Chocdoc - Checking out Chocolate in Belgium

[rotuts]

no matter what those Puppies are for

 

get two of each.

 

just saying.

 

Yikes

 

if I were there Id get 4 of each

 

"" break-age "

 

best stuff ive seen for the Kitchen in some time !

[lindag]

48 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

 

 

 

 

 

Found a perfect beer/tea mug.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have that exact same beer mug.  I keep it the freezer so it's always ready!

[Anna N]

6 hours ago, rotuts said:

no matter what those Puppies are for

 

get two of each.

 

just saying.

 

Yikes

 

if I were there Id get 4 of each

 

"" break-age "

 

best stuff ive seen for the Kitchen in some time !

They are certainly attractive but they also would take up a lot of room and I would have to be eating bushels and bushels of mussels to relinquish that much cupboard space. 

 

[Kerry Beal]

Found my way (after getting just a bit lost) to Les Caves du Sablon for dinner.

 

Here's the view going down the stairs into the cave - watch your head!

 

 

They had G'vine Floraison gin - which is a favourite of mine - so I had him mix me gin, aperol and vermouth.

 

 

 

Opted for the prix fix meal - 

 

 

 

Belgian waffle with stuff - not sure what stuff. 

 

 

Couple of lovely scallops with great mushrooms and other veg strings.

 

 

A smattering of nice chunks of foie with citrusy little potatoes. 

 

 

Pigeon with a tasty little potato side - the pigeon was a little gamey - but if there hadn't been two other tables with people in them - I would have licked the plate clean of the sauce and butter from the potatoes. 

 

 

Dessert was more than a little disappointing - it had no softness to it at all and lacked any truly defining flavour.

 

The waiter was alone - two rooms to cover - he rushed back and forth the entire evening - easy to see why he was so svelte. I was delighted to hear him explaining in his rather broken English to 3 Japanese girls at the adjoining table the reason that the pork was so good was that they cooked it in a bag in water and the fish was so good because they cooked it in paper in the oven with vegetables for the first bit - then ripped it open and finished it off. 

 

Interesting that being in cave meant some strange acoustics - there was a birthday group at another table - lots of talking and such - but one woman's voice carried as if she had a microphone and was using it to talk right into my ear. None of the other patrons at that table had the same effect.

 

 

 

 

 

[kayb]

Just read the whole thread -- one of the things I love most about eGullet is the travelogues. Thanks, and particularly thanks for the great photos. And the menus.

 

I have a question about the meringues (as meringues are among my limited sweet skills). What kind of cream in between, and with what are they coated so the shavings will stick? This may be a Christmas potential, as I have a ton of frozen egg whites.

 

 

[Okanagancook]

I too am enjoying the travels story and pictures.  Thank you for sharing.

[Allura]

11 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

 

 

Petite frite with joppe sauce. Need suggestions about sauce choices - don't know what most of them are.

 

 

Does this link help? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_cuisine#Sauces

[Kerry Beal]

6 hours ago, kayb said:

Just read the whole thread -- one of the things I love most about eGullet is the travelogues. Thanks, and particularly thanks for the great photos. And the menus.

 

I have a question about the meringues (as meringues are among my limited sweet skills). What kind of cream in between, and with what are they coated so the shavings will stick? This may be a Christmas potential, as I have a ton of frozen egg whites.

 

 

I think it's just a simple Chantilly cream (flavoured if you wish), I'd probably stabilize it a bit and the shavings stick to the cream - let me attach here a ink to the page on Fred's website where you can see him covering one with cream and you'll see why the shavings would stick. The top meringue is buried in there rather than being a sandwich on top,

 

http://www.auxmerveilleux.com/the-story/

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

5 hours ago, Allura said:

Does this link help? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_cuisine#Sauces

Yes it does - thank you so very much! 

[KennethT]

I love pigeon in France/Belgium... it always has so much more flavor than when I have it in the US - I've heard that it's aged a short while there, whereas in the US, they're not allowed to age birds of that size.

[kayb]

6 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

I think it's just a simple Chantilly cream (flavoured if you wish), I'd probably stabilize it a bit and the shavings stick to the cream - let me attach here a ink to the page on Fred's website where you can see him covering one with cream and you'll see why the shavings would stick. The top meringue is buried in there rather than being a sandwich on top,

 

http://www.auxmerveilleux.com/the-story/

 

 

 

Thanks! One for the potential Christmas list....

[Kerry Beal]

Getting lost scores again! I was heading out to Le Pain Quotidien after I finally dragged myself out around noon. I spend the morning struggling with the removal of 5 words (actually the same word 5 times) from iMovie - with no success - and with a second attempt to get my MiFi to allow me to get online - also with no success. After walking around in circles for a while looking for a street that had to be there somewhere (after all I saw the damn restaurant two days ago when I was lost the last time) - I came upon a memory from my last trip here in 2008. Sultans of Kebap - home of my very first lahmacun! Place hasn't changed a lick except for the construction out front.

 

 

 

 

 

  Just peeking out from it's foil wrap. 

