Ristorante Cibus (IT)

As I mentioned in my previous post, in our last trip to Italy we have enjoyed a very nice meal as we have not had a in a rather long time. And when I say enjoy, I mean ... something falling in my personal top10 best meal where lately we seems to never end up! The restaurant I am hinting at (which until recently was called Osteria) is in Ceglie (Puglia) and it is called Cibus. They have an half-baked website ... and surely they fed us too much. In fact, at a certain moment I had to stop and go outside to breath!!! Gosh, I am getting old!!! So, let's get to my small report of the dinner we had there with my parents.

The place. Cibus sits somewhere in the centre of Ceglie ... which makes it rather difficult to get to on a saturday evening because of parking and, when the wrong turn is taken, results in driving through shallow alleys fearing for your own car! But hey ... not their fault and my dad was driving (gee, he is good at it). Actually the restaurant is very nicely decorated. All white like a Trullo almost, with a nice entrance and nicely isolated from the outside world. When you go there, it is worth getting the host (Lillino) to let you see their cellar for cheese !!! And beware of stone sculptures ... as I bumped into one with my knee. Ouch!

The service. Very good and very italian in nature. The personnel was rather invisible but doing their job well ... even if a tad too fast. Nevertheless, we never had the impressions they wanted our table to get free. Something rare these days in Italy which is more and more treating customers like in US. But why very italian? Well, personnel invisible, but the show was on the host who nicely interacted with us and made us feel rather welcome. One hint ... beware of him choosing food for you .... it will be way too much!!!! Wine ... trust him (still too much).

The wines. I was impressed. Every one we got its own shaped glass as it should always be. Our first wine was brought without request ... it was a novello, which impressed us as being more like a wine. I dislike most novello's, but this one was excellent and it went down very well with the mixed antipasti we were served. Lillino wanted to propose us something as main wine, but I kind of asked for something slightly different ... and he came back with a Notarpanaro 2001 ... excellent choice! A refined wine which shows how it is possible to make modern wine while respecting the grapes. I think I might have drunk most of it ... Finally we concluded with a sweet aleatico. Again Lillino did all for us and his choice was perfect for the cheeses it accompanied. Truly a beautiful wine list and a knowledgeable host! Well done Lillino.

The Food. Finally ... what did we eat??? Let's start from the style ... classics revisited in modern key would be the main theme. Few quality ingredients and respect for locality would be the secondary theme. The result, apart from one of the starters, was excellent. Among my favorite starters: stracciatella cheese with truffles, carpaccio of King Oyster mushrooms and fresh goat ricotta with almonds. As first main course (the pastas) we were served a perfect pasta again with fresh king oyster mushrooms, where the pasta was home made with wine instead of water. Perfect. This was followed by a dish I will try to make myself: wheat with a fondue of caciocavallo cheese and truffle .... simply amazing!!! As second main course (the meats), we had a traditional roast of high quality cuts (including the podolica cow) and horse meat in Negroamaro juice. Really nice ... even if somewhat too much! Here I was feeling really full, but how could I say no to the cheese tray??? Various mature cheese of outstanding quality among which I will never forget the 12-year matured Caciocavallo Podolico, the famous Punto cheese (mature cheese with worms) and the Provolone del Monaco. All cheeses were nicely served with honey and perfect wine. After this I went for coffee, my parents dessert and Elke nothing. Gosh we young ones were exploding!!!

Verdict. Very good. It is not a cheap one (even if I cannot judge on that as I did not see the bill), but I feel comfortable to strongly advising it. We will go back ... but maybe focus more on cheeses & pasta than meat!!!

PS: Photo from their website

Restaurant Visit: La Capannina (IT)

So, here I am ... this time I would like to share our impression of another restaurant we visited in our wedding break. This time after the wedding in our (rainy) short honeymoon preview in Capri (since the real one will be in July touring South Africa). Our first restaurant stop was in "La Capannina". A restaurant famous because of all VIP visiting it in peak season as witnessed by the photos on the wall.

The short review
After a disappointing meal in a starred place, this taverna-like restaurant was a good surprise. I would not say it was great food, but surely honest and enough tasty ... a tad pricey (like everything in Capri).

The long review.
The place really looks like a taverna with walls full of photos of celebrities. I have to say that the decor is a bit old-fashion but ok ... a but turistic, but ok. Better if you can get to the 'veranda'. Service is ok. An honest place (let's forget the price here ... it is Capri).

