And a chick chick here and a chickpea there

August 24, 2015August 24, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Eating complicated dishes can be nice, but you won’t be tempted eating it every day. A simple dish however you are able to eat over and over again… a great example of a dish like this is hummus. I could eat hummus every day all the time, and if it weren’t for my wife stopping me I would 🙂 (so when she’s not there I do, I know I’m a rebel 😉 ) . I know I say simple which it is, but making a good hummus isn’t as simple as it might look. It does only contain a few ingredients, but still you will never be able to make it taste like the real Middle Eastern hummus. An option would indeed be buying it in the supermarket, but there again it still doesn’t taste the same. For me the spots to buy it is in a real Lebanese restaurant/shop, Israelian eatery or at an open air market at a Middle Eastern shop …In Antwerp the perfect place to get it (and even eat it) is at ‘Chickpea’ a so called hummus bar :-).

The story behind this place is quite unique, the owner/cook (aka Yossi Israël) is a former jeweler who decided a year ago to leave gold and diamonds for what they are and have a little career change and start working with another kind of jewel aka chickpea 🙂 Using old family recipes that have been used for generations and generations you can only imagine how wonderful this hummus tastes. If he made his jewels like he now makes hummus, those must have been some beautiful jewels 🙂

Chickpea is without any doubt THE best place to have hummus, pimped hummus (with lam stew, shrimps…) or hummus related dishes like falafel in Antwerp. Their eatery might be small, but the taste of their food makes it big… it may have been the hot temperatures, but I felt on holiday sitting on their terrace, sipping from my home-made lemonade and making my plate of hummus emptier with the help of a warm pita bread 🙂 (am I making you picture it 😉 ) Once you tried their hummus you won’t want anything else anymore. Thank god for Take away 🙂

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Chickpea

Address: Oudaan 4, 2000 Antwerp – Belgium

Website: www.chickpea.be

Fucking perfect

August 17, 2015August 17, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

It took me a long time but I finally found my way to The Jane. For most people it is the name Sergio Herman (owner) that makes them go, for me the trigger was Gianluca Di Taranto aka The Jane’s sommelier!! He doesn’t believe me when I say it, but it is true (he was also the trigger bringing me to‘t Zilte a few years ago when he used to work there). It was not the long waiting time for a free table (about 3 months) that made me wait so long, but rather the hype around The Jane. I had already been lots of times to Pure C (Sergio’s other restaurant), so I knew the food would be great… I just had experiences in the past with restaurants being hyped so much, but when you actually went it didn’t meet up with the high expectation/idolization and the fuzz made around it (Dinner by Heston for me is one of those, that’s why I didn’t write anything about it). So I basically was a bit afraid I would be the same with The Jane. The second trigger (and in the end decisive trigger) was the fact that my wife told me out of the blue she wanted to go there 🙂 🙂 I was so surprised as she never comes up with stuff like this, usually it is me pushing restaurants 🙂 Strike while the iron is still hot was first thing that came in mind. The gods must have agreed with me, as the still had some free spots for the day we wanted to go… In the upper room bar that is, not in the actually restaurant. The big difference between both (in same building) is that in the ‘restaurant’ you sit at the table and it is executive chef Nick Bril (and Sergio Herman himself) prepares your meal. In the Upper bar room you sit a big bar and see the cooks prepare your meal right in front of you (you might call it show cooking 🙂 ). The upper room bar is also a good way to get familiarized with The Jane’s food style, but than in tapas style.

I cannot get around it, I must mention the building The Jane is situated in as it is so special! The Jane’s first ‘project’ name when Sergio Herman started was “La Chapelle”, maybe this already reveals where I’m going? The Jane is located in an old church that has been totally redone and is a true architectural masterpiece!! The pictures below will give you an idea, but seeing it ‘live’ is even more impressive. I love the high ceilings.

