Xtrem Hop - Delhaize

Delhaize, big mogul on the retail market here in Belgium recently launched a limited series of U.S.A. inspired beers. I say US inspired cause all the hops used in this series came from the US yet the beer was brewed in Belgium by the 'Proefbrouwerij'. Also the trend of brewing beers searching for a more extreme bitterness is something coming from US hopheads. A trend that I personally welcome cause I really like some bitter in my beer.

3 varieties were offered with every time the same brewing process but with the use of a different hop variety;
 Columbus, Citra and Sorachi Ace. All in 75cl bottles at the more than reasonable price of 3,50€ the bottle together with a small booklet with some info.

Xtrem Hop Columbus:

This rather young American hop variety promises to deliver a high EBU-EuropeanBitterUnit- of 75 so I was quite looking forward opening this bottle. It poured a nice golden/orange coloured beer with a nice head and a lot of carbonation going on.

 First scent was soapy,dry and some citrus. You could really smell that it was going to be a bitter beer. First sip immediately awakened my tastebuds giving me a tickle in the back of my mouth and leaving a nice dry, bitter aftertaste. I loved it a lot, could be a real good beer before dinner to make up an appetite. The bitter was prominent but not overwhelming.

Xtrem Hop Citra:

This is a new American hop variety but for the Duvel lovers a known one as it was used to brew the Duvel Tripel Hop2012 so I knew what I was going for!

Colour was clearer than the Columbus and the scent gave more exotic,fruity aroma's.

The taste was with an EBU of 59 again bitter but wasn't as prominent as with the Columbus due to the more floral/fruity character of the Citra hop. Again a very nice beer and the most 'open' beer of the 3. I could easily see this paired with some fish or seafood.

Xtrem Hop Sorachi Ace:


The Sorachi hop is an old forgotten Japanese hop that has recently been given attention again by some American hop cultivators and is really unique, like nothing I tasted before.

It doesn't have the same high EBU(68) as the Columbus(75) but I found the bitter being more prominent in this beer together with an exceptional floral, exotic taste...Coconut, mango, herbs(lavender, pine) in the nose and an absolute floral explosion in the mouth together with that typical soapiness of hoppy beers and even some wood. Truely the most Xtrem one of the three! I absolutely loved it, my wife didn't so this beer will surely divide opinions.




Nice effort of Delhaize to bring this limited series of beers on the market, I think all bottles have allready been sold, and for keeping a close watch on the general trends in the market. These beers could easily take a permanent position on the shelves with their exceptional taste and high quality.

Kev

117 by Wout Bru

When someone like Wout Bru announces that he's opening a restaurant , even temporary, in Antwerp the buzz gets around! Fast! It was only a couple of days after he opened the reservation site that there were allready a couple of 1000 reservations and all the weekends were fully packed. Hyped? Perhaps....He's ever so present in the media and wether you like him or not he gets your attention so even if you are not passionate about food and everything around it you still want to go and get a glimpse of the 'master' at work.

We decided quite quickly that we would 'try' to get in and choose a day during the week to have our Wout Bru experience as all weekends were allready booked.
The pop-up restaurant is situated in the trendy 'Zuid' neighbourhood in Antwerp, home of the hipsters, and you can see that there's a lot of money invested in the event. The decoration is modern and urban 'chique' and fits the big hall where it is situated. It seems more as a permanent restaurant than a 'pop-up' so maybe the next owner allready signed, who knows?

Wout Bru put together a young crew,led by his wife, which showed in the service that was somewhat clumsy/amateuristic but not in a disturbing way. I suppose he brought his standard 'Provence' kitchen crew with him as it is much easier than training a new crew.

We were advised to chose about 4 dishes of the menu which consists of about 20-30 dishes, amongst them some Bru signature preparations, to have the 'full' experience and a dessert.

Lighting was romantically dimmed which means that all of my pictures are low quality :( Next time I'm bringing a lighting crew with me. I made a collage of the dishes I had, little easier on the eye....

I started with 'Carpaccio of scallops in a cream of north sea crab and shaved truffle' and this dish immediately set standards very high for the rest of the evening. A very earthy dish with a nice mix of the sweetness of the seafood with the earthiness of the truffle! Top!

Sea scallops carpaccio

Next dish were crunchy baked sweetbreads on green beans, aged parmesan, iberico ham and dressed with truffle vinaigrette. Again a very good dish with a good combination of flavours, somewhat an interpretation of the classic 'salade Liégeoise'.

