michelin star awarded restaurant (already since 1985) is to me one of the most magical and beautiful restaurants where I have ever eaten. No picture can represent the actual beauty of this spot! We didn’t eat at the restaurant itself, we ate in the restaurant’s wine cellar. This cellar is located in the caves of the hill itself on which the Castle is located (also the exact location where the Treaty was signed). From the first step you walk in the caves, the only word that comes to mind is “WOW”. Names from people who have been here during the centuries written on the walls, plaques with names and Escutcheons from important and royal guests that have been here (like Paul Bocuse, HRH Queen Beatrix, …), candles burning everywhere and wines wresting as far as the eye can see. Funny enough the Plaques that is the most striking from them all was one from Red Bull crushed ice (yes, in the bright colors of Red Bull, check picture below)

Honestly I didn’t know there were such beautiful castles in “Limburg”! Which is again like I said before a good example that these regions get underestimated and deserve much more credit than they are getting at the moment. FYI I would have loved arriving here on a horse :-).

In my next post I’ll finally start talking about the food and reveal more undiscovered secrets from the gastronomical heart of Europe! To already make you curious I’ll share the picture of our table for lunch

For more info on the heart of Europe, check the following link

To be continued ….

Beer & Gastronomy Ambassador 2013

February 19, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Yesterday the Beer Society of the Low Countries and Culinaire AMBIANCE elected Joachim Boudens as the new Beer & Gastronomy ambassador for 2013. For you who don’t know Joachim Boudens, he is the sommelier and co-owner from the 3 Michelin awarded restaurant Hertog Jan in Bruges. Joachim will follow up Jean Blaute (known from his tv show about beer “Tournée Générale”) who was last year’s ambassador. When they asked Joachim what made him serve more beer in Hertog Jan, he said that sometimes when they are matching food and drinks for their new menu wine just doesn’t do the trick. One day for example they had a dish with lobster and butter for which they just didn’t find good matching wine, what they did find was a cherry beer which happened to be the perfect marriage with this dish. So sometimes it is just “faith” pushing you in the arms of Beer… although what I think made Joachim (and other restaurants) choose more for beer on their menu instead of or next to wine is that sometimes it looks like foreign people are more proud and willing to put Belgian beer in the spotlight than Belgians who should actually be doing it! Joachim told a story that once he was eating a fellow 3 Michelinstar restaurant in NYC (I think he was talking about Thomas Keller’s restaurant, but not sure as he didn’t mention a name) that from the moment the sommelier/chef knew there were Belgians in his restaurant, he proudly presented them the beer list (from 30 pages) instead of a wine list with more than 60% Belgian beer (which he was sooooo proud of). On those moments you start thinking why aren’t we this proud about this product?? But it must be said that is slowly is changing and more restaurants (normal as well as top gastronomical restaurants) are offering a beer tasting together with their dishes.

The best part (as my throat was getting dry) of the awarding was after the ceremony as Gert De Mangeleer (chef and co-owner Hertog Jan) and his team had prepared matching dishes for the beers of one of my (if not THE) preferred breweries Duvel Moortgat . The beers we received (in the order we got them) Vedette, Liefmans Goudenband, Bolleke from the Koninck and a Duvel Triple hop (I like a lot). The matching dishes were not only a feast for the eye, but also for the taste buds. One of the dishes they served was THE (or one of) the signature dishes from Hertog Jan Potato, vanilla, coffee, mimolette. (It looks a bit like grits, but is much tastier).

Those were some njammy dishes; my personal favorite was the Avocado with a tomato powder crust and Fleur de sel (which came with the Vedett). I also couldn’t imagine a better way to taste this heavenly food and beer than in the company of Michelin star awarded chefs and sommeliers like Wouter Keersmaekers (Schone van Boskoop), Andy De Brouwer (Les Eleveurs) and the man of the hour Joachim Boudens (Hertog Jan) and having a talk about our favorite thing in life “Food”!? I can’t (ok maybe having my fiancée with me would have made it even more perfect). I also have to admit that I now also added Hertog Jan on my wishlist 🙂

BTW I was on the evening News yesterday and I have the picture to proof it 🙂 But you can also see it on the website of VTM nieuws (link) around 30:18min 🙂 ooooooooooh yeah baby (ok I didn’t speak, but you can’t deny the fact I was on TV)

Taste of Flanders

February 12, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Ever wanted to try all the best restaurants Flanders has to offer in as less time possible? I know I have, but as you might know from all my previous blog posts I’m a very greedy person when it comes to food. For all the other people who are like me, I have some good stuff coming. Food brings people together, this is a fact that everybody knows. So many cities/ regions started bringing together all those food lovers and the best food/restaurants/products their city or region has to offer. I can only support things like this! I’ve listed the upcoming events that will get you through the spring, summer and autumn: (Press the name to get more info on the event)

8-12/05 “Gent Smaakt”

9-12/05 “Antwerpen proeft”

7-9/06 “Limburg proeft”

17/09 “Proef Brussel”

28-30/09 “Kookeet” (Bruges)

Enjoy and I hope to bump into you guys!

FYI, I’ll check if they also have events like this in the Southern part of Belgium, as they also have some great restaurants and products! Keep you posted.