Restaurants

WY, because it is just right

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WY brussels

My restaurant wish list is getting longer every day, so this time I decided to have a lunch at one of the restaurants on my list. ( hopefully this way I finish my list quicker)  This time it brought me to the Mercedes House in Brussels, to restaurant WY by Bart De Poorter.  For my readers who don’t know Bart De Poorter, he is the chef and owner of the 2 Michelin star awarded restaurant “De Pastorale”. So the fact that this restaurant was from Bart De Poorter was the first reason to try it, the second reason was that the executive chef of this restaurant is nobody less than Wouter Van der Vieren who is a Michelin star awarded chef who used to have his own restaurant. It just had to be good, although I must admit that after my last famous chef side project experience I had my doubts… But I can confirm that this was a well thought through and coordinated project with a very professional staff that can work fine even with Wouter Van der Vieren’s absence.

Bart De Poorter

Wouter van der Vieren by Weekend knack

The restaurants itself has of course a Mercedes Benz touch to it (as it is the Mercedes House), but it is not too much… it has modern interior with only 3 (very nice looking) cars on the restaurant floor. I like the very open kitchen, because there are big screens that you can follow exactly what the chefs are doing in the kitchen. I wouldn’t call it the coziest restaurant I have ever been to, but it surely didn’t disturb me.  The acoustics on the other hand are very good, so you can come here with a group and understand each other.

Open kitchen

Restaurant

This time my partners in crime weren’t just any friends, but foodie friends :-). Foodie friends know as Thomas (Chef and owner of 12 Place du marché and former classmate from me) and Gianluca (Sommelier and son from Spiga d’oro owner)

Gianluca Thomas

Food glorious food, this was after spending time with friends the reason for this lunch 🙂 Choosing what we wanted to eat wasn’t easy as the 3 course and 5 course menu had different dishes that I all wanted to try, but to make it even more difficult the ‘à la carte’ menu was also different from the tasting menus with again so many things I wanted to try (A true luxury problem)… but at the end we decided to go for the five course menu, which was (when looking back) a great choice.  Not only did all of the dishes taste well, they also looked like little paintings…

The only dishes that didn’t really blow us off our feed was the first dish from the menu: Mackerel with beetroot (prepared in different ways) and oyster snow, it just missed a bit of assiduity. Don’t get me wrong, the dish was good, but I (we) think that with a touch of assiduity it would even be better.  Besides that all great combinations, with a bullet for dessert 🙂 this were actually filled white chocolate balls (for some reason when writing this I think of Jerome “Chef” McElroy from south park). I also enjoyed the bouillabaisse sauce with the seabream (the smell from this sauce was soooooo good as well)

appetizer krupuk with cockles

chicory with cheesy bechamel sauce and ham crumble

Mackerel with beetroot and oyster snow

Seabream with a bouillabaisse sauce

spare ribs

some very njammy Dry aged Holsteiner beef

Dessert called the bullet

this came with our coffee

I wouldn’t be able to say which was my favorite dish. We first also wanted to try the Wouter van der Vieren signature dish, but as I didn’t see him in the kitchen…  it wouldn’t be the same trying it without him being there. We did get to see him as he arrived a bit later, but I think the fact Jeroen Meus was eating at the table next to us had something to do with it 🙂 But nevertheless Wouter did a good job training his team, he can be proud of them!

I was lucky enough to have a sommelier at my table to pick the wines and he really did a good job. Gianluca picked a white Italian wine a Gaja Rossj-Bass Langhe. The red wine however was a wine suggested by the sommelier from WY, he picked a 2007 red Italian Barbaresco by Serafino which was also a very nice choice.(with 2 Italians at the table you can’t go wrong with Italian wine 🙂 ) So if you add all these comments up I can only say that this was a nice restaurant with you get true value for your money and brought to you by very professional people and I was lucky enough to also have great company at my table 🙂 and on top of that I got to see Wouter van der Vieren AND Jeroen Meus… wow what a lunch 😉

