Restaurants

When in Köln , do …..

/ dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

For professional reasons I’m very often in Cologne. From time to time it then also happens that my German colleagues or my Belgian colleagues who joined me to Cologne, feel like going out for dinner. As you guys may know by now, my motto is when in Rome, do as the Romans, so … in Cologne this doesn’t change.

 Who thinks of Germany, thinks without any doubt of huge glasses of beer and heavy food.  

The place where you can find this for sure, is art Päffgen, you’ll be getting a looooooot of beer. As they won’t stop serving until you put your  beverage coaster on your glass. This is served with some  “Haxen & Hämchen” (knuckles &  ham), but watch out this is no food for beginners J because you get a lot of meat!! I could show you pictures from colleagues of mine stuffing and putting all their weight to eat that piece, but out of respect for them I will not put those pictures on this blog . Oooh and 1 advice, don’t take an appetizer  as you won’t be able to finish your main course.

We always go to the city center Salzgasse bierhaus (as it is close to everything).

No better way to taste the real good German food!!

Hope you’ll get the change to try it. Let me know how it was?

Aux Vieux Bruxelles

/ dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Brussels, I never know what to think of this city. I don’t come often in Brussels. Either it is because I have a project there for work there or occasionally just for shopping with my girlfriend.  Another reason is the following one. Some of you might know that I’m a drummer and that I have some American drummer friends coming on tour through Belgium (the same who actually convinced me to start blogging) and as I know that being on tour for months is not always as nice as lots of you might think, I always try to let them relax and stop thinking of their daily routine of travelling – hotel- playing-travelling by taking them out to have a good bite and drink. Brussels is usually the preferred place for tour managers to choose their hotel (because of the highway access + close by airport). Of course, Brussels has hundreds of restaurants, but I mostly like to take my friends to eat some typical Belgian food… like “Stoofvlees”, Mussels, etc… A place I’ve already took some of my friends was Aux Vieux Bruxelles.

It is like going back in time.  Old brown varnished benches, red-white squared tablecloths. Already by seeing that I feel so happy (don’t ask me why, maybe it’s the child in me) and I immediately feel like sitting down and eat more than I can handle. Last time I had “Vol-au-vent”, a small puff pastry filled with a kind of white stew sauce with chicken, little meatballs, mushrooms a squeeze of lemon and topped with a “sauce hollandaise”   (some also put a bit of tarragon). Two of my friends took the mussels (as at that time it was the season) and another friend took shrimps with garlic butter and some vegetables with it. And all of this accompanied with freshly made French fries.


The good thing about this place is that it is not too touristy, most of the people coming here are from Brussels… that usually is my reference to know if the place is worth the visit

 Enjoy

Restaurant Aux vieux Bruxelles

Website: http://www.auvieuxbruxelles.com/

Address:

 

Rue Saint-Boniface 35
1050 Brussels , Belgium

 

Phone n°: +32 (0)2 503 31 11

 

 

Rome’s trendy village of taste

/ dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

When in Rome do as the romans… Literally this time , but then for the trendier Romans.  Rome is a city I really love (surprise surprise). The history, the beautiful buildings, the fact it is in Italy, etc… I already visited the city a few times, and like in any other city I’ve tried to find good food . One of the restaurants I go to every time I am in Rome is restaurant Gusto. You could actually call it a restaurant village, as they have a Osteria (kind of a Italian snackbar), Winebar, Restaurant, Pizzeria, Formaggeria (cheesebar), a cookbook store and a wineshop.It is all on the same block at Piazza Augusto Imperatore, which is close to the Via del corso. Gusto is one of THE trendy hotspots in Rome and no matter which of the locations you choose, they are all great. For lunch the Osteria, in the evening the restaurant and afterwards the wine or regular bar to enjoy some live jazz music …. Sounds like a pretty perfect day to me!. But of course, do not forget to enjoy one of the world’s most ancient cities between your meals 😉

If I can’t convince you, just walk by the restaurant and I’m sure you’ll be very tempted. Booking a table might be recommended.

If you prefer a more traditional location, I’m sure I’ll post one soon

The Five Flies

/ dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

Last year I went to Amsterdam with my girlfriend to celebrate her birthday. … We always enjoy this “water” city.

Walking through “de grachten” and seeing all these little shops (no not the coffeeshops). I’m sure that in the near future I’ll also be putting a blogpost about the city of Amsterdam. In this post I would actually like to draw your attention to a very nice refined restaurant I received the address from a. The Netherlands are not really well known for its good gastronomy, but this restaurant showed me different!