I won’t lie about it, once I made the reservation I was as excited as a puppy to go to The Jane (that’s how I become when I can try a new restaurant). I only had to be patient for 2 weeks between the reservation and the lunch itself. Which in The Jane terms is not long as sometimes it can take you months to find a free spot…

I cannot use another word that describes it better, ‘Perfection’. From the moment you walk in until the moment you walk out you get pampered by every single member of the staff you see during your meal. I know you might say this is normal as you pay for it… I agree, but you would be surprised how many places ask the same or more, but give less, or where the staff doesn’t feel like working and don’t give the same welcome feeling. The advantage of the upper room bar is that you can make your own menu or better choose your ‘tapas’ à la carte (between 5 and 20 EUR). So you don’t need to go for the tasting menu (basically a walk through the à la carte menu) if you don’t want to…. It was also our initial plan as after our lunch we still had to go to a wedding (you cannot go to a wedding hungry, can you?) . BUT the meat is weak and we took the tasting menu 🙂 :-). As Gianluca had told his colleagues from the Upper bar room we had to go to a wedding… so they speeded up things for us… luckily we aren’t rookies anymore and we (yes my wife also, I thought her well :-)) can handle some food.

In the end I’m also glad I took the tasting menu as you get to eat things you maybe wouldn’t have picked yourself due to some ingredients in it…like the chickenliver’s with black pudding for example is something that would scare lots, but in fact it was one of the best dishes ever, and this was only the 1^st dish we got 🙂 :-). Also remarkable that the oyster didn’t make me sick. I like its taste, but in the past every time I had an oyster (also in very good restaurants) I was as sick as a dog afterwards… My favorites were the chickenlivers with black pudding, the noodles, the lam stew, the sashimi, the buckwheat noodles with lacked duck, the steamed buns with pork belly … basically every dish was full of deep flavors and had all elements in a dish you would want there to be and therefore had one or the other reason to love the dish… ok maybe the oyster wasn’t my preferred one, but again it didn’t make me sick for a change :-). FYI, I didn’t take a picture from all my dishes as I ate some to quick and only realized afterwards I didn’t take a picture 🙂 (I know I’m using this sentence a lot, but I think I’m getting more greedy by the year I get older 🙂 )

It is also said a meal is only finished perfect if you get a good dessert, I can only say it was a fucking perfect ending of our lunch 🙂 my wife and I were supposed to share our desserts, but the plats were empty before we remembered we were going to share 🙂 🙂 but I was told the Raspberry with pistachio and chocolate tasted heavenly 😉

It was nice to be served cocktails, different types of sake or vermouths during my meal… Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer a good wine pairing with my food (It might also be because of the sommelier 😉 )… I liked every drink, but for me the drinks were a bit too strong to keep up the whole meal, especially knowing after this lunch I still had to go to a wedding :-). There just has to be a next time to try it all again without having some event afterwards and I think in the evening would be a better plan 🙂

It became a very long blog post and lots of smiley’s again, but you know that only means I’m very excited. I also got proven wrong, sometimes the fuzz and hype is just because they are just that good!!! Thank you Sergio, Nick and their The Jane team for the great (quick) lunch. So next time I won’t only come for the sommelier or because my wife wants to, but also for the fantastic food and to get Sergio Hermanized in the way it is supposed to happen (with more time)… even if that means I have to make a reservation at 8 a.m. …my 5 month old daughter will for sure help me to be awake in time 😉 :-)) like she did at 5 a.m. today to make sure I would have time to write this blog post 🙂

Restaurant The Jane

Website: www.thejaneantwerp.com

Address: Site ‘t Groen Kwartier, Paradeplein 1, 2018 Antwerp – Belgium

Good food can be closer than you think

August 6, 2015August 6, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

When I look for a restaurant I mostly look ‘far’ away, without actually realizing that on less than a 5 minute walk there is an eatery that can still my hunger as good as the restaurants far away 🙂 Although I must confess that I got to know it aka FAIM via the local Antwerp tv channel ATV, who showed it on one of their show’s called ‘hotspot’. If it weren’t for them I wouldn’t have known it as it is in a part of my town I never pass (until now). FAIM already exists for a while, but it was only in February this year they decided to open up for lunch. Before February their main focus was catering and private dining… This month they are also opened at night, because most of the catering and private dining events are at night time 🙂

