A romantic Valentine’s day dinner at Liefmans Brewery

February 1, 2012 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

For all of you who didn’t find anything to do on valentine’s day, and if my previous suggestions didn’t help, maybe this suggestion might be something for you. As Brewery Liefmans together with restaurant Coeur d’Artichaut organize a romantic Valentine’s day dinner at the Brewery itself.

I know that it might not seem romantic, but just imagine a romantic setting overlooking the Scheldt river, enjoying a sip of a glass of Liefmans Fruitesse or its world renowned Fruitbeer together with a mouthwatering gastronomical dinner… while relaxing with some jazzy music played by the Sofie La Digue live band.

AND on top of that they are having a little lingerie show (but I’m sure the men will be more interested in this)

If that doesn’t convince you yet, maybe the menu can?

We start off with a nice glass of Liefmans Cuvée of Liefmans Fruitesse on the rocks accompanied by a King scallop (Coquilles St Jacques) Carpaccio, a little beetroot soup with sour cream and basil and a Lamb thymus (zwezerik) with a carrot and orange cream and beetroot paper .

Followed by a Seabass , with venus clams, carrot and pumpkin. Inbetween a little refreshing Sorbet.

As main course they serve quail Forestière, , Savoy, parsnip-almond, and pont neuf and Liefmans Golden Band gravy. To finish this perfect meal with a Chocolat passion (White chocolate mousse with passionfruit, blood orange, pomegranate seeds and a dark chocolate crunch. All of this with the matching beer or wine… but as this is by a Brewery I would go for the beer 🙂

And this for only 69 EUR per person ….

To my opinion this is a perfect combination and yet get to see that Liefmans has more than only Cherry and raspberry beer (that are my preferred fruit beers btw and I’m not just saying this)

I’m tempted, are you? I hope to see you there!

For more info or reservations you can always contact Restaurant Coeur d’Artichaut at phone n° +32 (0) 473 70 44 08

The dinner starts at 7 o’clock in the evening

My Pre-visit to Bodega Winterbar

January 6, 2012January 6, 2012 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Last night I went to the pre-opening of the Bodega Winterbar that I told you guys about in company of my dear friend Carlos. At first I was doubting a little bit, as the weather yesterday wasn’t really what we could call good 🙂

I also thought they would cancel it, being that close to the river… but at the end I was glad I passed by

From the first step you set in the bar, you get an instant winter feeling (if this wasn’t already the case because of the weather)

The Winterbar is divided in 2 parts. One side you have a sort of open-air (but with roof) bar and at the other side you can find a restaurant.

The restaurant part is in partnership with restaurant Josephine’s (that you might remember from my blogpost) and from what I tasted last night, I can assure you that they serve some nice meal … They serve winter classics like Swiss Raclette, pig’s cheek (I tried and liked) to Belgian classics like beef stew (Antwerp style), Sausages with mashed potatoes

But don’t worry if you don’t feel like eating, they also have a big choice of warming drinks at the bar!!

All by all a nice ambiance yesterday and I hope for the organization it will start snowing as that would make it even better (although I’m not really in for snow…) For all you guys who also want to try, the Winterbar is opened from Thursday until Sunday as off 4 o’clock in the afternoon until …

This from today until 22 February

Viel Spaβ!

Bodega Winterbar

January 4, 2012January 6, 2012 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

For everybody who just can’t get enough of the Christmas spirit, there is only 1 place to be, the Bodega Winterbar. From 7 – 22 February the Antwerp Waagnatie will open its doors to enjoy a nice drink with view on the Antwerp river ‘ Schelde’ and the sound/smell of burning wood from the fireplace. This Winterbar is actually the variant on the yearly summer bar that is held in the Waagnatie also known as Bocadero 🙂 which has been a great success for a ferw years now…

I’ll be passing by for sure, just to feel the winter vibes….