 The restaurant in question is Restaurant vijf vlieghen. Also called Culinary museum! A restaurant decorated with original Rembrandt paintings, wall’s coated with gold leather wall covering from the 17th century

You really feel like being back in time. We felt like Lord and Lady McSpinelli 🙂  (and my girlfriend was even on some kind of wooden throne). We enjoyed this restaurant from the first second we walked in.  The restaurant serves traditional Dutch ingredients in a refined way. To start we tried dishes like red beetroot marinated raw salmon with macarons of beetroot and salted lemon crème fraiche. Followed by  suckling pig cutlets with eggplant, young goat’s cheese potato muffin, white balsamic vinegar and vadouvan gravy  and Crispy fried veal sweetbread with stewed cheek of veal, watercress, kohlrabi and smoked butter mousseline… to finish with some very good dessert Lemon curd with raspberries, fritter of in sugar candied olives and basil ice cream. Drinking water with this would have really been a shame!

 When I get the whine list in Belgium or the Netherlands I’m always in doubt what wine shall I take? As When I’m in France, I will always drink French wine, the same goes for Italy

So when I looked at the winelist,it was a difficult choice. Untill the moment I saw that they also served Dutch wine. So we decided to try the 2009 Apostelhoeve Pinot Gris and I really have to say that we were surprised of the quality of this wine. We really recommend it to anyone.

“Smakelijk” and enjoy your trip back in time

 

Retaurant d’ Vijff vlieghen:

 Website: http://vijffvlieghen.nl/  

Address :

Spuistraat 294-302
1012 VX Amsterdam

 Phone n°: +31 (0)20 53 04 060

Smooth and Tasty

/ dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

I highly recommend this restaurant everyone, it is perfect for 2 or for a whole group! A while ago the guys from work wanted to have dinner somewhere, and as you all might know finding a place where you can enter with 10-12 people is not always easy. So I suggested to go to Smooth & Tasty, a restaurant I had already enjoyed eating at a few times before. What actually surprised me is that when I called to reserve the table, we didn’t have to take a menu with the whole group… Yes indeed, you’ve heard it correctly

The owner prefers it this way as it  might be too difficult to find dishes everybody loves, etc….  The day we went to the restaurant I think almost everybody took something different… and still everything got served at the same time and we didn’t have to wait endlessly but we did take some tapas to start to give the kitchen some time (as we were not the only people in the restaurant). I remember everybody having enjoyed what they had ordered. And this for very reasonable prices.

Smooth & Tasty has all kind of different dishes on their Menu. At first you might think that this will have an influence on the food, but everything you eat there is from high quality and well prepared. I usually eat Thai food there as the Thai food at Smooth & Tasty is – in my opinion – better than in some Thai restaurants I’ve been before.  Colleagues of mine tried duck, steaks, etc… and they also had to admit that the quality was superb.

The best mussels in town!

/ dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Mussels and restaurant Maritime, they go together like a horse and carriage …. Not only are they well known for their mussels, but my personal favorite is the sole with freshly made tartar sauce and French fries… The first time I tried it at Maritime, I was silent for a few minutes (and I don’t shut up easily). I had never eaten such a good sole! Perfectly prepared! When you are at this restaurant, you can really feel the history. Not only because it already the 3rd generation that this family owns this restaurant, but also the fact that you are in the oldest part of town. Surrounded by The Cathedral, the Renaissance City hall (on UNESCO list) and only 2 steps from the Scheldt (Schelde) river and Antwerp oldest streets. Maritime is also a must -during the Hunting season! Everything at Maritime gets prepared in the classical way and with love, you can just feel and see it when you get your food. Maritime also has a wonderful wine selection, we have to thank Glen (the 3rd generation) for that! Glen & his team really make your visit to Maritime a memorable moment and show you that food doesn’t have to be complicated to be at its tastiest !

Restaurant Maritime:

Website: http://www.maritime.be/

Address:

Suikerrui 4

2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n°:  +32 (0)3 233 07 58

The LA vibe

/ dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Los Angeles is definitely one of my preferred destinations during the winter… as in Europe it is freezing cold by that time.

From the second you then walk off the plane you feel the sun spreading its warm glow over California. I find it just wonderful; especially knowing it was –12°C when you got on the plane. I’ve already been a  few times to LA and thanks to a few buddies of mine I’ve been able to experience  LA at its best!! I hereby want to thank them for that  :-).  It might not be the most beautiful city in the US, but there is definitely something about this city that keeps attracting me. Everybody knows the touristy things like Kodak theatre, LA strip, Malibu, Rodeo drive, etc… which you of course have to see when you’re there, but knowing the real LA, that’s what it is all about !