FYI: for the car lovers, you’ll find lots of great cars when you go downstairs 🙂

The Mercedes House

Restaurant WY:

Website: http://www.wybrussels.be/

Address: Bodenbroekstraat 22-24/ Grote zavel, 1000 Brussels, Belgium

Phone n°:  +32 (0) 2 400 42 63

Another level of Italian food

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Normally I’m not really into going to an Italian restaurant outside of Italy, but from time to time I make an exception. This time it brought me to Franco di Taranto’s restaurant Spiga d’oro. No regular pizza or pasta dishes like in other Italian restaurants, but real refined Italian gastronomical dishes that get served with some of Italy’s best wines (which fyi doesn’t always mean expensive). Spiga d’oro stands for quality the whole way! There were actually 2 reasons that convinced me to try this restaurant, firstly because a while ago I met and had dinner (quit a few bottles of wine passed the review that evening) with Gianluca and Anne-Sophie (Franco’s son (sommelier) and his future daughter in law (not putting any pressure ;-)) and I really liked them. Secondly because Spiga d’oro has already for a few years a score of 14/20 in the Gault Millau guide.

To open our taste buds, they served us a pumpkin soup with some kind of pancetta in it (if my memory remembers it right). This got followed by some Bio “Aquarello” risotto with pumpkin and red mullet that got finished off with some very special and delicate Laudemio olive oil. Our main course for the night was indescribable good and some of the best pieces of meat I have ever eaten, we had the Tagliata di Bovina, mosto di vincotto, andiva con miele di tartuffo. This piece of meat melted like butter on your tongue. Finally I finished my dinner with a piece of lemon meringue.

My compliments to Franco and his team as they bring Italian food to another level!

Of course we also drank some wine with our dinner. I have to be honest that the thing I like about Italian wines, is that I know more about them than about French wines 🙂 But it is a fact that in a restaurant you always fall back on the wines you know and usually pick the “safe” wine.  If it were not for Gianluca, I would have chosen a Gewürztraminer or a Vermentino. Gianluca then suggested me to try a white wine from Lazio ( a region not really known for its wines), a 2011 Donnaluce made by Poggio le Volpi .I’m really glad we took Gianluca’s advice! This wine had it all, the great smell, fruity taste with a lovely aftertaste that felt like a party in your mouth 🙂 (me and my friends who joined me for dinner liked the wine so much we are buying some bottles this weekend). With our heavenly meat we drank a 2007 red wine from Trentino, Moratel made by Cesconi.

After this meal it is really clear to me why this restaurant has received such a good score in the Gault Millau guide year after year.  The whole Spiga d’oro team really does their best to make your dinner a very nice experience and a rememberable evening by combining their knowhow with good quality products.

Before I leave you, I have to share a picture of my partners in crime to try Spiga d’oro, you guys are the best!

I can only advice you to try Spiga d’oro.

Restaurant Spiga d’oro

Website: http://www.spigadoro.be

Address: Leuvensesteenweg 43, 3191 Hever-Boortmeerbeek  Belgium

Phon n°: +32 ( 0)15 520 535

The one man restaurant

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Devotion, that is the word that I can use to describe Thomas Verbist from restaurant ‘T leeuwekopke. Cooking, serving and cleaning, Thomas does it all himself in his restaurant and he does it all with a smile (if only there were more people like him). If this doesn’t confirm that he likes his job than what will? After years as chef on cruise ships and private yachts Thomas decided in April (this year) it was time to come ashore. You might think that because Thomas does everything alone that this might influence on the waiting time, but I can say for a fact that this wasn’t the case. ‘T leeuwekopke only has room for about 10-12 people, which allows Thomas to provide his guests with all the attention they need.   This restaurant is a cozy restaurant that truly gives you an ‘at home’ feeling.

 

 

 

For my Fiancée it was already the 2nd time at ‘T Leeuwekopke and she told me I had to try this restaurant.  I’m glad she did! We had also asked from friends of ours to accompany (Beatriz and Tim).