Keep you posted

BODEGA WinterBar

Waagnatie – Hangar 29

Rijnkaai 150

2000 Antwerp, Belgium

With a little help from my friends: Christmas

December 12, 2011December 12, 2011 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Man, did I have a weekend full of food!! I think by the time we finally get too Christmas I’ll be as stuffed as a Turkey. Saturday night was without any doubt a night I will remember my whole life (although some parts got washed away with lots of wine). Saturday we had a Friends Christmas party at my friend Stijn’s house… Although when I entered it seemed more like Santa’s workshop :-), Everybody was doing something , besides me, as I had already prepared my dessert at home.

The plan of the Christmas celebration was that we had teams of 3-4 people each making a course, as otherwise the same people as always would be cooking. I really like this concept, as this way people who don’t know how to cook are actually forced to help and maybe thanks to this night feel like cooking more, even after this evening 🙂 (mmm, not sure who this message is for 😉 )

We started with some bubbles!! (What else?) For people who want to know, we had the ‘Sierra Salinas’ cava. At first I actually thought we would have more than enough bottles (was I wrong); The appetizers was the task of my lovely girlfriend Delphine and the charming Saskia, who had really outdone themselves, as they served us a wide variety of verrines , toast with paprika caviar, tapenades, spoon bites, etc… A real success!! Good job ladies

The first course was a creation of host Stijn (that you might remember from one of my previous posts) and his team. This team even did some show cooking 🙂 they had salted a salmon themselves … and as everybody knows at some point you’ll have to wash off the salt from the fish, now this was some showcooking!! Don’t try this at home kids!! The fish was too big for the sink, so the next best thing was the bath 🙂

I can assure you that the result was yummy and a feast for the eye!

And so the night continued in harmony and I might even say crescendo! Now it is up to my buddy Laurent and his merry men :-). They prepared a Jeroen Meus classic ‘Chicken stew prepared with old Geuze beer’. And Yet again my friends surprise me with their skills and finger liking result!! To accompany this dish, my friends served a Cabernet Sauvignon Terrapura

The moment supreme was without any doubt the dessert 😉 😉 no no, just kidding. For the dessert I was really lucky to be able to work with 2 lovely ladies!! We decided to make ‘Speculoos cheesecake in a jar’ where I replaced the red fruit with caramelized apples and pears. Amandine made an apple turnover according to a family recipe (but maybe I can convince her to do guest cooking on my blog to see how she makes it?). And last but not least Stephanie made some yummy looking cupcakes!!

We also exchanged gifts! The fun part about that was that nobody knew for who they were going to get a present… I had to buy a present for my friend Carlos, and I must admit that I‘ve been sneaky to find out what he wanted. Let me explain, I was already planning to buy wine, but to know what kind he liked I took him to a wine tasting (but he didn’t know at that moment that I was his secret Santa). I received a beautiful wine decanter!!

I really had a WONDERFUL evening!! Thank you, you guys rock!!

Wine discovery at the aperos de bordeaux part II

November 25, 2011October 14, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

In the surveying eyes of cyclist Stanneke Ockers I went to the last Aperos Vintage de Bordeaux in Antwerp or better. I must admit that I liked this edition a lot, even better than the one from last week!!

I don’t know what it was that made this better, but there was something that gave me a great feeling from the moment I walked in café Mombasa . Like I come here every week … the place was really packed! Café Mombassa is a corner bar right in front of the city hall of Borgerhout with an interior you would see in weekend issues of Weekend Knack magazine or or some other interior magazine… It doesn’t get more vintage than this. With one remarkable item, namely the original bicycle from Stanneke Ockers ok and maybe also the very large picture of him :)….

After a few minutes the South of border band featuring Bruno de Bruxelles started playing, they played a mix of jazzy, Latin American and bluesy music. This made the evening even smoother.