The friend that joined me for lunch is actually an old colleague of mine who has the same weak spot as me, good food 🙂 🙂 I remember when we used to work together, the moment I walked in the office we would start talking about food and great restaurants (making other colleagues crazy)… we would talk that much (in our breaks, never during work itself 😉 )we became so hungry that 85% of the time it would result into a lunch somewhere in the area. As we are now not working together anymore, this time we just did it for old time sake 🙂 and FAIM seemed like to ideal place.

FAIM does not have an enormous ‘à la carte’ menu, but they do have something for everybody…next to that they also have a lunch menu and a ‘carte blanche’ menu that changes according what was available on the markets in the morning.. As you might guess, our interest went mostly to the ‘carte blanche menu’:-). This week’s special ingredient (when we were at Faim that is) were mussels and therefore also part of the ‘carte blanche’ and lunch menu… when the host overheard my friend saying he didn’t like mussels too much, he immediately interacted suggesting they could adapt the ‘carte blanche” menu without any problem at all and leaving mussels out of the menu … and so they did.

After finishing our refreshing aperitif (for me a glass of bubbles and my friend a glass of vermouth) and the appetizer celery soup, we were served Green asparagus with smoked salmon, scallops, little grey shrimps and a mousseline . ALL ingredients I adore in 1 plate, a win wine I’d say and a not to heavy way to start the meal. If it was cloudy I wanted red and when sunny white wine, it was sunny making we went for a white wine… the host suggested the Grüner Veltliner by Weingut Rabl. Summarized, SUMMER

The mean dish that followed was a classic entrecote (which they get from a local master butcher) with a little bit of choron sauce (bearnaise with tomato). This dish can either be heavenly or hell, luckily in this case it was more leaning on the good side than the bad side 🙂

We finished off with a red berries, gin ice and a homemade sabayon (the sabayon was nearly as good as my dad’s sabayon)… I would have loved staying some more, but duty called…

Maybe it was the sun, maybe it was the great company or maybe the food, but I had one great lunch that asks to be done all over again and I’m pretty sure who my ‘victim’ will be :-). FAIM is the perfect lunchspot for a good non-nonsense lunch

Restaurant FAIM

Website: http://www.faim-traiteur.be/

Address: Kerkplein 8, 2650 Edegem, Belgium

Looking back on 10 weeks of Hello Fresh

July 15, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Being able to cook without having to do the shopping, a dream for most people! Hello Fresh makes this possible for you without having a butler at home :-). What Hello Fresh does it basically make you a food package for a 3 or 5 days (per week) regular or vegetarian with all recipes and fresh ingredients (from local growers) included to make the predefined dishes. There are some ingredients you need at home like olive oil or salt and pepper, but besides that you’ll find everything in the box. They even give tips how/ what you can put in the freezer or on how to storage the food to keep the food fresh.

My wife and I already tried a similar concept like Hello Fresh about 2 years ago, but we stopped it as it didn’t fit our lifestyle at that moment. We were never home at night which resulted in food being thrown away. We did like the concept and we do still use some of their recipes. When our daughter was born (about 4 months ago) and we knew we would be home much more than before it seemed like a good idea to start again with a concept like Hello Fresh.

Why Hello Fresh and not one of the others? When a new baby is born, the parents get a few boxes filled with coupons, samples and other baby related things. One of those boxes offered a coupon for Hello Fresh… and that’s why we decided to try Hello Fresh. After ‘using’ Hello Fresh for about 10 weeks (as we do sometimes still go out and on holiday 🙂 ) we can say we are still happy with our decision. I know it might seem that I’m not into cooking or shopping for food anymore, but that’s not true. I do still enjoy going to open air markets or the supermarket and cook my recipes. I still do all of that in the weekends. Now I’m just able to spend a bit more time with my family and not having to ask my wife over and over again what she feels like eating tonight or tomorrow (it made her crazy sometimes 🙂 there you have reason n°2 😉 ).