Food was not too bad. The starters were a carpaccio or octopus and green asparagus with rucola & Parmesan shaves. Nothing fancy but all tasted as it should. Presentation was not great, but again the taste was as it should.
As main course, I took squids filled with ricottina (a kind of firmer ricotta cheese) and Elke a lasagna with provola (semi-soft cheese) and aubergine. I really liked mine. A good combination my parents got once served in a starred restaurant. Elke seemed to enjoy hers as well ... it did looks tasty. Again two dishes without surprises. Tasted good and were simply presented.

All was with a Greco di Tufo of Feudi di San Gregorio. Nice.

No dessert (it was the day after the wedding .... ).

All in all, it was expensive. But ... we have paid the same amount everywhere in Capri. So when we consider we paid a standard price, we got a good meal. If in Capri I might go back there when I feel like I need a decent meal with no surprises (excluding celebrities of course).

Restaurant visit: Il San Pietro (Positano - IT)

Here I am back the keyboard trying to blog all about the food which we tasted and cooked in the past weeks, which were heavily disrupted (blogging speaking, of course) by the wedding and work. How could we come to Italy and not pay visits to some restaurant? Well, of course we did. So I want to start with the only Michelin starred restaurant we visited: Il San Pietro * ... placed in the San Pietro hotel a couple of kilometers out of Positano.
Why did we choose it? It has a very nice description in the Michelin guide, located very near our hotel, Belgian chef (so intrigued by it) and a menu seeming to scream about fresh products.

The short review
What a waste of time, calories and money this has been! And we even brought my parents along to try and offer them a great meal.

The long review
The restaurant is on a fantastic spot, but the view is wasted. Most tables are inside and the view on the terrace is basically nothing special and mostly dominated by the large pizza oven ... and the pizza is not on the menu! The decor is 'grand' ... in Las Vegas style. Kind of like the Caesar Palace ... statues, fake bronze, etc. etc. Not my taste ... but hey that's personal.

The service ... lot of people. Talking as the place is heaven, but clearly not having a clue about the food itself. Very very fast ... a bit over an hour for a complete meal! Tables not well made ... I mean we were four and I was destined to have a dish completely not fitting with the rest. I know that the famous Vietri China is always different .... but there is always a theme. Service here messed it up.

Ah, and the food ??? Let's go a course a time.

Amuse. A slice of pizza for each of us. Probably the best pizza I have eaten in a long time. But does it fit with a glass of champagne (the aperitif we were suggested)? Not to mention they tend to push people to get a Dom Perignon with it. Besides, a bit too little for a starred place.

First courses. My father and I took paccheri (a large pasta shape) with vongole, patelle and squid. The sound of it is delicious ... the taste ... well, I could barely taste the fish. There was very little in portion as well (was it 5 paccheri?!). Elke and my mum took "Ravioli filled with escarole and scampi on a tomato comfit". No taste of the scampi and the comfit taste killed everything else (it was more like a concentrated tomato juice). Very disappointing.

Second courses. Here it even got worse! My mum and I took red mullet with a squid sauce and fried gnocchi. The sauce was ... well almost absent, but fantastic. The mullet was tasteless and definitively stale and old. The gnocchi disgusting! Must have been some supermarket stuff. My father had rosemary-scented baccala' on polenta and vegetables. The fish tasted ok, the poleta was water (I mean really yellow water like!) and the veggies ... I could not see them. Elke took Seabass with asparagus ... Elke is Belgian and the chef too. They both must know out of years of eating them that white asparagus should be well cooked. Well they were served somewhat raw and crunchy. The fish nothing special. This course is a shame for any Michelin chef.

Dessert. We looked at it, but after two disappointing dishes and seeing some guests not enjoying it, we passed on. Not for us. We told ourself: let's go to Amalfi and get a decent dessert there.

Coffee. No coffee, but we got some little sweets anyway. A chiacchiera (fried pastry) which was horribly oily. Decent chocolate truffle and marshmellow. An horrible lemon whatever.

The positives of this restaurant are its price (not less or more than other restaurants in Positano or Capri) and the wine list (nicely priced and really with interesting wines).

