Restaurants

My sweet valentine

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I think yesterday a loooooooot of people celebrated Valentine’s day. Even though I’m not really a fan of Valentine’s day, I did celebrate it at the Liefmans Brewery . The reason for it, well, when I was writing my blogpost about Valentine’s day at Liefmans brewery I found the menu very interesting  (ok, I was getting hungry) and I wanted to visit the brewery for a while… So I figured this was the perfect moment to actually try good food  (made by restaurant Coeur D’artichaut) accompanied by the matching beers (from Liefmans obviously). Oh and the underwear show had nothing to do with it that I wanted to have this dinner ;-).

I first have to say that the setting of the brewery is just lovely. I think in the summer or spring it should even be more beautiful as you have a great view on the river right next to the brewery.  While walking to the entrance I felt like being in a movie from the 1920’s, walking on a Cobblestone road in a dark alley and the dew laying on the road and the only light to guide you is the moonlight ….

But all this also indicates that this brewery has a big history, did you know it is already existing since 1679? The room where the dinner was taking place was very spacious,  but yet felt very comfortable

I think it is because of the wood floor  (and ceiling). So the space didn’t ruin the romance in the air 🙂

But, we were here to eat right :-). We started off with 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. And to accompany this we took a Cuvée brut on the rocks 🙂 (for me this was a little bit too sweet, but if you like sweet drinks I’m sure you’ll like this)

This got followed by Seabass , with venus clams, carrot and pumpkin. Accompanied by a Liefmans Cuveé (for me this is the best fruit beer around). The fish had a very nice soft taste, together with a puree with a little spicy ness in combination with the beer, perfect…

In-between we received a refreshing  lemon sorbet  with a 20 year old Liefmans Cuvée over it; You would think the beer would become sweeter after 20 years, but it actually becomes a little more soury …. (but not too much though)

This got served together with a underwear show 🙂 I must admit at first when I saw this men in boxershorts on the catwalk … I wasn’t sure this was what I was hoping for :-), but lucky for me there were also women showing lingerie 😉 (by Timide)

Our main course quail Forestière, , Savoy, parsnip-almond, and pont neuf  and Liefmans Golden Band gravy. Served with a Liefmans Golden band beer 🙂

And to finish we had Chocolat passion dessert….

Oh yes and the little very good cupcakes with the coffee

To make a long story short, everything was very good (taking into account that it for a large group of people they had to prepare this), the only dish that wasn’t my cup of tea 🙂 was the dessert… but that’s a matter of taste, as my girlfriend’s plate was ready to put back in the closet … so I’m thinking she definitely liked it.

This discovery menu (as I would call it) makes me want to discover more of the Coeur D’artichaut’s  dishes at their restaurant. The reason, well if they can make great food for a large group, imagine what they can do on a smaller scale?!  Also if I would ever give a biiiig diner party, Brewery Liefmans’s lounge would certainly be a place where I want to be giving it…. Good beer and good food and a great location what more would you need?

I almost forgot, the Sofie La Digue live band, made the evening more jazzy J (or more romantic, who can tell 😉 )

OK, this evening wouldn’t have been as perfect,without  my beautiful girlfriend ….as she is and will always be my sweet valentine….

My 2012 restaurant wishlist

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This is my 2012 restaurant wish list (so far)

Unfortunately I didn’t finish my 2011 wishlist, but I sure hope to do so with my 2012 wishlist

I’m getting hungry just by looking at this list. It might seem like a small list, more chance of finishing it 🙂

A snowy dinner in Antwerp

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Friday was one of THE worst days in Belgian history to be driving as there was over 1200km of traffic jam due to the heavy snowfall . So basically the best thing to do was to just stay at home…. Which would have been ok if I hadn’t booked a table in a restaurant with my colleagues :-). So I had to face the snow. (No snow, storm, etc… will keep me from eating 😉 )

My colleagues and I went to restaurant  12 place du marché. Something nice to know is that the chef, Thomas, did a few years of Chef school with me.  What I liked when I booked the table, was the fact that even if we were with 10 people, we still didn’t have to let them k now in advance what we were going to eat…But even though I didn’t have to, I still send them a day before what we were going to eat, as I just figured it would be easier for the kitchen …. They serve a wide variety of International dishes, with influences from Italian, French and even Asian cuisine.