On the blackboard written ‘à la carte’ menu you’ll find 2 types of starters, 2 main courses and 2 desserts.  I don’t know it for a fact, but I think that Thomas decides every morning what he’ll put on the menu.

Back to the food! As appetizer Thomas made us a yummy pumpkin soup (you might be surprised how difficult it is to make a good soup).  This was followed by some Scallops with scorzonera also known as black salsify and duck as starters.  Wild seabass, deer fillet and sole as main courses. We finished with some apple pie (I looooooooooove apple pie)

 

 

 

 

 

We drank a 2011 Austrian Grüner Veltliner from Netzl with our starter. For our main course we went  for a red 2009 Portuguese Douro wine named D4U (Douro for you).

I can only say that I’m glad I tried ‘T leeuwekopke , honnest food for an honnest price and served with a sauce of love and devotion.

Restaurant ‘T Leeuwekopke

Website: http://www.tleeuwekopke.be/

Address: (close to the vrijdagmarkt)

Leeuwenstraat 6, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0)497 37 71 06

Taste Eat love, love eat tastings

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Ghent is a beautiful city and for me it always feels a little bit like coming home. Especially in the evening Gent is a magical city, with all its illuminated buildings!  Ghent also has some very nice restaurants, but when I used to live there I usually went to the same restaurants. So now every time I return I try to go to different spots… Something I cannot ignore is that Ghent has a lot of trendy and very cozy restaurants (I might say even more than in any other city in Belgium).

Do you guys remember my previous post about restaurant Eat Love? (find it via this link) In that post I mentioned that Valentina Gatti (fashion journalist and owner) also had a second restaurant ‘Mineral’. So this time I actually wanted to try it as I liked Eat Love so much, but when checking their website I had discovered that they had changed concept and renamed the restaurant and it is now known as ‘Eat Love Tastings’. Now they are spreading even more love 🙂 (and they also seem to have a waffle shop, they really have a lot of Love to give so it seems 🙂 )

Eat love Tastings is located at Ghent’s Onderbergen and you really cannot miss the entrance. Check the below picture and you’ll see why

When entering you walk through the hallway which has for me one of THE most beautiful floors ever (for a hallway) Just like their other restaurant, Eat Love Tastings has a beautiful interior  (a mix from old, newish and natural furniture) that makes you immediately feel like home. Top that with very friendly staff and great food and you have a hit!

As the name might already suggest, the concept of this restaurant is tasting food, therefore they work with ‘tapas’ kind of dishes which give you the opportunity to taste a bit of everything on the menu (which I like as sometimes I don’t know what to pick). You can obviously choose ‘à la carte’ or you can take the 6 or 9 tastings menu consisting of different dishes from on the menu that gets picked by the chef (unless you really have something you want to taste). We decided to go for the 6 tastings and because I really feel to share it all, feast your eyes on the pictures below

As you can see, they also pay a lot of attention to the way how they present their dishes (mission accomplished). In case you were wondering what all these dishes were: Stracciata di burrata, salami ventricina, lardo di colonnata, pumpkin and broad beans as bar bites. These dishes were followed by Haddock with celeriac puree, wheat risotto and Simmental entrecote. Last but not least we had a Clementine and speculoos dessert. All very tasty dishes!

On the wine card you find a wide variety of wines from Italy to France to South Africa and even 1 Indian wine. I could also see for a fact that who has picked the wines is a lover from the Veneto and Friuli wine region as all the Italian wines they had were from these regions. I’m personally also a lover from these regions!

Anyway, I can only suggest to try it yourself and feel the love while you’re eating

Restaurant Eat Love Tastings:

Website: http://www.eatlove.be/

Address: Onderbergen 25, 9000 Gent, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 486 800 100

Reservations with a discount

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I didn’t try it myself yet, but I’m sure it won’t be long anymore. A few friends told me about a website named “tafel 3”. This website is used to make reservations at restaurants. Nothing special you might think… This would also be my opinion, if it wasn’t for the fact that if you book via “tafel 3” you get a discount between 20 – 30% at the restaurant. The purpose of this website is actually to make the life of us people easier if you want to make a last minute reservation. When you surf to the website you’ll find a list of restaurants that still have available tables for that same night, you can also make reservations for a later date if you would want to do this (but that’s less interesting I think). So basically “tafel 3” creates a win win situation for both the restaurant (as it helps to fill all the empty tables) and the guests (as they get a discount). Also there are some real good restaurants you’ll find on “tafel 3” (in whole Flanders).