Avoid this place if you can .... their vallet even scratched my dad's car at the guarded parking!! I only once had a similar experience in a starred place (Maison Vandamme) and they lost the star the year after. I wish that "Il San Pietro" either improves or looses it for the sake of everybody visiting such a marvelous spot like Positano.

Hof van Cleve***

(Photo@hofvancleve.com)

Yes, I have gone nuts! Three weeks ago we were at Oud Sluis*** and last Saturday I gave as main Christmas present to my to-be wife a lunch at Hof van Cleve***, the Belgian nemesis of Oud Sluis (3 stars, number 21 in the world, 19.5/20 in GM, etc etc). What can I say? I was worried it would not have been even comparable, instead we got a fantastic meal. Different in everything: style, atmosphere, ambiance, ingredients, cooking philosophy ... yet, fantastic. All three stars well deserved.

Very shortly, this was the only meal where everything was perfect. There was nothing to complain in any dish. I loved everything and the menu worked together really nicely. The tempo and the sequence of the dishes as well as the consistency was impressive. Presentations ... perfect, clean, elegant. Superior to Oud Sluis.

Service ... the Belgian way that is barely felt. I prefer the younger and more modern approach of Oud Sluis. Still, service was differently perfect. My fiancee does not eat coconut and we got two identically looking dishes ... one with and one without it! Amazing! Plus, they were invisible but very competent and very friendly.

We took a nice menu composed of quite some amuse (memorable the one served in an empty egg shell), a little started based on lobetsr and foie gras, another little started based on a raw oyster with hajji sorbet (very very nice), a medium sized starter of sole with crab & mussels sauce (fantastic!!), a main dish for me based on hare and wild mushrooms (simply sublime), a dessert based on marinated orange and tea (I wish I had it here now) and a trio of dessert based on chocolate (to rave about).

Everything perfect and the dessert fantastic. Even the little sweet things (chocolate, baba', etc) served with the coffee were simply gorgeous. We probably were served the best maddeleine ever. Warm, tasty, light.

What about the wine? I picked a Chablis 1998 as wine, but the sommelier suggested a 1999 since fresher and more suited for the menu. Nice discussion over it and correct suggestion. Pity we did not fisih it ... it was only lunch.

A memorable lunch. Yet, I missed a touch of genius. A dish to remember for its personality. Oud Sluis was almost perfect (one part of a dish and the dessert less memorable), but it has a few dishes with great personality. Therefore, Hof van Cleve is not the best, but second best in my ranking ... for how much? Well, scorewise the difference is 1% !!! Insignificant.

If you can, go there. Mr. Gossens is chef parfeit!

Merry Christmas !!!

Oud Sluis ***

(Photo@ulteriorepicture)

I am here on the belgian coast typing ... still a bit confused ... my aim: to catch my feeling about this restaurant before it is only memory ... no internet right now.

Oud Sluis or better restaurant number 19 in the Top50 list, 3 Michelin stars, named best restaurant of the Netherlands by Lekker for a few years in a row, best restaurant in the Benelux and realm of Sergio Herman. What did I think about? Let’s say it was not perfect, but very close. It was the best experience ever, something that gives a real meaning to all these awards. We noticed what 2 stars mean, now we know the difference between two and three (when properly given).

The outside is very deceptive. A simple traditional house. The inside ... very nicely decorated. Modern in look, feel and background music. Refreshing from the stiffness of France, the oldness of Italy, the show-off or excessive modesty of Belgium. The food is simply divine despite a couple of extremely minor things. The ambiance and the staff are what really stand out. They make the visit a real experience. From the asking “how was our trip” to explaining the dishes but only when interest was felt. We felt they knew what they were talking about, we felt cared. The pace was perfect: from the immediate amuse to bring us in the mood to the pauses.

What about the food and wine. Fantastic menu, impressive wine list ... prices were not taking advantage of the 3 stars. Wine wasn’t cheap, but not more expensive than any other restaurant. Let’s see what we got. As soon as we arrived, we were asked if we wanted something to drink (champagne for us, Gosset was served this night). Two minutes passes by and we get presented two frozen balls of a kind of wasabi sorbet. Sharp. I suspect it was meant to wake up our taste buddies and give it a cleanse. Couple of minutes after a warm little saffron and mussels soup. Tasty and good at warming us up given the chill outside.