But ofcourse this was a wine event, so the main thing I was here for, was wine 🙂

I first started off with a nice glass of bubbles, a Crémant de bordeaux blanc –Cuvée Andrea by La réserve de Pabus, a very nice refreshing starter to loosen my taste buds (for who wants to know, almost 100% use of Sémillon grape). You can’t stand on one leg (or not long)… so I continued with a glass of Crémant de Bordeaux Brut Rosé by Jaillance, an immediate taste of red fruits. A real harmony in my mouth. This rosé crémant was made entirely out of Merlot grapes (that you might know is one of my preferred grapes). So far my evening was only going crescendo… it looked promising for what was to follow.

As you might remember from last I wasn’t really crazy about the white Bordeaux wines… but the Graves by Château Pont de Brion that I had this time did have everything to convince me. You could taste that this was a wine that had been in a barrel for a while, also it was a very full taste in your mouth… some might call it a more complex flavor. In the “technical” details it said taste of pineapple, but I didn’t really taste this (but that could just be me 🙂 ). Le moment supreme of the evening was the red Fronsac by Clos du Roy a wine with a lot of character and 90% Merlot which gives it a notions of red fruit (but I’m sure you remember this from my post from last week). All 4 wines would be wines I see myself adding to my collection of wines …

So conclusion, I passed a very nice evening and I hope that the organisation will have some more of these great after work Aperos vintage de Bordeaux, maybe in Gent ? If they do, all you guys should check this out! What more do you need than a good bar, nice wine and good music (and I have to admit, nice young ladies 🙂 )

For all of you who would want to buy some of the wines , you can do so via www.bordeaux-coups-de-coeur.be

A night at Aperos vintage de Bordeaux

November 21, 2011October 14, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

I finally managed to get to the Aperos Vintage de Bordeaux in Antwerp at Café Vitrin last week. I really like the concept of Aperos Vintage, they looked for great locations that change every week. On top of that they always manage to have great music live music or Dj’s , this week’s musical part got done by Bent Van Looy (Das Pop) and last but not least a wide variety of Bordeaux wines. Also the vineyards that introduced their wines change every week. So basically all the ingredients for a successful event! I must really say that they succeeded in their aim. The location was really great, I had already passed by Café vitrin lots of times, as the name might already reveal that there are a lot of windows 🙂 and this actually made the café look bigger. Another reason why they can call it a success is because there were a lot of people, I even bumped into some old friends of mine 🙂 which is always great.

But ofcourse the Key element of this event is/were Bordeaux wines. My first question would be, what do you guys actually know about Bordeaux? Besides maybe a few names like Margaux, Saint-Emilion, Pomerol…you might have picked up. Did you know that there are also white, rosé and sparkeling Bordeaux wines? Something that I personally find very important is at least knowing where Bordeaux is located

And also what the different are in this region vineyards or ‘Terroires’ like the French call them.

Don’t worry I’m not going to stuff your heads with tons of information about wine. But I’m convinced that there are always things that one should know… This way you’ll be able to jump into the conversation when the wine topic comes up next time :-).

Red Bordeaux wines are mostly made from 3 kinds of grapes Merlot, Carbernet-Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc (some also add some Malbec or Petit verdon). For those who want to know more about grapes, check this website . Personally I do prefer the wines that have a higher percentage of Merlot, as they are more fruity. A Cabernet for example would be much more powerful and herbal like.

For the white wines the grapes that are mostly used would be Sauvignon, Sémillon and Muscadelle (some also add for example Merlot Blanc). For the white wines the Sauvignon will mostly give a more citrus kind of flavor to your wine, so basically it gives the wine some freshness.

I think that will do for the moment 🙂 I could keep telling you guys more things, but I have to stop somewhere. But for those who are interested, let me know, and I’ll get you some more info.