As I said, a feast for the eye and the taste palet  🙂 A very popular dish at our table as a starter was the ‘Tortellone Gigante’ filled with cep mushrooms and truffle with a light creamy sauce with wild mushrooms…This plate really had a nice harmonization of tastes (well if you like mushrooms that is 🙂 )

The prettiest dish of the evening  was without any doubt the Foie gras, just look yourself… Even for me,  who doesn’t like foie gras that much, I would eat it just because it looks this nice 🙂

For the main course I went for an Italian classic, Saltimbocca alla romana … For some reason I always get attracted by these dishes although there were lots of things I would have liked to eat. The most popular main course at our table was Teriyaki steak.

All plates were empty, so I assume everybody liked it 🙂 (I know I did). We didn’t feel like taking bottles of wine as with the heavy snow and all it didn’t seem  like good to drink too much, but I even with the responsibility in our minds,  we did sponsor the Duvel Brewery this evening 😉 if you ask me

I enjoyed this evening, first of all because of the wonderful company of my dear colleagues. Second of all because of the nice food and the attention of Audrey, our hostess.

And so after a sweet dinner, we headed back home (by this time all traffic was gone)

 

Restaurant 12 place du marché:

Website:  http://www.12placedumarche.be/

Address :

Nieuwstad 12

2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 3 707 11 29

 

A romantic Valentine’s day dinner at Liefmans Brewery

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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

The last 2011 fish and wine

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Normally I wasn’t really planning on still posting something in 2011, but yesterday evening I had such a wonderful evening that I still wanted to share it with you…

What started off as an ‘Apero’ on Friday evening, resulted in an ‘apero’, diner and after diner drink 🙂 For the initial apero we went to the Vitrin bar, that you all might know from my Bordeaux wine blogpost? If not, read it 🙂

For diner we wanted something good, but not too expensive… as December is to my opinion the most expensive month of the year (with all the presents, etc….) So for me the Fiskebar seemed like a wonderful idea! As you can already imangine when seeing the name, this is a Fish restaurant, where you can eat very good fish for a very reasonable price.  You can either go for the fish on itself with a garden salad and some rice (or potatoes) or you could go for a fish prepared with a sauce and special dressing and side dishes… Tonight I took the swordfish with wasabi pesto/ puree, eggplant pickles and balsamico…

My girlfriend took salmon with the gardensalad, my friends (who actually introduced me to my girlfriend 12 years ago) took the Scampi (Prawns) with Red thai curry and rice, and the catfish with mushroom risotto.

To accompany this we had a Red wine, a Rioja ONTAÑÓN CRIANZA… which actually worked out well… the fruitiness and yet powerful wine was (to us) a nice harmony with the dishes. To finish our diner, me and my buddy took the lemon tart, my  beautiful girlfriend plum cake  and Isabelle took the crème brûlée… mmmmmm

I would advise everybody to eat at Fiskebar as it is very tasteful, cozy (especially when you’re sitting upstairs) and normally price(most fish around 20EUR) . But make sure you make reservations, as it is a hotspot!

BUT our evening didn’t stop there, noooooooo sir. After the Fiskebar we went to a brand new winebar at the South of Antwerp… A winebar that I didn’t even know it was there (we passed by it while going to Vitrine..  Vinicity it is called, but it is actually a wineshop where you can taste the wines and if you like them you can buy them … every day there is a choice of 9 wines devided in the type of wine it is…

Elegant, fruity or powerful… (between 4 and 7 EUR for glass) I went for the red elegant which was a Portugese dado… the reason, well everybody else already went for the Fruity and powerful and this was we could try them all :-). And he said that it was good 😉 I liked all three wines, although I would have liked them more powerful, but I just should have picked/asked for a much stonger wine… but don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a sacrifice to drink the glass I had 🙂

When you are sitting here you get in instant home feeling, the interior of the shop/bar is so relaxing that you could sit here all day… for the people who would want to eat something here, this is also possible, they serve a nice lunch (not too much, just a few dishes…)

I’m pretty sure this isn’t the isn’t the last time Vinicity has seen me  (Fiskebar neither) The perfect ending of a wonderful evening

So now only 1 thing left to say HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! ALL the best for 2012

Restaurant Fiskebar:

Address:

Marnixplaats 12

2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0)3 257 13 57

Wineshop Vinicity:

Address:

Karel Rogierstraat 40

Leopold De Waelplaats

2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 3 345 33 44 .