We receive the menu and we had all the time we wanted to look at it. No pressure from the staff. Actually, the staff tries to help in composing the dinner in order to have not an overly large or unbalanced meal (including wine). Difficult to choose ... but in the end we went for the large ‘pere et fils’ ... difficult not to. Sooo attractive. I can’t really put in words the amazing flavors of every dish. One thing was clear, Sergio has a very strong personality, which reflects on the place, his staff and his kitchen. No middle terms in his food: great ingredients, sharp flavors, techniques and innovation. If you like mild flavors, do not go there. If you like purity of ingredients, go there at once.

This is what we got. As amuse, a sugar cone with gorgonzola icecream and apple, marinated haring with soy foam and a soy gelee, a mousse of cucumber with gray shrimps, marinated salmon with a olive tapenade. Apart from the last one, this was simply fantastic. First starter, three structure of scallops (tartar, grilled, sashimi) with citrus ricotta, fois gras and on-the-table grated (in generous portion) truffle .... this one was tricky. We had to eat a frozen emulsion of fois gras first (which gave an intense shocking amazing flavor) and, then, the rest. Reason is that such a strong flavor was there while we were enjoying the scallops. So, intense and fantastic ... Elke simply stated “the best dish I ever ate”! True ... but not for long. The second starter was actually divided into two servings as it was two preparations of oysters. The first was marinated oyster in shiso with frozen oyster emulsion. The latter was a poached oyster with gold!! I loved both and still crave for the former. Elke exactly the opposite. The frozen oyster emulsion was the most intense and pure way of taste oysters. The flavor stayed so long in my mouth despite having drunk water and wine. Simply the best dish of the evening .... so far. Third starter, two preparation of crab (tempura of soft-shell crab and tartar of spider crab) and roasted Dorade. The Dorade was ... well, nice fish but the preparation was something to forget. The crab was simply divine. Were the Dorade on par ... I would have called this the perfect meal. Main course ... this was the climax of the dinner. Deer filet prepared with Alpacho (66%) chocolate, coffee and parsley root pure. I wish I could eat it again. Served with a dry and really well matched wine. I find no words to express how perfect the coffee and chocolate were at bringing out the gamely flavor of the deer. Simply the best game dish I have ever tasted, if not simply the best dish. Surely the best of the evening.

The dinner was closed by three small desserts. Again very intense flavors, but in a very harmonious way. We, then, got coffee ... with again very tasty little things closing with a little icecream and a lollipop of eucalyptus, which cleansed our mouth. What else can I say ... we paid a lot ... we ate a lot ... I drunk a lot (luckily I was not the one driving tonite) ... we do not regret even a little bit.

If you are in the area and manage to get in (there is a long waiting time) ... this will be just the best meal and meal experience. Worth every cent!! Wasn’t for Elke putting some sense into me, I would have booked for next year already.

Back in Reims, back in Le Foch

It is a time with many travels. Some are for work and some are for pleasure. Last week-end we decided to take our annual break to Reims for visiting our favourite Champagne producer Boulard and ... why not ... stop at the restaurant Le Foch*. We had a very good memory and our visit last saturday simply confirmed what of good and bad we remembered.

Let's start from the negative remarks. Service is fast until the cheese tray, when it slows down. We all felt we had too many dishes in a hour and were relieved when the simply slowed really down. The place is a bit crowded and on the decor is not our taste. The host ... well, she is a not friendly at all. Almost arrogant ... but we dealt with her only for the cheese. So, fair enough.

Let's talk about food and wine. Wine first ... impressive list of champagnes. We are in the area and we expected that. Price-wise, the list is not too bad. Between 100% to 50% mark-up on prices is much better than many other places (where we speak about 3 times ...). We choose the same of last time (different year): a Charles Heidsiek brut mis en cave 2001. One of my favourite among the big names.

Food was not only extremely tasty but extremely well presented. When you go there, do not be fooled by the menu as you will never understand how the names relate to what you get. The meal started with few amuse (parmesan frico, tuna & potato sushi, beet-root gaspaccio, foie gras foam with port gelee) of great taste. The foam was particularly remarkable for its lightness. As starter we went for foie gras ... well, what we got was a sort of foie gras pudding with wild sauteed mushrooms. The scent was amazing, the taste delicate, light and unforgettable. I will try and replicate this superb dish at home. After a silly mystery drink (an orangina and coconut beer-like drink), we got as main dish the turbot. Well, it was turbot but with a big crab ravioli, a tempura of squash flower and a light foam of crayfish. Sensational, the foam and the ravioli were simply perfect. Cheese was ok, but rather small. As dessert, a perfectly baked souffle flavored with Grand Marnier and oranges served with Grand Marnier and oranges wedges marinated in coriander. Nothing memorable, but nice.