Let me know if you have already tried this?

Enjoy your meal 🙂

The big apple – part 3

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It is said that breakfast is the most important meal a day… for me every meal is important! I already shared where I had lunch, so it would be cruel to know let you know where I had dinner!  Just like for lunch it wasn’t easy to decide where we would eat, even with all the address I got from friends. We just tried a few places spread over the city, 1 night we even ate in Brooklyn. In general I have the impression that New Yorkers don’t take time to enjoy life. Everything has to happen as quickly as possible, even having dinner has to happen fast. Personally I found this quite disturbing that always have the feeling that have to eat everything in 10 minutes and free your table as quickly as possible…So if you are hoping to enjoy a long dinner you can keep hoping, but you won’t find too many of these places in NYC (not even Michelin star restaurants).

Luckily we did find a place where you could eat without feeling the pressure to free up you table again, this restaurant was called ‘Alias’. Alias located on the corner of Clinton and Rivington street which is pretty south in NYC close to the Williamsburg Bridge. I liked this restaurant as this was a spot where local people come to eat new American food. I wasn’t too sure what to expect or what New American food was before we arrived there, but I was positively surprised + the people working here were all very friendly. On the menu there were lots of things I wanted to eat, but one has to choose  (otherwise I would just be greedy), my choice went to the Creek stone farms hanger steak with red bliss smashed potatoes, kale and a red wine reduction . My fiancée took the taco plate, which were three soft corn tacos with black bean & radish salad on the side: existing out of One fish taco with cabbage, pico de gallo, jalapeño mayo (very spicy, just FYI), a veggie taco with zucchini, huitlacoche, tomatillo-avocado salsa, arugula and last but not least a Grilled chicken taco with avocado, sour cream and jalapeño. Both accompanied by a full and rich 2008 red Argentinian Malbec. Overall a very nice dinner and I’m sure if I’m in NYC again, I’ll be coming here again.

One evening we decided we wanted to eat outside of Manhattan, so we had to cross a Bridge in NYC to have dinner, this brought us to Brooklyn.

To restaurant ‘Grimaldi’s’ to be more precise. It is said that Grimaldi’s is serving the best pizza in New York City, so I just had to try it and judge for myself (I’m a realy pizza lover, who isn’t?). Grimaldi’s was also the first restaurant in NYC where we had to wait in line to get a table, so this got me even more exited to try it. One thing can be said for a fact,it are some big pizza’s they serve there and they were good, but to call them the best I ever had I’m not sure… Something I do have to share is that they the pizza’s had the strangest looking mozzarella on them, it looked like white paint… but I wasn’t sick of it, so noooo worries. From Grimaldi’s you are just a stone throw away from the Brooklyn Bridge, so if you eat here in the evening,  you have one of the most beautiful views of the NYC skyline by night…  I would say try Grimaldi’s pizza and you be the judge

You cannot go to NYC or the US and not try a hamburger. Our first night in NYC we tried the Burgerjoint. The burgerjoint can be found and believe it or not, in one of the fanciest hotels in NYC, the ‘Le Parker Meridien’. So you would expect to find a very clean and upscale place, but this was definitely not the case. It was without any doubt one of the funkiest places we been to in NYC (I might even say the funkiest in the whole US that I visited). For the interior just picture on all walls you find names and signatures of famous people who ate here, and old school restaurant furniture and not too much light 🙂

On the menu they only have 3 things you can order a hamburger and 2 types of cheeseburgers… but then again, who would need more choice? Better to keep it simple and good than trying to invent stuff that is not good is my opinion … Anyway it is indeed an experience. . My apologies for the bad pictures, but it was very dark in the restaurant and I didn’t want to draw too much attention on myself by using a flash…

I did try a few other restaurants during our visit (I never skip meals, unless I’m sick and even then). We even tried famous NYC restaurants that everybody told us to try, but I think the hype around some restaurants is bigger  and more promising than what they actually give you and worst of it is that it costs you a looooooot of money… so  I just don’t feel like sharing them.