Low and high budget dining within a few meters

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Saturday we went for a dinner in Brussels, to Restaurant Houtsiplou. I got this tip from a friend of mine who has been here a few times. When I arrived on ‘Place Rouppe’ after a very long search for a parking spot, I saw that world renowned restaurant “Comme Chez Soi” was located on the same square :-). So in less than a few meters you’ve got a high and low budget restaurant…

So there has been a moment of doubt which restaurant I should go to and the valet parking made it even more interesting  too bad I had already found a parking spot and it is a good thing my wallet got me back to my senses, so ‘Comme Chez Soi’ will be for a next time 😉 + when I have hamburgers and French fries in my mind, it is difficult to get them out

Once inside Houtsiplou, you get an instant smile on your face… All the bright colors, funny creatures on the walls + I know I’m going to eat junk food :-).

Anyhow, I didn’t come for the interior but for food! Houtsiplou is well known for being a family & child friendly restaurant (so I’m right at my place) and for its delicious hambugers.  Also very good to know, vegetarians can also accompany their friends here, as all the burgers also get served with Tofu instead of meat and there are also lots of other veggie possibilities on the menu. We’re not veggie, so out with the tofu.

I went for the Basico Hamburger, 225g of beef, fresh bearnaise sauce, salad, tomatoes and fried onions (mmmm, I want it again). With some Homemade fries on the side.

My woman took the Pato, a burger with duckmeat, foie gras (that melted nicely over the duck meat)  and a green  pepper sauce.

When we received our plates it was very silent for a couple of minutes … The best sign that it was good!

I could have still gone for a dessert, because they all seemed delicious…  Tiramisu with Speculoos or Apple crumble or Cheesecake with Speculoos already make me hungry again… but I think I made a wise choice not taking a dessert, because I would have felt too stuffed J

I would really recommend this restaurant to everybody who is in Brussels with their family and wants to have a great fresh burger !! Again the only disadvantage is the parking … but that’s a common problem in every big city I would think

Houtsiplou:

Website: http://www.houtsiplou.be/

Address:

Place Rouppe 9

1000 Brussels, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 2 511 38 11

My hunger led us to Dôme sur Mer

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Friday was again one of those evenings I didn’t felt like cooking…. So there was only 1 thing left to do, pick a restaurant 🙂 . This time we decided to go to “Dôme sur mer  “. This restaurant is located in Berchem, near Antwerp and is the second restaurant from  Julien Burlat, chef and owner  from the 1 Michelin star restaurant “Dôme”.

I had actually already been to “Dôme sur mer” in May for my birthday with my whole family. As this time it was just a romantic dinner with my girlfriend. She always makes my dinners more complete 🙂

The architecture of both (or even 3) building from Dôme, Dôme sur mer and Domestic (bakery) is just beautiful, high decorated ceilings, but also the outsides are very beautiful.  In these restaurants you get and instant coziness feeling .

As you might expect from the name, “Dôme sur mer” is specialized in fish. One of THE trade mark dishes of the restaurant is the lobster with sage butter sauce. I tried this last time I was here as an appetizer (yes, I was greedy). This time we got led by this week’s suggestions. Not that there were not enough dishes on the menu, but I always like to taste new things they chef recommends.

Of course, the best way to start a romantic dinner (or any other dinner) is with a niiiiiice glass of bubbles 🙂  . We took the Spanish Clos Amador Brut Riserva which had a rich and fruity flavor. Just what we needed to get started. To not immediately be tipsy, we took some iberico ham to go with it . Maybe a ‘not done’ choice in a fish restaurant, but hey I just love HAM!! (FYI, the ham melted on my tongue)

This got followed by some Mackerel with pickled vegetables  (carrot and red cabbage) with a grain mustard dressing. This was a good combination of flavors, the freshness from the vegetables with a touch of acidity together with the softness of the fish. To accompany this we just took the house wine, bot white, from a dryer kind and for my girlfriend a slightly sweeter wine.