 

 Of course one must have frites and mayo with it.

 

Stuffed with meat and garlicy/oniony salad goodness inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 7, 2017 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Walking back I found myself on a street with many restaurants cheek to jowl - I recall it also from my last trip. Mussels, lobster and frites. I was flirted with delightfully by several gentlemen who didn't care that I wasn't hungry - I was welcome to come in and just sit by the fire and get warm. I think maybe they just wanted my money? But it was still rather fun.

 

 

There was a lineup at this place - guess they didn't need anyone to haul people in.

 

Must say - hitting the same neighbourhood on Wednesday was much less crowded than the weekend.

 

 

[KennethT]

Leon is extremely famous for moules frites.  They started in Brussels in 1893 and have since expanded to many restaurnants in Paris and Lyon.  We had one of our first meals in Brussels there, and while there was a bit of a wait, we thought their mussels and frites were some of the best that we had on that trip.

[Kerry Beal]

27 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Leon is extremely famous for moules frites.  They started in Brussels in 1893 and have since expanded to many restaurnants in Paris and Lyon.  We had one of our first meals in Brussels there, and while there was a bit of a wait, we thought their mussels and frites were some of the best that we had on that trip.

Excellent - that just might be dinner tonight if I can run the gantlet of flirting gentlemen to get back there!

[MelissaH]

You're making me quite homesick with all your photos.

 

On 10/5/2017 at 1:30 PM, Kerry Beal said:

 

I recall tasting these last trip - don't recall if I cared for them. Will have to test again.

Noses! We learned about them in Gent from the cart selling them in front of the Tierentijn mustard shop. (You can actually see the shop in the BBC video, with its green facade. Awesome mustard, and something we always bring home.) One classic use for the purple ones is to sweeten your tea, we were told. I kinda liked that, although a whole nose was a bit much for me, so I made two cups at once and used one nose for the two cups.

 

On 10/6/2017 at 11:04 AM, Kerry Beal said:

Found a supermarket on my return - of course I needed to check out every shelf.

 

 

 

Love the idea of square spice jars!

Looks like you found a Delhaize, which is our favorite of the Belgian supermarket chains. The square bottle of their store-brand speculoos spice mix is awesome. I use it in place of plain cinnamon in almost everything that calls for cinnamon...or at least I did till I ran out. :-(

 

While you're in Belgium, you might also look for brands of speculoos other than Lotus (the ones known in North America as Biscoff) in the supermarket. There's one brand that's super-good, only available in Belgium, and I can't remember the name of it. Stay tuned.

[Kerry Beal]

Ok - I've been down the rabbit hole for a bit - the itinerary for our trip came through on my e-mails and I realize that we will be staying in Aalst during the course. My last trip was to Aalst as well - and I was just looking though the old thread to see if the hotel might be the same. Didn't find that information - but figured I needed to link here to that thread so you can join me down the rabbit hole.

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

1 minute ago, MelissaH said:

You're making me quite homesick with all your photos.

 

Noses! We learned about them in Gent from the cart selling them in front of the Tierentijn mustard shop. (You can actually see the shop in the BBC video, with its green facade. Awesome mustard, and something we always bring home.) One classic use for the purple ones is to sweeten your tea, we were told. I kinda liked that, although a whole nose was a bit much for me, so I made two cups at once and used one nose for the two cups.

 

Looks like you found a Delhaize, which is our favorite of the Belgian supermarket chains. The square bottle of their store-brand speculoos spice mix is awesome. I use it in place of plain cinnamon in almost everything that calls for cinnamon...or at least I did till I ran out. :-(

 

While you're in Belgium, you might also look for brands of speculoos other than Lotus (the ones known in North America as Biscoff) in the supermarket. There's one brand that's super-good, only available in Belgium, and I can't remember the name of it. Stay tuned.

Be interested in the name - I do enjoy speculoos.

[suzilightning]

14 hours ago, kayb said:

one of the things I love most about eGullet is the travelogues. Thanks, and particularly thanks for the great photos. And the menus

me three.......

[MelissaH]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

Be interested in the name - I do enjoy speculoos.

One Belgian friend swears by Dandoy brand. They have their own stores. I'm still working on the special Belgian supermarket brand.

[Kerry Beal]

I have wandered into something interesting - took a wrong turn on my way to my chosen restaurant and ended up down in the slightly seedy area where I had been yesterday.  First restaurant I walked into explained that they only had sausage and cheese at this time of night.   So I went into the next friendly looking one and it's a little bit of a madhouse in here. Apparently there is dinner and a show - it might be cross dressing based on something I see on the wall. But they have brought me olives and she promises to come back and explain the special menu shortly.  

 

Hope they offer a drink 

 

 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

Cava has come

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

The birthday girl has arrived for the party of 30 and so has my duck

 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

Bread and water has arrived

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

Young man just walked by - took my cutlery and asked if I wanted dessert and coffee - made him bring my knife back - wonder when he'll realize I still have a plat to go before dessert 

 

Large man with made up face and still lacking his wig just walked by and kissed a few people - so the show is as I suspected I guess