Back to Aperos. The best part of the evening, trying the wines 🙂

I tried following wines:

White wines:

– Château Merlet – Cuvée Les Collines Fleuries by Cordier

– Château Montfollet – Le Valentin by Chateaux Solidaires

Red Wines

– Château Le Clairiot by UniVitis

– Château La Grosse Pierre – Cuvée la fontaine by Tutiac

– Château Beauséjour Hostens

– La source de château Goubau

My preference went to the ‘Beauséjour’ and ‘La Source’, both stronger wines (I like). The La source was more fruity and then the beauséjour and had a nice aftertaste. This thanks to the higher percentage of Merlot. My personal nr 1 would be the La source. The other 2 wines Grosse Pierre and Le Clairiot are lighter wines and are more as apero.

Overall very nice wines for a great budget and a wonderful concept!! Looking forward to explore next week’s Aperos Vintage wines!

My Cups n’ cakes workshop experience

November 16, 2011 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

A few weeks ago I received an invitation to follow a workshop to make cupcakes at my company’s head office. Obviously I immediately excepted the invitation as it doesn’t happen every day as usually it are work-related workshops 🙂 . Our Sensei for the evening was the lovely Karolien from cups ‘n cakes, who is a real pro, if you look at her website you see that she creates the funniest creatures.

Making cupcakes might seem easy at first, but I must admit that it really takes more patience en craftsmanship than one would think 🙂 . The theme of yesterday’s workshop was ‘Sinterklaas’ as you can see on the above picture. Step by step we got guided into the world of cupcake making and learned how to make a worthy replica of the original cupcakes. (and i learned that I needed patience)

Making cupcakes or better, decorating them was a first for me, it really fell like being back in kinder garden playing with Play Doh 🙂 … Funny stuff :-)! My actual result well, I wouldn’t call it a real replica, my creatures seemed to be under the influence of some kind of drug (especially my Sinterklaas, he looks like a creature in Spongebob squarpanths)… You be the judge .

On the picture below you can see on the right the original and at the left the one I made, but I think you’d already guessed that 🙂

My best cupcake of the evening was without any doubt the one with the roses! At first I really thought that I did a great job, this until I looked around and saw what wonderful things my colleagues had made!! I think some of them are really gifted (or just have a lot of patience). Really, I saw one person making a mermaid, little ducks, hearts, etc… At some point it started looking like Santa clause’ north pole workshop 🙂

I really had an amazing night with lots of laughs! I can really recommend it to everybody who wants to have a fun team event or learn to make workshops to do so and contact cups ‘n cakes!!

Eating for a good cause

November 3, 2011 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

I know it might seem like yet another excuse to go to a restaurant, but I really do find this initiative from ‘Jeunes Restaurateurs d’Europe’ (aka JRE) wonderful. JRE is an association initially founded to support young chefs and also to raise a certain solidarity amongst them. Initially they were only active in France (around 1974), but they quickly expanded to other European countries. 12 countries are member of the JREl, but only 11 are European countries.… N°12 was the first non-European country that joined, the country I’m talking about is Australia. Since 2007 they are like an EU embassy outside of Europe. Personally I’m really happy that so many things are being done to support young chefs to succeed in their life dream…

Lately JRE Belgium decided to collaborate with ‘Make a Wish’. Did you ever hear about this initiative? Make a wish is an association of volunteers which wants to realize the dreams of children that are fighting against a life-threatening disease. They do this thanks to the generosity of gifts from donors and fundraising activities (not only monetary gifts… ).

So now, JRE will donate 2EUR from the price you pay for a menu at the participating restaurants to the Make a Wish fund. You can find the restaurants that are participating in the following mini guide

And you can really trust me that there are some real beauties in this guide!! I am going to support this initiative, hopefully you guys will follow! Pass this on to your friends!

My view on Bruges Kookeet event

October 31, 2011October 31, 2011 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Last Saturday I went to Bruges for the “Kookeet” event. You can’t believe how excited I was 🙂 This is like Disneyland for me… Although one thing we shouldn’t forget about when going to an event like this, is that it still is a mass event . Basically the quality you’ll get at the boots, is not comparable with the quality you’ll get in the restaurants itselves. Nevertheless I’ve had a very nice evening with my friends and even met a few other very friendly people :-).