As main dish, I had the bream fish with braised savoy cabbage.  My first bite from the cabbage, brought me back to my childhood, it had the flavor like when my dad used to cook (ME like). Again very nice combination, I would want to be negative… but I just can’t… ok, maybe an extra piece of fish wouldn’t have been bad 🙂 . I drank a glass of red Poggialupi by Rodano with it.

We ended by sharing a Lemon tartlet. If you look really close to the below picture, you can see my girlfriends fork ready for attack 🙂

Overall a very nice restaurant, as the second time was as good as the first time. I wouldn’t call it the cheapest restaurant, but the prices are still on the normal side.  I can’t wait to go to restaurant Dôme in January.

Restaurant Dôme sur Mer

Website: http://www.domeweb.be

Address :

Arendstraat 1

2018 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n° : +32 (0) 3 281 74 33

Still on top of their game!

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A few friends and I decided a while ago to have something we call “The Gastronomical Odyssey”. Basically, in this odyssey we go and explore all good restaurants or you could also say that I am just working off my Go To List . Yesterday we (Carlos and me) had another one of those Odyssey moments and decided to go to the renowned restaurant “Sir Anthony van Dijck”. Why, simply before being able to understand all the modern dishes and cuisine, you have to know how the perfect classical kitchen tastes like. Sir Anthony van Dijck is actually one of the most famous Antwerp restaurants. The restaurant had 2 Michelin stars for more than 20 years.  This until 1992, when chef and owner Marc Paesbrugghe (one of my big examples) decided as one of the first European chefs to give his Michelin stars back. The reason for this was that he didn’t feel living up to the demands of Michelin anymore and he just wanted to keep doing his thing.  Now that I’ve been there I can say, they might have given away there stars, their food is still heavenly! On top of this refined cuisine, you also get one of the most unique locations in Antwerp. The restaurant is located in one of the oldest streets of Antwerp, the ‘Vlaeykensgang’. This street is a must see for everybody visiting Antwerp.

I must say that from the moment you walk in the restaurant, you can feel the touch of class and immediately feel comfortable. While following the waiter to your table you can enjoy the beautiful interior of the restaurant. The interior makes you feel like being somewhere in the south of France, where everything is balanced… The advantage that the weather is getting colder in Belgium is that they had put on the fireplace, which made the atmosphere even better (The restaurant is bigger than you would say from the outside). Carlos started the evening with a glass of  Jameson Whiskey  and I went for a glass of champagne as starting with whiskey seemed a bit strong J.  For the food, we decided to go for the gastronomical menu (but I must say a lot of dishes on the à la carte menu also looked tempting) as for me this is always the best way (in this kind of restaurant) to discover new tastes.

The first course of the night was a  wood pigeon mousse, consommé of  pheasant and foie gras. The Consommé was just wow, the first sip of it told me enough that the evening would only get better (if possible).  The foie gras wasn’t my thing as I don’t like eating it, the mousse on the other hand was also very exquisite

The following courses were

Greenland turbot with endive, lime and Hoegaarden beer, roasted fawn fillet (hertekalf) with celeriac puree and juniper. We finished with Poached pear with chocolate ice cream and a cold amaretto sabayon.

The only thing I can say about all the dishes that, one by one they were simply fantastic. You can really taste the chef’s experience and the know how he has!!  Our wine for the evening was a ‘Brolo di Campofiorin’ from Masi. It is just a coincidence that it is Italian, the waiter also agreed that this was a perfect fitting wine for our meal.

Result of this whole meal, 2 happy campers that enjoyed a top class restaurant on an historic location for a price you would pay at the average restaurant!  (you don’t have too many of those)

Up to the next one on the list

Restaurant Sir Anthony Van Dijck

Website: http://www.siranthonyvandijck.be/

Address:

Oude Koornmarkt 16,
2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n° +32 (0) 3 231 61 70

Eating for a good cause

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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

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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!