Sweet, creamy goodness at El Vergel

One can understand the steady price inflation at El Vergel over the years because its food is so darn good.  Portion sizes might not satisfy everyone, but the flavors should.  Case in point: the El Vergel cheesecake.

Don’t ask me what’s so Latin American about this cheesecake, but I’m not complaining.  It boasts a smoother and creamier texture than some New York or Chicago cheesecakes, and there definitely is no air or puffiness to it.  It’s really rich, but miraculously at the same time it’s not too rich, and like gourmet Marcolini chocolates, the sweetness doesn’t overpower the senses or leave your mouth dry.  The crust also balances out the creaminess perfectly, with a strong biscuit-cookie taste and crumbly texture and just the tiniest, tiniest hint of saltiness.  This cheesecake in a word: fantastic.

The only complaint is that the individual slices are getting smaller at the restaurant!  Just buy a whole pie to avoid the trouble and cut yourself your own huge piece.

El Vergel
Rue du Trône 39, Ixelles

Cheesecake:  A
Languages: English, French, Spanish

Loud and proud in Place Lux

Can’t beat a classic meal at Fat Boys!  I haven’t run across another place in Brussels with as consistently great burgers.  Accompanied by fries, wings, and a beer, how can you go wrong at this rare and rough sports bar in the city?

The expat English-American atmosphere lends to the flavor.

Fat Boys
Place du Luxembourg 5, Brussels

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

Scallops with cheese and honey and irritating service

These were scallops, goat cheese, honey, and some type of salad with a sweet and sour vinaigrette (~13 euros), with everything except the salad served up steaming hot out on the cold terrace of BelgoBelge on St. Boniface.  Interesting flavors, but not really what I was expecting since the scallops must have been about the same dimensions of a two-euro coin, while loads of melted cheese oozed out from underneath.  For a small but rich snack, though, it satisfied me:

Unfortunately there were lots of service problems here, as we were served two plates of food that weren’t ours.  At least there were mussels:

Also one of the red wines was listed on the white wine menu, apparently.  Not being wine connoiseurs, we didn’t know this until what we ordered to go with the mussels came out:

But in the end, food is food, even when it’s good and not great, so of course it got eaten despite the very, very late l’addition.

BelgoBelge
Rue de la Paix, Brussels

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

Ice cream slut

That’s right, I’ll eat it anywhere, anytime.

For your viewing pleasure, pictured below is some extra-sweet dulce-de-leche ice cream over a thick Liege-style waffle, from the Häagen-Dazs novelty ice cream shop in the touristy city center.

Here’s a beautiful scoop of the cookies ‘n’ creme:

Don’t you love the desserts in Brussels?

Best bowl of ramen noodles

Okay, so I haven’t actually tried the ramen from every single place possible in Belgium.  But this ain’t Japan, folks.  Ramen stands are not like the kebab shops.  So if you’ve found one bowl of delicious noodles around here that stands out above all the rest so far, then you can safely bet that you’ve found the best in Brussels, at least for now.

Such is the case for the miso katsu ramen (9 euros) at tiny Yamato off St. Boniface.  The homemade noodles are a little chewier and denser than at other places, and consequently they carry flavor really well.  The miso broth with bean sprouts and green onions is flavored richly without being too salty, and the small portion of fried battered pork on top finishes the whole creation.

Yes, you might think it strange to pay that much for post-work snack food.  And… you’d be right.  But sometimes when you’ve got a craving, you have to give in.  It’s all about the textured long noodles, about the meat, about the cold Asahi.  It’s about sitting at the bar jam-packed side-by-side with everyone else waiting for the same thing; about smelling the spring onions and the gyoza in the air.  The chefs toil in front of you to bring you what you order.  You sit on the waiting chairs in the back for half an hour just to get a seat.  You see the steam from the miso broth rise from the center of the bar to heat the whole place up, while the cold Brussels rain falls outside the plate windows behind you.  Then a seat opens up, and now you’re hungry and ready to order ramen in Europe.

No, this is not exactly like Japan.  Maybe that’s why we like it.

Yamato
Rue Francart 11 (St. Boniface), Brussels

Food: B+
Atmosphere: C
Charm: A
Price: B+
Languages: French, Japanese?