And let’s be honest, having an event in a mediaeval town like Bruges is really unique. I might even have to admit that I liked this one better than the one in Antwerp (damn how can I say this, betraying my city).

For all of you who don’t know the concept,”Kookeet” is an event In Bruges where all the best restaurants, caterers and chocolatiers from Bruges serve you a gastronomical teaser . For these teasers, you’d pay 3, 6 or 9 euro. Overall I have to say that everything tasted well. I tried following dishes:

Carpaccio of coquilles St Jacques with ginger (by Olivier from Chez Olivier)
- My impression: very fresh dish, nice to start the evening

Pate of pheasant, compote of ‘Brugse zot (beer) and turnips, liquorice vinaigrette (by Timothy Goffin from Goffin)
- My impression: Not bad, but not mind breaking

Sole à la meuniere, quail egg, potatoe and truffle soup and crispy bread (by Paul Hendrickx from Aneth)
- My impression: one of the better dishes of the evening

braised veal in ‘Brugse zot’( double) needle with root vegetables and pommes Anna (like pommes dauphin) (by Stefaan Timmerman from Assiette Blanche)
- my impression: Very good meat! Not really sure about the combination with the cold root vegetables, but it wasn’t disturbing

Tuna burger new style with béarnaise from lambs ear (vegetable) (by Tim Geers from Traiteur Geers)
- My impression: really nice combination, but I would use something else then tuna, as the herbs and sauces take away the gentile and tender taste of the tuna. Shame for the expensive fish.

Mascarpone crème with coulis of red fruits and forest fruit tea, pâté Breton and chocolate decoration (by Servaas Van Mullem from Patisserie Servaas van Mullem)
- My impression: Really good, not more to add

Last but not least, Magic chocolate mushrooms (by Dominique Persoone from The chocolate line)
- My impression: Very strange tastes together, a chocolate mushroom that tasted like a real mushroom and also like chocolat. Dominique also added a salty part to the dish. I’m sure this will not be everybody’s favorite, but for sure the most experimental on this event! (but that’s how we know Dominique)

The restaurants that convinced me to visit them are Aneth and Assiette Blanche. The chocolate line didn’t need my convincing anymore, they already did that way back when trying my first chocolate line mellow cakes 🙂

For my friends the absolute n°1 was the “rabbit shoulder with foie gras “ by Geert van Hecke from the 1 and only Karmeliet ***. This didn’t come as a surprise 🙂 as this is one of the best Belgian restaurants. I would add it to my list, but spending 300-400EUR per person isn’t really for me at the moment.

My girlfriend’s favorite (Karmeliet was n°2) was “ Tuna mi-cuit (half cooked), salmonmousse, Coquilles St Jacques with green herbs” by Jo Nelissen from Manuscript Kempinski. I think this was from all the dishes I saw passing at my table (which were a lot as we were with 6 people) this was the best value for your money. And the ginger ice-cream was really nice and fresh (if you like ginger ofcourse). I’m adding this restaurant to the list (to keep my girlfriend happy 😉 )

For all you people who would still want to have a drink after the event, only a few steps from the event you’ll find a small beer house (home brewery) Garre, really nice tasty beer (thank you Katrien and Reinout)

I really had a really nice evening. Couldn’t be better, nice food and great company!

Aperos vintage de Bordaux goes Antwerp!

October 25, 2011October 14, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

All you people that were not able to taste the wonderful Bordeaux wines in the streets of Brussels, don’t feel sad! First of all because tomorrow you still have the change of going. Secondly because starting from November 9^th the Aperos Vintage story continues, but this time in Antwerp!!

The Brussels event has already been a huge success, will you help to make the Antwerp edition an even bigger success?

In case you don’t remember about this event (shame on you), you can read all about it in one of my previous blogposts