What I like about the recipes from Hello Fresh, is that they are simple and everybody should be able to make them. Another advantage is that no recipe takes more than 40 minutes to cook (most of them not even more than 30min). I must admit that you can sometimes tell the recipes are Dutch as some combinations seem rather strange like lasagne for example with a salad to go with it (as an Italian, that’s a big no no). What I then usually do is just leave the salad out and eat it during the weekend and buy a few extra ingredients. Or I also sometimes make recipes in a different way then described as I know it will just be better my way… (without adding extra ingredients that is). Nevertheless most recipes are very nice and we enjoy them. Another benefit is that their recipes are good for your health as they only provide the portions you are actually supposed to be eating a day. I must admit that when I see some of the portions in the box I think ‘that will never be enough’ and I’m wrong 98% of the time 🙂 Last but not least, another advantage of Hello Fresh is that you throw away less food. The recipes also contain a table with up to 6 people the amounts that should be used for the ingredients (including if they are ok to eat for people who have problems with Lactose or Gluten)

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Hello Fresh also uses forgotten vegetables, from time to time replace the usual potatoes and pasta with quinoa, couscous or any other thing you can replace it with. Basically you get to eat stuff you usually wouldn’t buy or eat, but are now ‘forced’ to eat and in the end love it and think why you never tried it before :-).

I’m sure my wife and I will keep making use of the Hello Fresh services some more. BTW Hello is very spread out as it delivers in Australia, UK, USA, Austria, Germany and obviously Belgium and The Netherlands.

Ceci n’est pas une bière, c’est un Kriek Lambic

July 14, 2015July 14, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

For me cherries stand for warm summery weather while summery weather stands for time spend with family and enjoying yourself. This is exactly what I’ve been doing last weekend at the so called ‘Kriekenfestival’ by the Mort Subite Brewery just outside of Brussels. As we were at the ‘Kriekenfestival’ or ‘Cherry festival’ in English I’m sure you can guess which type of beer we were celebrating. Although I must emphasize Cherry beer is not a ‘regular/ordinary’ beer. Why? ‘Kriek Lambic’ is part of the ‘Geuze’ beer family. A Geuze beer is special because no yeast gets added, the fermentation happens with the wild yeasts that float around in the air aka ‘spontaneous fermentation’. Secondly it is made by blending young and old lambics (Geuze beers let’s say), which is then bottled for a second fermentation (like champagne). And also usually there are no additives like sugar, etc… with exception to cherries. This results in the fact that Geuze usually also tastes a bit more bitter and the cherry beer more acid. Just like with wine it is the Master Brewer who makes the difference with his finishing touch and the ‘assemblies’ he decides to make.

I would be lying if I would say that I drink ‘Kriek’ (cherry) beer on a regular basis, but when I do drink one, it is rarely limited to one :-). The ‘Kriekenfestival’ was one of those moments… summery weather, music, streetfood and a nice Geuze or Kriek to cool off. The perfect recipe for a successful afternoon . I was also happy that my wife and daughter joined me.

The ‘krieken festival’ we went to was the 2nd edition due to the success of last year’s festival.The brewery basically opens its doors for everybody who wants to know more about the brewery and its products. Mort Subite had outdone itself this year as they also gave away free cherries to celebrate the great new harvest. I was surprised how many people were actually at this festival and I’m sure they didn’t only come for the free bag of cherries you got. I also think it were mostly local people as every seemed to know each other and the key word was without any doubt ‘FUN’.