When in Rome, do as the Romans…. So when in LA, do as the LA people!!  One of my favorite hangouts and for sure a ‘must do’ in LA is the Baked Potato, THE FUNKIEST PLACE ever!! An old LA underground club, where the most amazing artists have performed and had jam sessions. All the walls have pictures and autographs of every artist that played here. Ofcourse once you are here, you have to try one of the jacket potatoes!  Check out the calendar, you might be surprised who you’ll be able to catch playing! It is really worth the trip. You might also wanna check out King Chris and The Groove Thang at Backstage Bar And Grill. A trip to House of Bluesis also really nice.

Who thinks fast food, thinks US.  I re-quote when in Rome …. (Thank god my girlfriend wasn’t with me, otherwise the romans would have had different habits 😉 ) The best burgers are without any doubt the In n’ out burgers, no freezers, etc… Everything gets freshly made on the spot! Most of their restaurants are drive-in only. A restaurant that also has seating possibility is the one on Ventura blvd, Woodland Hills. On the corner of La Brea and Melrose you’ll find the world’s most famous and huge celebrity hangout  Pink’s hot dogs

Don’t know if they are the best, but believe me, they were really good!! I must admit that taking the 9inch chili dog was tempting … but I got my senses back and tried the normal chili dog, some mustard, chili & onions.. mmmmm (I bet my LA friends feel like jumping in their car and get one of those puppies). But for the ultimate experience you should really have the best pastrami sandwich ever at Johnny pastrami’s. Take the Johnny’s famous pastrami dip and you’re golden! By the way, this place is close the LAX, so get one before you head back home.  At this point, you might also wanna try some doughnuts?  I needed some convincing at first, but once I entered the Krispy Kreme’sshop I was sold. The time you would want to go, is when  they are freshly making them. The first bite you take out of a glazed doughnut (filled or unfilled), you really believe that sugar heaven exists!! WOW!! Although I have to admit I’m glad they don’t have a shop in Belgium, I wouldn’t be able to stop eating them.

The places above are obviously more a snack thing. In the evening I need something more consistent  :-). A few classics in LA or the States would beThe Cheesecake factory, the red lobster, etc… but I’m always in for something new. Most of my friends know I like this, so my buddy Rick and his wife have taking me to a few authentic Korean restaurants in Korea town and thank god Rick’s wife is Korean, as everything happens in Korean. The first restaurant we went to had like this big grill in the middle of the table on which they put really thin meat and countless little cups with different kind of dishes on the table like spicy stuff (not to their standards) , sweet-sour, etc… it was endless, but it was a great experience and I am definitely going back!! The second one had, the Seoul garden, more or less the same amount of side dishes, but this time it was, it was a kind of fondue pot filled with fish or meat broth (bouillon)   where you would ‘cook’ the fish or meat instead of a grill … again a really nice experience. It is actually called Shabu Shabu.

You cannot go to the US and don’t try some BBQ meat, ribs or burgers… you should really go to Tony Roma’sor Wood Rangeand taste their baby back ribs. Normally I’m not really into spareribs, but man were they good!!

My list could go on and on with great places my friends took me. But if you ever go to LA and you are interested in more info, just let me know!!

 

 

 

Mess Officier

/ dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

You know the feeling coming home and don’t feel like cooking and don’t really feel like going too far to have dinner…. I know I do!  One of those nights I decided to try out restaurant Mess Officier, about 4 min by car from my house (remember it was a lazy night, so walking was out of the question). After my first time at Mess Officier, I’ve been going there ever since J. One of my favorite Belgian dishes would be “Stoofcarbonade” or “Stoofvlees” as most of us would call it. “Stoofvlees” is a Belgian beef stew made with dark Belgian beer that just has to be served with French fries and accompanied by a nice Belgian “Trappist” beer. I’ve already tried “stoofvlees” in a lot of restaurants and lots of times it is too dry, or they didn’t leave it to rest long enough (what usually should be at least overnight) and therefore the taste isn’t what it should be…. But at Mess Officier it is always sooooo good (writing this makes me actually pretty hungry) and on top of that they make their own French fries and their own mayonnaise (made from mustard and a bit of lemon). This is exactly what I like about places like this, they try to give their best to satisfy the customer!! For people who like organ meat, this restaurant is also for you as they always have some suggestions for Organ lovers, like marrow (mergpijp), calf brains, etc…. Don’t worry guys they really have a wide variety of different dishes!! Mess Officier also always have some nice international wine suggestions that can be taken by bottle or by glass.

Bon appétit!