But as this was not be my last trip to NYC, I already made a ‘to do’ list for next time I’m in NYC!  The Fat Radish, Max, The little owl, Annisa and without any doubt Le Bernardin, all restaurants I really want to try, so I just have to go back (it is my duty as Foodblogger and Human 🙂 )

OK, in the next and last part of my New York trip I’ll share with you the spots you just have to see (Yes, you can indeed do something else than eating)

To be continued….

The big apple – part 2

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In the big apple part 1 you could read that I had found a great hotel and the best ways to explore the city. I could start this part talking about what you should be seeing in NYC, but people who know me (and I think people reading my blog as well by now), know that when I travel the most important (or one of the most important) is eating good… so this wasn’t any different for this NYC trip and I’ll keep the things to see for one of the next parts 🙂 because to have enough strength to explore the city one needs to eat well (and most importantely not skip a meal).

Knowing that NYC has hundreds or maybe even thousands restaurants doesn’t make it easy to make a choice of which ones you want to visit in 7 days (I think somebody living in NYC doesn’t even get to try every restaurant). So I decided to bring in some help from friends who go often to NYC, friends living in NYC and NYC friend foodbloggers…. but let me just say that it didn’t make the actual picking of the restaurants easier (as I thought it would)… the Total NY list I had initially might have decreased, but I still had a list of at least 60 restaurants… so I just wrote them all in my little Moleskine cityguide booklet (I liked this as this booklet in pocketsize contained a map of NYC streets and the NYC subway) subdivided per district or are of NYC and checked on the spot which restaurants were close by where I was at that moment. Or that’s what I did most of the time, because there were indeed a few eateries I just had to do in NYC 🙂

In general I found NYC quite expensive to eat, LA or Miami are much cheaper… not that this stopped me from eating of course (a man has got to eat).  What I have to admit is that in general I ate well, but not extraordinary or mind blowing for a normal price (but maybe I’m just too spoiled)… OK, enough jibber jabber and more sharing of eateries, let’s start with where you can have lunch

One of the places I just HAD to try when in NYC was Eataly, I already went there on day 1 for lunch (a man has got to do what a man has got to do). I think I was about to cry out of happiness or maybe have a heart attack of the overwhelming choice of what to eat (really). I have never seen so much great Italian food in 1 place (no, not even in Italy).  You can ask my fiancée, I was like a kid in a candy store (or like a Spinelli in a food store ;-)).  So again we had to choose (it just didn’t stop during this holiday), did we want pizza, pasta, meat, fish, veggie, just some antipasti, which kind of wine did we want…., but we did I we chose to just sit in the ‘middle square’ of Eataly and try different things. Starting with some salumi (ham, salami …) followed by the day special a sandwich with Sicilian sausage) in between (a bit too salty if you ask me) and my fiancée took a salad. Overall a nice meal accompanied with some good wines, but for me a bit too expensive
for what you get… but definitely a great concept and a must see as food lover in NYC

Another eatery everybody told me to go to was the Chelsea Market. At first when my friends talked to me about the Chelsea Market I was expecting to see a kind of open air market in New York were you would be able to eat the things the stalls are selling… But it is actually one very big food court, but with no fast food chains in a very vintage like setting. There are around 35 different small restaurants (American small, not European small) that are all specialized in a type of food, for example a bakery, a lobster restaurant,  a cupcake shop, sandwich shop… BUT the best part of all you can see how everything gets made freshly, because the kitchens are setup with glass walls that allow checking it all out…