All in all, the meal lasted quite a bit, even if the cheese and dessert took as much time as the rest. Price is fair. Even the coffee is a nice experience as you get a menu of various coffees to choose from (we went for the Guatemala ... really good). The Michelin star is deserved. It needs some more polishing in the service, but we will go back (when we are in the area).

A wonderful gourmet week !!!

This has been a very intense week. Lot of work plus a 3-day business trip to London and a birthday celebration ... well, in the end I was extremely fortunate to have three times dinner out and every single time it was excellent. Actually, once it has been memorable.

The first dinner was something fast, which means single dish with dessert, at a brasserie in Turnhout (BE) called De Weerld. We have come here quite often recently due to its extremely good price/quality. I mention it here, since in this occasion I was served something quite extraordinary: a Wellignton flavored with fois-gras and truffle. Fantastic!!! If you are even around Turnhout, this is the place to stop by for a simple and relatively cheap meal!

The second visit was memorable. We spend more than 5 hours for a lunch at Hostellerie St. Nicolas (BE), which has been recently awarded two Michelin stars. We have been there three years ago (before the second start). It was a good memory of a perfectly made traditional meal. Our memory did not prepared for what we were going to experience this time. The amuse was composed by one cocktail (watermelon and tomato) plus seven little dishes. Faboulous. I will never forget the fois-gras lollipop, probably the best of the 7. This was followed by three preparation of lobster ... my favorite was a tartar of lobster with cauliflower creme caramel served with a wonderful thin focaccia topped with scallops carpaccio with sardines' butter. Fabulous! After ... we probably got the start of the meal ... a potato gateau with smoked eel and truffles. I never had something with such an intense flavour and wonderful new combination. A dish of rare beauty and simplicity. It alone deserve two stars from Michelin. Next, a seared bas fillet with aubergine tapenade and tomato sorbet. As main dish, veal chops ... believe me, the main dish is fantastic even when simple! Cheese and dessert followed. We also took some coffee served wit tasty homemade pralines. The wine arrangement was abundant and two out of the four wines (and the champagne) were excellent, while two were ok. Unforgettable. I would come back here immediately if I could!!

It is difficult to think that I dared going out again after such a meal ... but I did. This time it is La Noisette (UK). A two-and-half months old restaurant belonging to the Gordon Ramsay’s Holding, located in Sloan Square street (London) and run ... by nobody else than the ex-chef of the Greenhouse: Bjorn van der Horst. I always wanted to they his cuisine and this time (even if alone) I just went for it. Despite bad critics I liked the decor of the place ... probably since I was never there before and could not complain that it looked like the previous bengali restaurant there located. I kept it light this time: only a glass of champagne with water and the basic 3-course menu. My choices ... Fois gras with coffee and amaretto foam: small but fantastic dish. Truffles milk poaches brill with a lemon sabayon ... when I forget the totally absent truffles flavor, the dish was really impressive. However, too small for a main dish. Dessert was probably the best isle flottant I was ever served. Amuse was little and nothing memorable, but the pre-dessert (sliced raspberries topped by raspberry sorbet in earl gray foam) was amazing! True genius! All in all, the food was very good and creative despite the totally missing truffle flavour int he main dish. The service ... needs some experience and they should avoiding faking the french accent when they do not even understand “isle flottant” but flating island!!! Next time I will go for the real menu. Well, done ... and let’s hope that prices stay as they are!

Difficult week ... but extremely tasty! I had wonderful food with lot of creativity which should inspire me for months to come. How will Oud Sluis (NL) compare to this when we go there in December ... I really do not know.

Den Gouden Harynck*

Sometimes curiosity killed the cat ... in this case, curiosity led to a disappointing dinner. It was quite some time we wanted to go to Brugge (Belgium) and try either the Karmeliet*** or the Den Gouden Harynck* (read * as michelin star) normally described like the tradition of vlanderen and the modern view on flemish cuisine. Highly praised. As we managed to book another triple star (that is an 8 months waiting list!!!) we decided to opt for the modern praised Den Gouden Harynck*.
This is how it went ... yesterday evening.

