Eating through Belgium

I've been meaning to write up our last day in Brussels for a couple of days now but have been ridiculously tired! Instead, I'm going to cheat and make a posting about all we ATE in Brussels. Yummy.

Thanks to EasyJet's two hour delay, we ended up missing our dinner reservations in Brussels and having to settle for crummy Malpensa Terminal 2 food. Fun fact: it's worse than Terminal 1. No pictures but trust me, you aren't missing much.

Our first meal out ended up being in Luxembourg. For lunch, we ended up in a restaurant where the menu offered the sandwich "Barack O" and classified Gin as a 'health food'. I think this is worth noting. Luckily, it got better from here.


Frites were a frequent companion during this trip. They're everywhere and they are uniformly delicious, especially when sprinkled with just a smidgen of sea salt.


Frites accompanied our moules, or mussels, for dinner Saturday night. Our friend's favorite restaurant offered mussels in many different styles but I opted to go with the traditional white wine and garlic version (Mark went for a shared Chateaubriand which, while delicious, came out practically mooing). While au pairing in France, the mom I worked for taught me that the traditional way of eating moules is by using one empty shell to clamp down on the meat in another. From my informal survey of the rest of the restaurant (well, the part I could see), it appeared as though a full 50% of the mussels-eating patrons were employing this technique. The other 50% were using forks, of course.


After dinner, we strolled a bit around the Grand Place, trying to make room in our stomachs for dessert. When we felt ready, we popped into a waffle shop to debate and test the merits of a Lieges waffle versus the Brussels waffle. My verdict: both delicious. I ordered mine Brussels-style with strawberries. It was eaten too quickly to be photographed.

More than waffles or frites, Belgium is famous of it's beers and it did not disappoint. I wrote earlier about our trip to a Trappist monastery to taste one of the world's most coveted brews. Many others were sampled during our trip (especially considering that Mark headed to a sports bar to catch the Eagles-Cardinals game) and reminded us that very little in life beats hanging out with friends, laughing, and drinking a beer or two.


While at the aforementioned Trappist brewery, we ordered the cheese plate to accompany our beers. I have no idea what kind of cheese it was but it went FAST. Before leaving, we stopped by the gift shop and purchased a substitute souvenir for the beer we couldn't buy: cheese soaked in beer. Judging by the smell of my carry-on when I unpacked it back in Milan, it's a strong one that we'll probably be trying out this weekend.


While in Ypres, I also had the chance to try Carbonnade a la Flamande, a Flemish beer-based stew. I make a version at home that I like to think it pretty good, however, this was my first taste of the "real thing". Thick and beer-y, the meat was practically falling apart. The side of frites was a little too much for my tastes, I think I'll still with my home version with egg noodles!


While everything was delicious, what would a trip to Belgium be without sampling the chocolates? On our day in Brussels, our host took us to his favorite chocolate shop in town, Mary's Chocolatier. The shop is small but the rich scent of chocolate practically knocks you over when you open the door.


Winter is marzipan season, judging from shop windows over Europe, and Mary's was no exception. Their piggies and mushrooms were practically too cute to eat with the piggies giving each other exasperated expressions. While I don't personally care for the sweet, it reminded me of my grandmother who REALLY loved them.

Mary's isn't a chocolate shop for nothing, though. Photographs of famous fans of the chocolatier lined the shop's walls. For Belgian royalty and George W. Bush, this is the place to buy chocolate. We made sure to leave with a container of 16 pieces chosen from the below selection as well as a baggie of orangettes (candied oranges covered in chocolate).


Beer-soaked cheese, chocolate, and a mug purchased in Ypres (with the British military recruiting slogan from WWI!) ended up being our chosen souvenirs. The chocolate disappeared sometime last week and the cheese will go this weekend but with the upcoming Torino Chocolate Festival, I think we'll make do locally!