Who says beer, says greasy food (and something you don’t have to tell me twice 😉 ). It was a though choice as I had to choose between deluxe hamburgs or hot dogs… in a world without my lovely wife looking over my shoulder (and me being very greedy) I would have gone for both… but I did think a bit of my well being and did go for the hot dog, in this case for me an Italian sausage, pesto, tomato, Parmesan cheese, basil and aioli. The New York did also look daaaamn good, a classic BBQ sausage with sauerkraut, sweet baked onions, mustard and ketchup OR chicago with pickles and green peppers (to give a few examples). I bet most men are now drooling on their keyboard 😉 My wife took the Zorba with feta cheese ,merguez sausage, greek coleslaw and olive paste.

I was also fortunate enough to get a private tour with the Mort Subite Master Brewer Bruno Reinders telling anecdotes and amazing stories about the brewery. Like for example that the copper ‘alembics’ you see in the Mort Subite brewery where actually hidden during the World Wars and were only restored and reused recently. The tour didn’t take too long, as beer making doesn’t change that much (and I had already visited a few Geuze stekers (makers) in the area a while ago) AND tasting it is much more fun then hearing about it 😉

So from now on the Mort Subite Kriek beer stands for great family moments on a summery day and that’s exactly what I’ll be thinking about when I take a sip of their beer…

Save water, drink wine

July 10, 2015July 10, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

“I drink when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and I drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it, unless I’m thirsty” by Madame Jacques Bollinger who was obviously referring to Champagne…Me personally I would relate it to wine in general :-). Finding a good wine bar in Antwerp to drink a good glass of wine until 1 or 2 years ago was a difficult quest… you barely had them (with exception of the Pazzo wine bar). The past year however more wine bars seemed to find their place in Antwerp. (which I like) One of those wine bars/shops that opened 2 weeks ago was Avini aka the Avignonesi flagship bar/shop.

Avini already caught my attention before it opened. Not only because I know the owners (Thomas was singer in a band I used play in high school – I played drums), but also because it would be a wine bar/shop serving only Italian wines (yes, the chauvinistic Italian in me rises on moments like that ;-)). Not only Avignonesi wines (as that’s what you would expect it beeing a ‘flagship bar), they also serve wines from estates from all over Italy (the usual suspects, Tuscany, Piemonte, Alto Adige, Valpolicella) that you can either buy to enjoy at home or drink at the wine bar (maybe with some bruscetta or other antipasti) for which you pay the so called ‘cork-fee’ of around 10EUR per bottle. This does make it very interesting to open some real beauties they have in their collection. (I already put some on my list for next time)

When I went to Avini earlier this week, my mind was set on trying the Nobile di Montepulciano and especially the Grifi from Avignonesi as I had heard lots about it. Why especially the Grifi? Because it was, before Avignonesi was taken over by the new owner, one of its most famous wines that unfortunately wasn’t made anymore since 1996 (read more about it in this article). As I think the new/current owner probably was (or became) also a fan of this wine, she decided to remake the wine 🙂 Thank you for that Virginie, I did enjoy it 🙂 It had this great round aftertaste and was full bodied, something I like about red wine. I wish I could express/explain it in a fancy way like pro sommeliers, but I’ll just stick to that I liked it ;-).

I did finish off with a weakness of mine, fortified wines like Porto, Sherry, Madeira, Marsala or in this case Vin Santo… Lucky me they even had 3 different kinds (technically 2, as 1 is not called vin santo, but its the same thing). I tried 2, so already 1 reason for me to go back to Avini.

I enjoyed my evening, first of all thanks to my buddy Laurent who joined me, the host and hostess for taking good care of us and because of the nice we were able to taste. I know they just opened and searching for the exact thing they want to do, but I do hope that one day they will be serving wines from less known regions in Italy like Valtellina, Lazio or made with less famous grapes :-). BUT I did get the taste for trying more of the Avignonesi wines (about wish I’ll take some more soon, I’m sure).

I wish Eline and Thomas all the best and see you soon!