Good start. Very friendly and nice atmosphere even if it felt that the tables were crammed as much as possible to get as many people in as possible. We get promptly the menu and our glasses of champagne .... we wait quite a lot to order. Well, we though they do not want to be oppressive. Our choice was the season menu with the wine arrangement (4 courses) ... with the idea to also get the optional cheese tray.

Amuses arrive right after we ordered. The first was some sort of solidified broth cut in tagliatelle style with some gray shrimps. Now ... nice effect but my fiancee comment (after 2 weeks of good fish in Italy) was something like: "Does it have any sea taste?". The second amuse was a strip of haring with a drop of roasted pepper cream. Tasty ... but small.

Dishes go .... first starter arrives ... ops! Are they gonna rush us into eating here?? We'll see. This was nice. The smell was fabulously of lobster and it was indded half lobster tail in a lobster bisque with cardamon and turmeric (kind of curry-like) with a rhubarb compote. Nice combination, sauce of great taste. Lobster taste ... only in the smell. Overall a good dish. Served with a very young german riesling. Good choice.

We waited one hour for the second starter ... and I noticed the reason was that they synchronized us to a recently filled table. This was the best dish of the evening. A little stripe of sole slightly fried in oil with soy sauce with some soy sprouts, tomato compote and a parmesan foam. Great stuff .... next to it some useless mini stuffed pasta they dared to call cannelloni. Well, this kind of pasta I would not tolerate in any restaurant, but given the beautiful sole ... I was very happy. Even more impressive was the wine, a Pecorino Terre di Chieti I now want to seek and buy. A fantastic white wine. We were really thrilled to get the main dish.

Now ... after more than an hour we got a sort of main dish. Again a delay due to the synchronization to yet another late coming table. Unacceptable in a michelin starred restoraunt! This was no main course ... two mini pieces of lamb fillet with a spoon of peas. Peas tasted frozen and full of lemon. The lamb ... was it lamb? It tasted only of pre-made curry. It was a 3-bite main course of poor taste and execution. Wine was just ok. I went berserk with this dish ... the cheese trolley, no way! It seemed poor and I even saw a supermarket cheese!

The dessert arrived 10 minutes after the main course. A red fruit compote with a prosecco granita. I hate red fruit and I left the dish untouched (so no comment). The dish was taken away with no comment whatsoever on the fact that it was untouched. This is an unacceptable behavior in such a place. The service treated us like just a number. Maybe we were too young to be there ... bah! We did order like most other people, though.

We paid the nice sum of 210 euros for this. Way above its real value and quantity. I would have been ok with 120 or 130 "at most"! I wanted to stop and buy fries on the way home. The level of service and care of the customer is really low. It is simply a show-off place ... you go there to say I was there. The food had one great moment and too many poor ones.

Will I go back? Only if I do not pay and drive (wine is good). Not worth it otherwise.

Vin Perdu ... the missing restaurant star!!

I always considered Vin Perdu (Turnhout, Beglium) a restaurant, which deserves at least one star. It has the right decor, the right service quality and the food never disappoints. The style is of modern French inspiration. Lately, we have seen improvements. Better quality. Something more in the flavors, I was telling myself ... is it going to be even better and yet without a star? Well, the food on our last visit on Saturday was simply sublime. I wonder when these Michelin guys will for real pay a visit in this part of Belgium and give Vin Perdu the deserved first star. I would give it two already!

What did we eat? We started with an amuse traditionally composed by foie gras brulee (a signature here), a lemongrass and mussels soup (refreshingly new) and dutch haring with a tomato mayonnaise. Tasty and light, served with a nice Cremant from Savoy. This was good ... but what followed was great: mackerel cooked at low temperature with a cucumber tsatsiki. The fish was melting in the mouth with the tsatsiki beautifully complementing it. A great dish with such a poor fish!! The food simply got better and better from there: great sea bass with a gray shrimp mousseline sauce (a twist in a very classic dish), a really tasty baby turbot with roasted red peppers and a beef reduction sauce (sounded weird, but tasted really good) and a koekoek (no idea of the English here) with morels and summer truffles ... this was fabulous! Only (relatively) low point was in the dessert. We got three small desserts based on passion fruit: a sorbet (fantastic!), red fruit with a Passoa cream (simple but delicious) and a mousse ... well, the mousse was not that tasty and quite heavy. Pity it was the last thing I ate!!

