Brussels Day 2

We slept in on day 2 and decided to eat lunch at our hotel in the interest of saving time. Usually hotel food is mediocre at best but not this place. Check out my club sammy.

With an egg! Why? I don't know but it was a good idea. And those chips, fresh. From the fryer my friend. At any rate, it was very good for hotel food.

This was the only meal I was partaking in as tonight we were heading to Comme chez Soi! The day was spent puttering around to various Chocolateries and stocking up.

After a leisurely afternoon we showered, dressed, and headed out to dinner.

So a little history can be found here. I encourage you to read it. The restaurant itself is 84 years old. Soak that in. Most places last a decade if they are lucky. What Georges Cuvelier created, his son Pierre Wynants and Grandson-in-law have maintained. I like the name. Comme chez Soi translates to "as at home". It's currently rated as a Two Michelin Star (it lost one in 2007). I'm no Michelin Expert but, I will say, two starts might be a stretch.  I will tell you, Guy Savoy and Daniel are my benchmarks for Michelin and I draw comparisons to those.

The space is small (they do 36 covers per night) and it reminds me of the drawing room of an aristocrats home.

The hostess, who happens to be Chef Wynant's daughter, is very warm and inviting. The menu is either a la carte, 4 course tasting, 6 course tasting, or 7 course tasting. We opted for the 6 (as the 7 course was only one extra course but cost 47 euro more?). Service is polite but there were a few times my water glass went empty or we had to flag down a waiter. The somalier wasn't too impressive either. If we pointed at something, he said it was good. If we pointed at something else, he said it was good as well. So we were on our own. Let's get into the food.

Yellow Amberjack carpacciom young shootes, and green Puy lentils with lemon vinegar. Here is a little close up.

The dish was very tasty, tart, and refreshing. Call me crazy, but I couldn't place the combination. Earthy flavors (shoots, lentils) with citrus and fish. It was good, but interesting.

Next was Halibut with crispy vegetables in a light Parmesan cream.

What to say? Cooked to perfection, mellow but delicious flavor. Again was left wondering about things. What were the circles and squares on the plate? I ate them but was unable to place a flavor and how they added to the dish.

Next out, steamed sole with coulis of asparagus from Mechelen and diced smoked salmon.

This was good stuff. I loved the coulis with the fish. Lots of good flavor and I like the texture of the crunchy, crisp vegetables with the fish.

Fourth out was Pigeon's breast with green cardamom and templar pepper with black radish cannelloni with Chinese cabbage.

A close up of the peppers. (Because they were tasty and cute)

This was my favorite. The Pigeon was very tender and the jus on the plate was sweet with the flavor or cardamom. The "egg roll" was an interesting accompaniment. Delicious but again, not sure what it added.

We really wanted some cheese so we decided to throw in a 7th course.

Definitely my least favorite of the night. The cheese was a warm St-Maure (very mellow flavor) served with Spinach and olive oil topped with Pecorino croutons. I'm not sure what the yellow was and was never told either. I did not enjoy the spinach with the cheese. I hate to say, this was a miss.

Not to fret, dessert was on it's way. First up, Citrus fruit biscuit stuffed with strawberries, served with lemon verbena ice cream.

This was so good! The citrus shell was crunchy and filled with an amazing strawberry mousse. Nothing was too sweet and the flavor or the fruit was present. Verbena ice cream was a great match and added to the freshness of the flavors.

Last dish, Pineapple palette, saffron sorbet, and Consommé with Jasmine pearls.

 Another refreshing and pleasant dessert. Say what you will about molecular gastronomy but that Consommé was just beautiful. So soft and delicately flavored. I guess you could say, it was Michelin Star Boba (or bubble tea for all those who don't say Boba)

With our coffee, you guessed it, treats!

Macarons, chocolates, gummies, oh my! Definitely my favorite plate of coffee goodies had in Belgium.

As a note on Vino, wines had were "Chevalieres" Jean-Francois Coche-Dury 2000 (a Mersault White Burgundy)  "Les Brulees" Meo-Camuzet 1998 (Vosne-Romanee) and with dessert, Sauternes of course, Chateau Siduiraut. All very enjoyable. This was the first Romanee I have had and I recommend for anyone who likes a medium-full bodied wine with spice balanced with cherry, vanilla, and dark fruit.

I had hit the food coma for the second night in a row. Serious eating is not for the faint of heart.

Overall the experience was pleasant. I liked the history behind the restaurant and the founding principals. I even purchased a cookbook written by Chef Wynants to try my hand at Belgian Cuisine. Even received best wishes from the men in the kitchen.