Summer in Antwerp

July 6, 2015July 6, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Last week Belgium was suffering from way to high temperatures (which is unusual) up to 37°C. Believe me when I say it sounds better than it actually was, when it is this hot in Belgium it is not as nice as when you are in some southern Mediterranean village, but rather as dry as a cracker 🙂

With the exception of 1 evening last week were it DID really feel like being in a small southern Mediterranean village!! ALL thanks to Sepideh Sedaghatnia and her restaurant Divin by Sepi. (FYI you might remember her from one of my last posts). Imagine a hot summer night with from time to time a little ‘refreshing’ breeze while the sun slowly goes under, sitting outside with some friends around the dinner table , glasses filled with some bubbles or rosé wine and eating fingerfood …. the definition of a night when you are on holiday right?? I also wasn’t the only one feeling it, as everybody who was at Divin by Sepi Friday night had felt it. Difference with a southern restaurant, that in this case the service was good and very professional 🙂 🙂 , but nevertheless in a loose way.

A very important rule for when you eat at Divin is to relax and enjoy yourself and those are also Sepi’s only rules. I mean there are no obligations ((you do have to pay the bill all you smartypants out there), for example on the menu you have fingerfood and regular dishes, if you only want to go for fingerfood (no matter how many)… you only go for fingerfood, you don’t have to worry that somebody will think lesser of you or looks to you in a strange way :-)… We (me and my friends) are greedy people so we obviously went for both the finger food AND the regular dishes 🙂 (I just followed, I didn’t want to be rude 🙂 🙂 ).

I do like the concept of the fingerfood, which is comparable with tapas you have in Spain. What I liked about Divin’s fingerfood is that you saw influences from all over the Mediterranean that got overlapped with Middle eastern or better Iranian influences (as that is where Sepideh is from) resulting in summer on a plate (and served in a refined way). Maybe it would be easier to tell what fingerfood we didn’t take as we took 90% of the menu 😉 no no, just kidding. The first fingerfood dish was an Iranian wrap with dates, basil and feta (but the Iranian version of Feta). If a non-cheese lover (especially goat or sheep cheeses) like me liked it I mustn’t say more, do I? It is true that the dates in it made a bit sweeter (typical Middle eastern) and maybe that’s what made me love it??

The fingerfoods that followed were Soft shell crab, Kobideh sate, Falafel with tzatziki, a selection of refined meats and as frosting on the cake a Persian Pizza with grilled vegetables and harissa. One better than the other no doubt about that!! They tasted as well as they looked

The eyes are bigger than the stomach, especially when there is nothing in the stomach yet 🙂 I think we had overdone it with the fingerfood. When placing our order with Sepideh everybody decided to take a mean course (for after the fingerfood), the ladies at our table were intelligent enough to go for a fish dish…

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When the men (including me) saw ‘black angus short rib’ they had NO eyes anymore for other dishes… Again I repeat the eyes were bigger than the stomach aka greediness 🙂 Luckily Sepideh double checked with everybody after all the finger food who still up for the main dish. Let’s just say that we men split the meat instead of eating one each 😉 with exception for my buddy Jan who had a whole one for himself. And there’s another example of not having any obligations … in lots of other places they would have just served us everything. So we basically shortend the short rib 🙂

You might have noticed I didn’t speak about wine yet 🙂 and no not because we didn’t have any… We started our evening in a bubbly way with some Belgian bubbles from Ruffus which tasts just like champagne. FYI the reason it tastes like it is because where the grapes are grown, the soil is the same as the one in Champagne (Champagne’s soil ends in the Belgian region where Ruffus is made). That and the knowhow from the people making it 🙂 . If you ever get the chance of drinking it, I strongly advice it!

In my article about Sepideh’s book I said it was a pity there wasn’t a pocket version of the book. Good thing at the restaurant I didn’t need the pocket version as I had the original version 🙂 🙂 Sepideh in person…. I must say that Divin by Sepi has one of the broadest selections of wine I’ve seen in a restaurant. She has great wines from every continent (besides Asia I think) with a representation of a lot of countries of these contents, including the Middle East, Greece, etc.. Probably you’re thinking ‘Freak’ 🙂 “Whatever’ would my response to that be 😉 . The list was also nice a there were lots of wines on their that I’m sure nobody knows or barely know…but that are mind blowing!! For after the bubbles to make us feel even more on holiday Sepi thought a nice rosé by domaine OTT from the Provence would set the mood for with the finger food.