Retaurant Mess Officier:

Website: no website

Address :

De Burletlaan 187
2650 Edegem, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 3 294 73 61

Fin du monde

/ dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

Moving back to Antwerp after living 2 years in Gent was not the most difficult thing. Don’t get me wrong, I really loved the city, but being from Antwerp, plus having most of my friends and family there…. Always having to drive tons of times between those two cities became endless. If one would ask me, what do I miss? I would then have to say the Sunday open air market in Ledeberg (I’m sure I’ll be talking about this in a future post) and a few restaurants (what a surprise) or actually one restaurant in particular, restaurant Fin du monde. Living in a city for a few years, you try to find nice places to eat, drink, etc… But Fin du monde was something special. I liked the no nonsense attitude. In the summer it was nice walking through the old city,  walking from the “vrijdagmarkt” to the “Patershol”, through this little narrow street were you then would find the restaurant behind an old wooden door. In the beginning both the ground floor and first floor used to be a restaurant, but they now changed the Ground floor in a winebar and the first floor in a restaurant. There is no fix menu, every few weeks the menu changes and they prefer working with daily fresh products. All the dishes would be written on a blackboard, always having at least 1 thing I would like. They would have about 12 different dishes from pasta  to vegetarian tofu dish  to meatloaf… accompanied with some garden salad and mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, etc…  Some dishes can be ordered in smaller portions, because they are really generous. Highly recommended is the chocolate cake as dessert (for the romantic souls one with two forks also gets done 😉 ) Also a nice thing to know, is that all the wines they serve are biological wines. Reserving a table is highly recommended. And after the perfect meal, enjoy Gent’s beautiful city by night…

 All to Gent I would say

Retaurant Fin du monde:

 

Website: http://www.findumonde.be/

 

Address :

Meerseniersstraat 3
9000 Gent, Belgium

 

Phone n°: +32 (0) 9 233 35 33

 

Catalonia à la française and so the story continues…

/ dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

The first night we decided to go to a restaurant of the Le Neptune . We went to the La voile du Neptune, with nice overlook over the little port/harbor of Collioure. Where we first had the Serrano Ham with Manchego Pan Tomato and the range of forgotten Tomatoes of “Pezilla-de-la-rivière”, Parmesan chips and Mozzarella. Followed by Gambas à la planxa deglaced with Xéres (sherry) and Entrecôte 1er choix snackée, beurre à la moutarde à l’ancienne (I know, no meat at the seaside, but I just wanted it so bad) and to finish with a Fondant au chocolat and a café gourmand. Overall a very nice dinner. Although I never understand why at some restaurants the seranno ham (or Parma) sometimes gets cut quit thick? I really prefer when it is thinly sliced… but maybe that a personal taste.

But never the less, it was some goooood food and of course all of this was accompanied by a nice local rosé wine. I would indeed recommend this restaurant, although it slightly more expensive.

We stayed 3 nights in Collioure, sadly we didn’t really felt like visiting too many cities or villages, although this region has lots of nice places to visit like Perpignan, Port-Vendres, Andorra (although still quit a drive).  And there are also from “routes des vins”  to visit some nice vinyards. During our stay we mostly drank wines from Cave Veuve Banyuls and honestly these wines were very good, we tried the Collioure Rouge and Rosé.  As I said, we decided to relax our few days and enjoy the sunshine.

 The 2nd and 3rd day we went to the same 2 restaurants for lunch we want to Argelès-sur-Mer at “La Vieille Cave’ in Avenue de la Liberation (51 bis) and in the evening. Very nice little restaurant with a terrace with a very good price- quality-quantity value. They serve a big variety of tapas, salads and bigger courses. The first time we tried some fish and the second time tapas and both times we were really satisfied and had enjoyed our lunch for 100%. And we assure you that 1 dish is more than enough as the portions are really generous.

In the evening we went to restaurant ‘Le Clocher’. This restaurant was by far the niced place I have been in my 2 weeks in the South of France.  Typical Catalonian refined cuisine for a very normal price, served by very enthusiast and friendly staff. At restaurant ‘Le Clocher’ for tapas o/ first cours, main course, dessert, wine and apero you should count between 50 and 70 EUR for 2 persons. What to my opinion a very good price, knowing that you are still in the south of France. I actually discovered a very good champagne in this restaurant,  champagne from ‘Besserat de bellefon’ . We both days started with the tapas, where I can recommend the Serrano con pan e tomate (thin sliced ham J ) where you get the garlic, tomato and bread separate so you can decide how much of each you want on your toast. For main courses everything is recommended as everything looked and tasted amazing!!

So for everybody who wants to discover the best of Pyrénées-Orientales should definitely visit Collioure. Bon Voyage!!