Back from Belgium

Just returned from a week in Belgium and, yes the food was good.
Favorites:

Moules-Frites: The mussels really tasted like the (North?) sea, much more flavorful than any I have had in USA.

Fries were OK, but not as special as touted.

Waterzooi, fish stew, was wonderful.

The $225 (yes) lunch for 2 (with one glass of wine for one person, one soft drink for the other) at Michelin 3 star De Karmeliet was OK, of course, but any high end NYC restaurant is as good, and more reasonable (like $100- $150 for 2).

Breakfast breads were excellent.

TOO much chocolate.

Best beer: Triple Karmeliet wins again

Bruges, however, was a mess - like Disneyland. So crowded you could hardly walk. Bad service, surly, resentful, angry, in many restaurants. I preferred Brusseles.

Au revoir/tot ziens!

Welcome Back

Do we get to see pictures????

Sounds like you had an overall enjoyable trip.

You did bring us back samples of the beer and chocolate right?

Pleased that an Al queda terrorist didn't capture you. Now, please send me some of that bread and beer you stuffed in your luggage.

Am I the only one to notice that folks with a LA connection are the only ones (so far) to have posted on this thread? What is it, are we the only ones who are curious about furrin' (as well as furred) foods?

quote:

Originally posted by Rick F.

Am I the only one to notice that folks with a LA connection are the only ones (so far) to have posted on this thread? What is it, are we the only ones who are curious about furrin' (as well as furred) foods?

Or maybe you want some of that Tripel Karmeleit?

It's too bad that Brugges is such a tourist trap now. It was quite nice when I was there. It was in Brugges where I realized it was possible to eat too much chocolate- I just about threw up of Lioneda's truffles because they were so incredibly rich!

Is there such a things as "Too Much Chocolate"?

quote:

Originally posted by SassyGritsAL

Is there such a things as "Too Much Chocolate"?

I know you are joking - but in Bruges, there were 4 or 5 or 6 or more chocolate shops on each block. These are all "fancy" shops with fabulous displays in the window. Chocolates in all flavors,sizes and shapes. My daughter was horrified at the "obscene" as in chocolate "private parts" for sale.

At first all this amazing - after a while you just pass it by!

I could see where you would get "burned out" on chocolate. How expensive was the chocolate? Were the Belgium fries not that good?

Chocolate was sort of expensive. A bag of many 5-6 pieces (all "fancy", but same size as any individual chocolate you would get in a box like a 1 inch cube) was $4-5 at least.

Fries weren't that special to me. They say they're good because they fry them twice. They were fine, but not better than any really good US fry.

Now, the mussles, they were good!!!!!!!!

Oh a few other comments:
waffles were good. They made them plain, with powdered sugar, jams, chocolate (of course) and my favorite: drizzled dark caramel sauce. There are little bits of sugar in the waffles sort of makes them crinkly/crunchy. They cook the waffles first, but when you order them, they reheat them in the waffle iron so they are nice and warm. Somehow about 4 in the afternoon, ordering a hot waffle in a paper dish and walking around the streets was heaven!

A special treat at an Italian homemade pasta shop/creperie: Pasta in a Cup. You choose a homemade pasta you like (these were usually smaller sized, like cavatelli or gnocchi in different flavors/colors). They would boil them as you wait, put them in a large paper cup, add sauce and cheese of your choice, give you a plastic fork, and out you'd go....my teenage daughter loved walking around eating pasta.

I complemented the owner of the shop and he said it was the only place in Bruges to do it. What a great idea!!! (has anyone else seen the pasta-in-a-cup offering?)