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Followed by a refreshing German 2011 Pinot Noire from August Kesseler. To finish with a 2007 Italian red (it just had to happen one moment or the other) Fumin from Valle d’Aosta for with our Black Angus. This was basically what the doctor ordered 🙂 🙂 We were still in the mood for something else after this, but as we were all parents with a babysitter at home… duty called. One important lesson for next time bring them to the grandparents for a sleepover 😉

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I did it again, I wrote a too long article, but you all know that only means I am very very enthusiastic :-)- Oh sorry I forgot the mention the dessert I’ll just let the picture speak for itself!!

Thank you Sepideh and team for everything!! See you very soon!!

10 shades of bitter

June 29, 2015June 29, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Not so long ago the University of Leuven has done a test about bitterness of food and drinks. What’s the bitterest a grapefruit, chocolate or maybe a Gin & Tonic? With sweet things we can easily distinguish if one thing is sweeter than the other, with bitter it is a different story? Or isn’t it? For years people stopped (or almost) eating/drinking bitter products, with a result that people were not used to the taste of it anymore and saying what was more bitter something impossible . The last few years however there has been a massive change in all that as most people are more aware what they eat/drink and want to eat/drink. It also seems that every year the popular ‘summer’ drink become more and more bitter 🙂 BUT even now people are getting more used to eating/drinking bitter only 5 out of 10 people can define which product is bitterer than the other… If you want to know if you know your bitter products and their scale you can do the test with help of the bellow ‘Bitterness scale’ Indicator

I’m not really a bitterness fan (so also not a GnT fan), but maybe I should just be eating/drinking more bitter things to ‘educate’ my taste buds bitterness sensors better 🙂 (what a sentence 🙂 )and then I’ll be part of the 50% of people who can distinguish bitterness correct

No celebration without good food and wine

June 25, 2015June 25, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Birthdays are meant to be celebrated with good food and wine, that for me is a golden rule (every time something needs to be celebrated actually). A ‘rule’ my wife knows really well :-). My lovely wife knows that no present will make me happier than going to a good restaurant and have a good meal. My ‘birthday’ meal this year was even more special as it was ‘us time’ (for me and my wife) in a long time 🙂 (FYI a few months ago I became dad of a beautiful little girl that goes through life as Eloïse and during my birthday meal my mom looked after her). For my wife finding the right restaurant for me is a very stressful task, so to make sure she makes the right choice she calls in some help from gastronomic friends of mine(in this case my dear friend and top sommelier Cesar Roman). I don’t really believe I’m a difficult person to get something for, but apparently more than I know/think myself ;-). She also wants to keep it a secret for me… this year I decided not ruin the surprise by guessing where it will be (as I usually guess it. FYI, she said we were going to skydive for my birthday this year instead of eating :-). She has outdone herself even more than other years in finding a nice restaurant. This year I was fortunate enough to slide my feet under the table in a restaurant called Bistro Margaux in a little town just outside of Brussels. Before I continue I must say that they do have a very (sincere) friendly staff that like their job and maybe even do it with passion.