Bottom line: Would I go back? Despite the things I liked, no. There were a few misses you should not experience at a Two Michelin Star restaurant. I would save a couple bucks and head to Les Flanneries Gourmandes.

Cheers,
The Real Dish - actually, still recovering from the food coma

Brussels Day 1

We are actually home now and I am SO far behind in blogging. I have three days of food plus all of the chocolateries! My apologies. So let's get on with Brussels Day 1 - trip Day 4.

We arrived in Brussels late afternoon Wednesday and had a quick late lunch at Hotel Amigo. We stayed at the Hotel Dominican, which I would highly recommend to anyone. What to do for dinner? We were lucky enough to receive restaurant suggestions from a friend who lived in Brussels. Otherwise we would be stuck eating on Rue de Boucher or some other tourist trap I am sure. Or we would just have to go on reviews from the internet, which I might note, I am usually highly skeptical of. (Ironic, I know)

On his suggestion we arranged a reservation for les Flâneries Gourmandes. The restaurant is very small seating only about 22 people. While the space is small it still remains extremely inviting. The menu, posted on the wall, changes daily.

It is in French but our server was able to provide some translation for us.  They offer an a la carte as well as a tasting menu. We opted for the a la carte as the tasting had a few shellfish dishes and I am allergic. Service is polite but very no nonsense. I noticed after we ordered the server went over to the wall and began yelling. I wasn’t sure what was going on until I saw a dumb waiter in the wall. The kitchen was either above or below us and she was yelling our order to the chef who was yelling back, rather robustly, OUI! 

Moments later our amuse bouche arrived. Cod fish atop a smooth as silk, flavorful puree of aubergines. 

(eggplant) Really it was very smooth considering eggplant is a very stringy vegetable. A very pleasant and interesting flavor pairing.

My starter was Ouefs (eggs) with the whites removed, filled with the yolk, bits of tender veal, and green bean puree. The topping is a foam with mellow flavors of Indian spices. 

For the life of me, I can not figure out how they got the whites out! I supposed they must have poked a small hole somewhere or something and let it seep out. This was one of the most truly unique dishes I have ever had. Veal in an egg? Green bean puree with the yolk? And the spices? It was completely delicious and I could have easily eaten a dozen.

My partner ordered a Langoustine Carpaccio.

Served with a lentil salad and an orange and vinegar puree. Due to the aforementioned allergy I did not try this dish. This dish came highly recommended from the server and my sweet heart thoroughly enjoyed it.

The mains I copied down in French so bear with me. Longe de veau rotie, risotto de petit pois, et jus naturel. (roasted veal with risotto of garden peas, served with the natural juice of the meat) Also included are some crispy thin sliced potatoes, aged Parmigiana shaved atop the risotto, and chanterelle mushrooms atop the veal.

Absolutely perfect dish. The risotto was cooked to absolute perfection. I liked the crispy potatoes adding texture to the risotto. The mushrooms were cooked in so much butter and jus they were a simple but beautiful accompaniment to the soft, tender veal. Yum.

Across the table my partner enjoyed Filet of Sea Bass, concombre, mouselline de pomme de terre, saute du radis blac, et croquette d'huitre avec jus naturel. (Sea bass topped with cucumber, served with "muslin" of potato, sauteed white radish, and croquettes of oysters)

Again I did not try this dish (see oysters) but it was well received.

A side note about the wine. We enjoyed a bottle of Dard et Ribo Hermitage. It was a 2006 which is not super ideal for Hermitage but I was really in the mood for something from Rhone. This wine did not disappoint. Fruity with hints of vanilla, and smokey. At one point, after taking a sip, I swear I tasted sweet bacon. The downside is they are small producers and I will most likely not see it until I am in Europe again but you can certainty get Hermitage at the LCBO.

For dessert. No chocolate mousse this time.

The right is a strawberry themed one and the left is a raspberry themed one. I'll be honest here, I checked out. I was drunk on food, and tipsy on wine and I just went with the flow. I will say they were both incredible without killing it with sweetness. The delicate flavor of the fruit was very present in both.

The thing I love about Belgium is when you order coffee, no matter what kind, you always get something with it. Whether it be chocolate, cookies, a biscuit whatever, your coffee or tea are never alone.

With our coffee we got chocolates filled with ganache and perfectly piped strawberry macarons. (seriously, look at the smoothness!)

Totally food drunk, we headed to Grand Place to walk it off.

Nothing better than strolling the cobblestone after an amazing dinner on a warm Belgian night.

Bottom line: would I go back. OUI! and I would highly recommend to anyone traveling to Brussels.

Cheers,

The Real Dish - perfect first day in Brussels