Eat Like Ushi

During the conference I came to Brussels for, I met an old work colleague I hadn't seen since 2010. After the daily activities finished, we went for a quick wander and drink in Grand Place and then in search of food. Clearly not the restaurant researcher I am, he chose a random on the street place (after I steered him away from Rue des Bouchers) which had a reasonable looking dinner daily set.

The locally-inspired Menu Bruxellois
- Fondus au Fromage "Maison" (housemade cheese croquettes)
- Carbonnades Flamandes à la Leffe Brune (Flemish beef casserole with dark beer) - heavily cooked and chewy meat;
- Glace au Speculoos (icecream with Belgian biscuit) - quite a nice nutty sweet dessert with firm texture.

This €25 set isn't bad, but I'm sure there is better around for the price.

It is surprisingly difficult to find a highly commendable place in Brussels to eat mussels. I remember the research from my first trip in 2009 that took me past all the restaurant touts in Rue de Bouchers, where the atmosphere is lively but the food is apparently substandard tourist traps. The two places in the area that are decent are Aux Armes de Bruxelles (which is expensive) and Chez Leon (which I tried in 2009 and felt the atmosphere was of a high turnover tourist venue also).

Hence I ventured further outwards and read about La Roue D'Or, which had moderate-to-good reviews rather than superlative (but again, I couldn't find any online).

The interior is quite impressive with ornate watercolour decoration. The moules marinieres (€24) was pretty good too, topped with lots of onion and celery. The fries were reasonable but could have been a bit crispier. Grain bread was supplied to help soak up the liquid. I probably didn't become a true mussels convert until Dubrovnik later in the year, so I'd have to come back here again to give a new opinion. Unfortunately the cost of food in Belgium isn't as low as Croatia, so it'll have to be a good Euro exchange time.

Every self-respecting food city has a fried seafood place to be proud of. In Brussels this is Noordzee, located on a street corner of a nice open plaza. During lunchtime people (I assume both workers and people milling about) crowd around the outside table setup to order freshly fried or grilled items.

The interior is a fishmonger which has all sorts of fresh, smoked and some packaged seafood for all occasions and recipes. I'm not sure exactly what is local, but the quality looks good.

- Friture Calamares - deep fried calamari rings;
- Friture Kibbeling - deep fried slivers of fish;
- Scampi a la plancha - grilled prawns in a tomato-based sauce.

There's a lot of options fried and grilled, cheap oysters and even some burgers I didn't get to try. I'll remember to bring a solid appetite next time.

Conveniently located down the road underneath the Hive complex at the corner of Nicholson Street and Victoria Street, Seoul Soul was a very welcome addition to the area several moons ago. Up until this point the only Korean on the strip was a BBQ place closer to North Richmond train station. Now there is Seoul Soul, a new one down the road called Arisoo, and a branch of Chimac that never seems to be open whenever I go past.

Seoul Soul is a small corridor of a place, with decorative BBQ grills and fans (for what purpose I'm not sure but the Japanese/Korean mindset of lifelike roleplay seems to be it).

There's a full house generally during weekday lunchtime, but the late afternoon is a much more pleasant time to sit and eat.

- Seafood Pancake $7 - chewy, slightly crispy, not bad;
- Sweet Soy Tofu Dorirak $10 - a fantastic complete meal of entree fried pastry, salad and rice with main all in a large steamer-type bowl;
- Beef Bibimbap $13 - carrot, zucchini, alfalfa sprouts, bean shoots, noodles, mushrooms, beef and rice topped with a fried egg in a stone pot. The egg could be a bit more runny or raw even (as I prefer) and the rice eventually develops some bottom crust but I wouldn't mind more of it. In any case it's a good collection and adding a load of gochujang makes it satisfying.

The meal was finished by black soy milk (from an imported Korean bottle). I hadn't tried this before and it was a nice complex twist on the usual soy milk with a black sesame edge. Very nice indeed.

My first night in Brussels this trip left me a little flat. I had been there previously in 2009 also, but this trip reaffirmed to me that even though the Grand Place is remarkable to wander through at night and enjoy the atmosphere and people-watching, there isn't much else to do as a solo visitor who has to get up in the morning.

The result of this was an extensive walk where I ended up at the furthest away food location on my list. This far south restaurant brought me into streets far away from crowds and anyone else that looked touristy. The main reason to come here was for classic Belgian food, particularly to eat their renowned dish rabbit in cherry beer, drank down with a bottle of cherry beer (kriek).

- Lapin a la kriek (2 rabbit legs in cherry beer sauce) - I wasn't as enamoured with this as I hoped. The meat was cooked through but not as tender and moist as rabbit can be. The sauce was fine without being particularly special;
- Stoemp (mashed potatoes mixed with vegetables of the day).

There are all the Belgian staples to try here - mussels, waterzooi, beef stew, fries, tartare. Something to try for everyone. I'd be willing to try this place again if I had the enthusiasm and effort and walk down this far.

There was time for an early lunch before boarding the train to Brussels.

The most conveniently located place left was De Lieve, which was right around the corner from my cheap hostel (Jeugdherberg De Draecke). It was a Monday-Friday place also known for good Flemish food in a more casual daytime setting.

I'm unsure whether I ordered the Boeuf Bourguignon or Varkenswangtjes (pork cheeks). I do recall it was quite nice, though not as tender or satisfying as stoverij at De Graslei.

After the previous evening eating along the northern city river, I walked the other direction this night towards the bustling river region. Given it was March, bustling was still extremely quiet. There was pleasantry in the solitude and peace.

De Graslei was on my list for upmarket local food. The night before I had eaten the waterzooi - Flemish fish based stew. Tonight was the chance to try stoverij - Flemish beef based stew.

- Oven baked mussels in garlic butter;
- ‘Westmalle Double’ dark beer beef stew, salad and fries.

As the night before, this hearty food was washed down with Kriek cherry beer.

I can't remember why I searched out this place. I think it was because I had read from the Use-It Ghent guide that this was one of the few 24 hour places to get food. Somehow I knew this was somewhere to get a sandwich.

There are a huge number of fillings to choose from. I went for a scampi spread with anchovies and salad. It was creamy, flavoursome and a great lunch on the move.

Whilst venturing to Tierenteyn-Verlent to get some mustard, I noticed a bakery a couple of shops down. After walking in there a couple of times, on the 3rd I couldn't help but buy something. There is also a cart selling strange purple sweets outside that I wasn't game to try.

It's quite lovely to get some pastries and sit along the riverside and enjoy the warmth and sun, even during my time there in March.

It was a nice pleasant walk up to the northern part of Ghent and along the night river. The area was quite quiet and allowed me to take some nice scenic photos. Of course I only really ventured up here to eat at this busy bar and bistro which is known for Flemish food. This is apparently the Belgian-Dutch style more common the north of the country (obviously where it borders Netherlands).

Inside I tried my first ever Kriek - cherry beer. It was sweeter and milder than the usual beer (which I can't handle at all) but enough to make me a little heady. I went specifically there to try waterzooi - a Flemish fish-based stew that I had read about.

- Waterzooi van vis (met saffraansaus en krielaardappeltjes) €16 - fish stew with potatoes and saffron sauce. Also served light bread and dark rye which was useful to mop up sauce;
- Huisgemaakte brownie met vanille-ijs €5.5 - homemade brownie with vanilla icecream.

I had also read about the other local option of stoverij - a beef stew in dark beer. It sounds similar to Irish, but I'd like to try that next time.