Chef and owner Thomas Locus only opened Bistro Margaux (a former café) in 2009, with the idea to open a small bistro. The success was bigger than expected as after 2 year (in 2011) Bistro Margaux already got awarded by the Guide Michelin with 1 star :-). In his dishes (or at least that is the feeling I had) Thomas tries to bring revisited versions of old French/ Belgian dishes and bring them in a more creative way with techniques he learned in top restaurants both in Belgium as abroad both classic and modern cuisine (Oud Sluis, Martin Berasategui, Bruneau, etc…). The restaurant is in a very nice cottage style I like a lot (it might look cool (as in cold) on the picture, but I assure you it wasn’t, even before the wine) . I loved their wine cellar!! If I ever move in to a bigger house, I have to have one of those 🙂

I would be a liar if I told you guys I still remembered exactly which appetizers we were served. I do still remember how they tasted and that I liked them and their main ingredient. I know that for some bloggers this would be not done, as they write everything down the whole time…but I’m at a restaurant in the first place to enjoy and relax, writing is usually the last thing on my mind. It is only afterwards that I share this moment of happiness and talk about the experience I had and I think you all know I only share if I really liked it 🙂 🙂 Nobody gets killed or dies if I forget to mention which appetizers they served or the glass of champagne I had with it 😉

What we were served after I do remember 🙂 We decided to go for Thomas’ 6 course meal… for the wine I chose to take a bottle (and not take the wine pairing, not sure if they did that). Choosing is always so difficult, do I go for red or whit? Strong or not strong? They had lots of nice wines, but the ones that caught my eye were a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc in white and/or for the red an all time favorite a Valpolicella (in this case a Riserva)… but as they have a sommelier, I’m sure he was THE perfect person to help me to get out of this quest and so he did. Although the wines I chose would go would with the dishes, he thought a (as I wanted to go for a Sauvignon Blanc style wine) Austrian Sauvignon Blanc from close to the Slovenian Border would be a good match 🙂 For the people who want to know if, it was a 2014 Grassnitzberg for weingut Tement. A plesant nose, not to strong not to watery… just right and how I wanted it to be 🙂

We started our menu with a ‘Salade Nicoise’ (Tuna / Tomato / waterkcress/chlorophyll ), I’m sure they couldn’t have done it better in Nice 🙂

The second course was the ‘Paling in het groen revisited’ : Eel from the Oosterschelde prepared with green herbs/ kohlrabi /letucce

The 3rd course was maybe one of my favorites , Holstein beef with artichokewith truffle and pecorino. I could eat another one of those riiiiiight now .

The main dish was Pigglet with ‘korenaar’asparagus,comté cheese and scallion (young onion)

I’m glad Thomas served us fresh/light desserts (meaning no heavy chocolaty stuff). A combination of season fruits, homemade pastry and ice 🙂 the recipe for success

A wonderful meal that asks for a retry with the only problem being, WHEN 🙂 Thomqs serves well out balanced dishes where can taste that he knows his techniques and basics really well!

I also tried to convince Bistro Margaux’s sommelier to participate in this year’s contest to become Belgium’s best sommelier of 2015, but he felt he wasn’t ready yet and that his knowledge is not yet of the ‘best belgian sommelier’ level… I beg to differ as I think he would do really well! I do hope he still changes his mind!! Just in case he would change his mind I’ll add the link to subscribe for the contest 🙂

Find more info on Bistro Margaux on their website: http://www.bistromargaux.be/

Spreading the Californian joy

June 24, 2015June 24, 2015 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Sometimes it is nice to give you some insights from within the winery business. A hot topic for the moment is about Hasselt Millesime, one of Belgium’s top 3 wine import companies (wholesale). They are enlarging import gamma! After already being the distributor (amongst other) for one of Italy’s largest wineries (Zonin), it will now be importing wines from the biggest Californian wine estate that I’m sure you all know E &J Gallo winery. I know E & J Gallo mostly from seeing it in the supermarkets here in Belgium, but under the leading hand of Hasselt Millesime (for Belgium) they will try to enlarge their share in restaurants 🙂 In case you think ‘ooh’ it is just a wine they sell in the supermarket, I can tell for a fact that they are more than that, they obviously have wines from all levels or a wine for everybody going from a regular table wine to more gastronomical wines like their Gallo Signature Series. What I personally didn’t know is that they also produce other drinks besides wine like Rum,Tequila, Gin 🙂 (all the other products)… Lots of new things to try