Lies! Lies at La Terrasse!

I call BS.  Around lunchtime at La Terrasse by Merode, a sign clearly indicated that mussels were available inside, and my friends visiting from outside Belgium had quite the hankering for some mussels.

When we sat down on the pleasant outdoor terrace surrounded by hedges and asked for them, the waitress said that unfortunately they had just run out.  C’est dommage! So instead we ordered the carbonnade (~12 euros), which is, for the record, visually appealing but much better elsewhere.

Ten minutes into our meal, a bunch of francophones came in to eat, and lo and behold, they received a bucket of mussels.

Blast!  No mussels, my queue.

Maybe they had pre-ordered the mussels before coming in, but I don’t know.  Maybe the afternoon waitress doesn’t like foreigners.  Despite the charming atmosphere, the quality of the food is hit-or-miss here, anyway, so this adds one more reason to skip eating here sometimes.  They once replaced the burger meat with a slab of meatloaf, which was pretty bad.  Then again, the fried chicken burger is good.  Ah, consistently inconsistent.

La Terrasse
Avenue des Celtes 1, Etterbeek

Food: B
Atmosphere: A
Service: B-
Languages: French, English

Pasta over pasta-burritos?

On my large rectangular plate, I had a mass of fettuccine noodles, which were piled on top of another type of pasta underneath, which were something like wide and flat pasta-burritos that encased a robust onion-tomato-zucchini sauce inside.  Around all that, a bright orange tomato-cream sauce with bits of ham lay all over the plate.  Needless to say, it was thick and rich, but it even had a little spiciness that surprised me.  At the corners were large butterflied shrimp, striated in white and orange-red and steaming hot, which tasted great when sopped with the sauce.  Finally, even further in the corners were small blocks of salty feta cheese.  Ground green parsley was sprinkled all over for color.  Interesting and very strongly flavored creation, this “pastabord Zoete Bron” (16.40 euros).

For a midday meal by the water, outside the city, it was excellent.  The sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the waitress was friendly, too.  Even the parrots chirping in their cages at the front door seemed appropriate. By the time I ate my plate down to the flat pasta-burrito things, I liked my food enough that, even when I found the dead gnat baked into one of the pasta sheets, I only paused for a second.  I thought a bit. Then I kept eating and finished it.

Don’t worry. I picked the gnat out.  I figured that I enjoyed it so much so far — why stop now?  So take this anecdote for what you will.  Great flavors and presentation still don’t necessarily rule out an occasional dead bug.  At least it was tiny.

De Zoete Bron
M. Noëstraat 15, Oud-Heverlee

Food: A-
Service: A
Price: B
Atmosphere: A-
Languages: Dutch, French

Cozy and Belgian

Three huge boulettes, or meatballs in tomato sauce, lay on my plate, accompanied by a side salad and metal bowl full of frites (9 euros).  The other foreigners around me were eating stoemp, carbonnade, and plates of mixed greens and shrimp, along with their golden beers, as the multilingual waitresses brought out the comfort food with ease and a smile.  The setting was small and cozy.  The brick walls were lined with local decor, and the inviting lighting reminded me of home.  How Belgian!  What an appropriate place for dinner during the last fading warm days of summer in Brussels.

Les Brassins
Rue Keyenveld 36, Ixelles

Food: B
Atmosphere: A+
Service: A+
Price: A
Languages: French, Dutch, English

My favorite misteak

Welcome back, folks, foodies, and foreigners!  Summer has gone by so fast, hasn’t it?  We’re back in Belgium, whether by choice or circumstance, excellent or otherwise. Regardless, it’s time to eat!

Unfortunately for the vegetarians, we return with a shout-out to an excellent place to find a cut of beef: classy Troubadour just a train ride away in Leuven / Louvain.

Before the Belgian summer ends, head out to east of Brussels in Flemish Brabant.  Sit down on a terrace upon a narrow cobblestone walkway next to other diners, and order the beef filet (~25 euros).  It should be large, rich, seared to a tender medium rareness, and succulent.  I am partial to pairing it with the mushroom cream sauce (~4 euros), but take your pick out of the selection.  Be warned that this is a lot of food, so don’t go there to graze.

Apparently the traditional mussels-in-a-bucket dish (~23 euros) is good there, too, particularly now that it’s September and the start of the season, but I haven’t tried it yet.

I still have yet to find a better steak around Brussels.  That doesn’t mean I’ll stop looking.  Got any suggestions?

Troubadour
Tiensestraat 32, Leuven

Food: A-
Atmosphere: A
Service: A
Price: B
Languages: Dutch, English, French

Southeast Asian chill spot with quite the décor

…guest blogger KiBXL reports!

As someone lucky enough to live near Chatelain, I find it exciting when another new resto opens up in the area. The latest addition is Lucy Chang on the corner of rue Americaine and rue du Mail. This place is perfect for a summer’s after-work drink and dinner; there are tables in the sun outside and a spacious airy interior decorated with a shiny ceiling and a cool mismatch of Asian artifacts.  All that’s topped off with friendly and efficient service.

The menu boasts a range of Southeast Asian cuisine which all sound mouth watering. I settled on a Thai spicy chicken salad (Laab Gai 8,50eur) matched with a sweet milky cold Thai tea to sooth my burning mouth (think bubble tea without the tapioca). This dish was hot as it should be, but at a level that was still edible and that did not mask the distinctive fresh herb flavours. Not bad at all. My friend’s noodles (one from the Wok menu) also looked and smelled extremely appetizing.

Lucy Chang Asian Grocery and Noodle Shop
124 rue Americaine, Ixelles

Food: A-
Atmosphere: A
Service: A
Price: B+

– KiBXL