Would I go back? If I could afford it ... every week!!!

Karso restaurant in St. Idesbald

Well, it is late at night but I can't sleep. Must be the adrenaline in my body from the exam I took tonite or the excitement of the italian match of yesterday or the diet ... no clue. Anyway I am here up with some time and I felt it was about time I would write some comments on this restaurant we visited last week friday at the beginning of our short retreat for my studies.

Karso is a place I have been before but long ago. The interior is very like a composition of fishing and sailing objects with wine corks everywhere. Renovation is about to start they told us.

We did not really feel like a full fledged menu, but just a dish and maybe a dessert. They were very gentle, maybe since we were only three tables. Orders took ... here it comes an amuse. Pleasantly surprised! It was a simple tomato soup and a nice fish foam with smoked eel. Tasty like the bread.

The main dishes we got were a sole for me and shrimp curry for my fiancee. My dish was basically tasting only of butter served with a boring salad and potatoes. The curry smelled nice ... wrong choice I guess. We decided for a dessert. Wrong choice again for me! I took a tart tartin with vanilla ice-cream ... I got an apple-tart with the ice-cream but lots of calvados on it. Again it tasted only of one thing, this time calvados. Disappointed again.

Would I go back? Probably not. It is a restaurant at the seaside serving simple but basically poor dishes. Friendly people, but poor food ... especially for the price.

First (partial) disappointment at the Houtsnip

This is diet time, which does not imply we avoid restaurants. We plan them in our weekly eating in order to reduce their impact as well as we are more cautious on what we take. Anyway, the Houtsnip has been something of a place we always liked to go. Reasonably priced and very good food. Before today a safe 13th in our ranking. So, today we were surprised.

The lunch started rather well. Despite it was unusually busy, we got our menu's pretty fast accompanied by the amuse. Amuse was simple but tasty: a little carpaccio and an asparagus foam with a little of smoked eel. The starter was also pretty nice. A salad with half a lobster tail, lobster claw tempura and tuna. I found it very tasty, but the oil flavor was a bit too strong. After the starter, we got surprised.

First they served us some sort of salmon piece on top of pesto pasta with fried onions on top. Taste? Onion and oil. Nothing else in it. Very disappointing. The following course was worse ... a little piece of cod on top of a tomato sauce, which tasted as a pre-made supermarket mushroom and tomato sauce and some ham on top of the fish it. And they called it cod in a ham jacket with comfit of tomato. Horrible! First time I get something so bad in Belgium.

Luckily, the dessert was tasty. A very nice strawberry and chocolate parfeit followed by a chocolate mousse on caramel biscuit base ... and a nice coffee.
To make things more disappointing, the service was not very friendly and professional (wine served too late and dishes taken away once even if we were not finished). All in all, this place let us down for the first time.

Would I go back? Not immediately.

Impressions from Kasteel Sanderling

We were a bit nervous to visit Kasteel Sanderling as it looked quite beautiful on the internet and we were hoping to see something nice where to host our wedding reception. We had little knowledge of the place upfront and we knew from internet that everything changed there due to new ownership.
When we arrived there (after about an hour drive), we calmed down already. The exterior, while not being a Castle in traditional terms, was quite beautiful. A tall house, kind of Psyco style, with quite some vegetation and candles nicely placed to mark the entrance. Light from the various windows gave it a overal nice look. The interior must have definitively seen major re-decoration. It is simple, modern and well organized. Table decoration is nice, atmosphere was nice. The people were very nice. Appearance ... well, we felt good about it.
And what about the food? Of course, we were there with idea of possible reception and, therefore, we knew we could not really related the reception food to one we were served ... even if we were told a few dishes we ate to be also available for receptions. Anyway, the food was quite a surprise. Good ingredients with little manipulation. Exactly all I like. Some combos need little re-working, but this is really being critic. My favourites were a nice prawn tempura with a mexical chilli dip, a really tasty starter of lobster on fennel puree with lemongrass sauce and a superb ananas parfeit. Not bad at all!!
The price ... a menu with two starters, one main dish, one dessert, coffee, champagne, wine plus an amuse and an additional dessert ... 60 euro per person. Well, this is definitily a good catch for what we got!

Final verdict: we will go back ...