Our choice in the Chelsea Market went to Friedman’s lunch where I had a burger (the real deal) served with French fries and Ketchup that was not from Heinz (I was as surprised as you are now) and my fiancée for a Turkey sandwich. A nice lunch for a correct price… but still lots of places to try at the Chelsea market and definitely a place to visit for a nice lunch

The third restaurant I want to share with you guys is Tartinery, a nice little French eatery where you can eat some nice slices of bread, salads or sandwiches AND that has a great wine list 🙂 (Is actually also known for it). Tartinery is located in Mulberry street which is a street in New York’s very own little Italy. I know it has no editorial value, but I just need to share the following. On our way to Tartinery I saw the cooles magnet with the following on it: ‘Not only am I perfect, I’m Italian too’, I wanted to buy it for on my fridge but forgot it. OK, back to Tartinery. For our lunch here I had the Jambon Puree (Ham with mashed potatoes) and my fiancée the Mozza … both nice slices accompanied with a garden salad and for me followed by a ‘Tarte Tatin’. We had a nice lunch with portions big enough for lunch for a still ok price considering it is NYC.

The another lunch eatery I want to share is ‘INO , this was for me the one of the nicest lunch places we had lunch, good, low price, in a quiet neighborhood and very njummy  (Italian influenced)… nothing more to add, just try it yourself. I can say for a fact it wasn’t easy to choose the sandwich or other lunch dish you wanted to eat as they all seemed good…

The last lunch place I want to share is actually for the healthy people amongst you (I want there because I promised my fiancée I would try at least one healthy lunch). This lunch was at Hale and Healthy  and I have to admit that I liked it the whooooole healthy way 🙂 an idea would be to buy your food here and eat it in Central park or NY high line. I went for a healthy sandwich (FYI, the red on the picture is NOT bacon, before you start judging me) and my fiancée this was an even better experience as she could choose everything she wanted in the salad from an almost endless choice of vegetables, nuts, … Definitely the place for you if you like to keep it healthy

Wow, I have told you guys so much… Sorry for that, but I like to make sure you get the whole picture and believe it or not, but to be continued with some dinner spots, tips and things to see in NYC…..

Walrus and me

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If you are expecting a heroic story about me and a walrus, I’ll have to disappoint you…

What I do have for you guys, is another great spot to do some nice eating, called Walrus 🙂

I actually got to know this eatery thanks to my mom, she ate at Walrus with a couple of friends and liked it. I, trusting my mom’s taste, of course wanted to try this… (just to change and not go to the same restaurants again). I can say for a fact that I officially like it :-). Summarizing my impressions: Good honest food, good portions, a pleasant environment, cute waitresses and last but not least, normal and correct prices for both the food and drinks.

I’m a quit big eater and usually feel like eating a starter, but the problem is that sometimes I’m the only one at the table to feels like eating 2 whole dishes… Lucky for me Walrus had a great solution for this, a Tapamix (with some very nasty meatballs). So the tapamix made my evening even better 🙂

Our choice of dishes tonight went to the Vol-au-vent (I really love this dish) and for my company Salmon with baby spinach and mashed potatoes. A feast for both the taste buds as the eye…

To make a long story short (or shorter, because I always like to give you guys the whole picture 🙂 )

If you don’t feel like cooking and want to have some good food in a nice environment, Walrus is the place for you…

Hope you’ll like it!

Walrus eatery

Website: http://www.eetcafewalrus.com/

Address:

Jan van Beersstraat 2

2018 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 3 238 39 93

 

My birthday weekend part 2

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So as you could read in my previous blogpost, I’m a real spoiled boy! The first part of my birthday was already mind blowingJ. For who thought it stopped there, I’ve got something coming. This year my fiancée really had outdone herself to make it something great.  She had a family and friends part, which are both very important to me. I can reassure you that they really made my day(s). Ok the looooots of gifts I got (like a Le Creuset pot (I’m too cheap to buy it myelf) didn’t make my weekend worse 😉

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After the amazing dinner with my family and a brunch with my best fiends (I’ve got the best friends ever!), I actually thought that was it. But noooooo sir, as cherry on the cake my girlfriend had booked a table at restaurant Veranda. You cannot believe how long I’ve already tried to get into this restaurant!!

If I would have to describe this restaurant in a few words I would say that this is a restaurant serving highly gastronomical food (Michelin star level) with no nonsense attitude, in a normal brasserie I might even say bar  like setting (which actually makes you feel more comfortable ) for a very normal price.

I did have high expectations as many great Chefs had told me so many great stories about this restaurant… I do indeed have to confirm what they said, as it was a very nice experience. The restaurant only has one menu that changes every x days, but also the wine list changes constantly.

Our menu for the night was Rouget with fennel (served with  white Bastingage from the Loire Valley 100% Chenin) . Followed by Encornet  (a kind of calamari)with green asparagus  (served with a Bellotti Bianco, even though it is a table wine I still liked its rich taste). As a main course they served a lambs shoulder served with Grenache from the Languedoc (with the dish it worked, I wouldn’t drink it without food) called  Matin Calme . We finished off with getting 2 different dessert (yes per person, we’re greedy I admit 😉 )

A true petting of the tongue (I think the pictures speak for themselves), this is definitely a restaurant I’ll be returning. (If I manage to find a free spot). A true price – quality value! So thank you to the team of the restaurant and also to my fiancée for making this all possible. One restaurant less on my to do list 🙂 jeeeeeeeej

Restaurant Veranda

Address:

Guldenvliesstraat 60

2600 Berchem, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0)2 18.55.95

 

My first ‘official’ slow food experience

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Yesterday I had my first official ‘Slow Food’ experience. What is Slow Food you might ask? ‘Slow food’ is a ‘movement’ that try to show and teach people that there is more than only Fast Food, as for some people that is where the gastronomy stops. They do this by putting cultural and traditional cuisines and the picture in the picture prepared with ecological and/or artisan products.  This movement actually originates from Torino and was founded around 1986 by Carlo Petrini.

I had already heard about Slow food and had already seen some restaurants in Torino that are proud being part of the Slow food movement. I k now I make it sound like some kind of religion, but it’ not, it is just a way of respecting what nature gives us and handle it with lots of respect and care.  Technically speaking most of the elder Italian mothers and grandmothers prepare their food like this every day, so looking at it like that I have already tried it, but not really at a restaurant. Not until yesterday and I didn’t even try it in Italy, but at restaurant (or rather trattoria) Rossi in Leuven.  It might have not been in Italy, but the interior, food and chef make you actually feel that actually are in Italy.

Let me give you an example, you can choose between dishes the ‘à la carte’ menu or you can that the ‘Sorpresa’ menu (aka surprise menu) that the chef changes every day according to what he can get hold of that day. But funny enough, sometimes nothing on the ‘à la carte’ is there, so you just have to take the taste menu 🙂 If this would be in a regular restaurant, people wouldn’t be amused, but in this kind of place it is just part of the Italian experience (this is really how it also happens in Italy).

Yesterday’s menu was Zucchini Flower filled with ricotta and parmesan cheese, followed  Asparagus ravioli ‘al burro e Salvia’ and as main course Cod fish served with  Panzanella

You could really taste the freshness of the ingredients used and that the chef knows ‘de kneepjes van het vak’ as we say in Dutch (meaning that he really knows what he’s doing). I have enjoyed every bit of every dish. The food that Rossi serves really shows what I’ve been saying in lots of my blog posts, the simplest things are always best! You don’t need millions of ingredients to prepare a tasty dish, just a few ones from a good quality.

So basically if you feel like enjoying a night with great company (which I had) honest food  (REAL Italian food) for an honest price (30EUR pp for a sorpresa menu) in a normal environment (not posh), this is your place! Booking a table is recommended.

Hope you’ll be enjoying the slow food as much as me!

FYI, this is also one of the only restaurants where they make and serve their coffee with a traditional Bialetti

Restaurant Rossi

Address:

Standonckstraat 2

3000 Leuven, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 16 62 48 48