Sweetbreads

My best friend who joined us for this dinner together with his partner and my wife had a simple dish but with a incredible taste. Simple slices of pata negra on a toasted 'bruschetta' with marinated tomatoes. Again, simple but what an intense flavour packed ham!! It was served in an original way, on the well-known red/white squared paper that butchers use to pack their meats.
My third dish was another favourite of mine, pig's trotters served on a toast. I just love the rich, somewhat gelatinous meat of pig's trotters but this dish fell short compared to the dish my wife had, one of Bru's signature dishes; 'laquered pork belly'. A truely flavour packed dish, at the same time sweet and salty and served on a bed of olive oil/butter mousseline. Truely the winning dish that night but unfortunately not mine.









My last dish was anothe signature dish, the 'suckling pig' served with the skin that had an incredible crackle, rosemary foam/redcution and Port sauce. Another excellent dish!

For dessert I had the 'chocolate tarte', a butter bisquit filled with dark chocolaten soft caramel and vanilla ice cream.

Finished with a nice peatey, Glenrothes speyside single malt Scotch. A nice way to end this experience and as a bonus I had the chance to have a brief talk with Wout Bru and have our picture taken. A nice memory.







I was overall very pleased with this experience, a chance to have a glimpse of the Michelin-starrred cuisine he normally serves but I think he will be settling/opening a permanent restaurant in Antwerp quite soon and that this was also a test to capture the possible potential of a second restaurant. He will have to get everything up to level, the service for istance but I believe it would be a sure hit!

Kev

Foodsterbox

I received my first Foodsterbox today in the mail and boy was I happy. I can't remember how I found out about this, in some blog I think, but I immediately liked the idea when I first read about it.

Sign in on their site and after you chose your type of subscription(1x,3x or 6x months)  you'll get your box each following month.

Now I particulary like the idea of getting something in the mail that you like/love but without knowing what it is. It's never the common goods you'll find in your local supermarket but more authentic sought out foodies stuff.

My box had the following:

* A box with 3 different chocolates on a stick to make hot chocolate
* A jar of dried Goji berries
* A jar of kiwi-apricot-pineapple preserve, made in Belgium
* A jar of grilled seeds,nuts,flowers and onions to garnish salads,soups, etc.
* A tube containing 2 vanilla pods - allready took a sniff and the fragrance was pretty intense!!
* A bag containing the ingredients to make a savoury chocolate and pineapple rice pudding. Just needs milk.

Nice idea and can't wait for next month's box!!

www.foodsterbox.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Foodsterbox?fref=ts


Kev

Bia Mara - Fish 'n chips with a twist

Bia Mara is a recent fish 'n chips store in the heart of Brussels offering fish 'n chips with a 'twist'. You won't find the common known thick battered fish and greasy, once fried chips here but a tasty interpretation of this classic.
Fresh cut, well seasoned fish filets fried golden in a panko crust. Served with plump crispy fries and a sauce of your choice. You can choose between haddock, salmon, mackerel, prawns or the catch of the day and if fish is not your thing then go for the chicken or the veggies. Pick a sauce; tartare, garlic-truffle(highly recommended!!!),lemon cajun,.... and have your chips/fries dusted with a seasoned salt (sounds odd doesn't it?) of your liking.

I had the panko crust fried red gurnard filet with tartare and garlic-truffle sauce and the chips with seaweed salt and it was delicious.

The fish had a good crunch but was still moist on the inside and that garlic-truffle sauce was simply divine! The chips were really plump but nicely cooked, crispy out/fluffy in. A slice of lemon to get a tangy kick to the fish and that's it!! Yummylicious!

Interior design is simple, mostly grey with some accents. Tables in clear wood. Urban and hipster proof! The service is friendly and welcoming.

Shortly after my first visit I returned with my wife to find the store closed and was spoken to by the owner(I think) who said that they were closed due to problems with the delivery of fresh fish. Now that is something that makes my belief/trust in this place grow. Instead of searching for a fast solution and getting some fish elsewhere and having the risk of serving lower quality they decide to keep the place closed and keep standards high, even with the loss of income. That's a decision that calls for support and I will certainly return on a next occasion!

And as they say it.....Eat more fish!!!!!!!!!

http://www.biamara.com/brusselswho.html
http://www.facebook.com/BiaMaraBrussels

Kev

@Keepontoasting - food truck

A typical American/New-york style of eating has finally come to our capital. For people on the run, hungry but with limited time this is ideal and still offers a great 'gourmet' meal instead of a greasy snack at your local friterie. Not that there is anything wrong with that but it was time for some variation.

Young chef Jean-Baptiste Nyssen -with credentials from some established restaurants, he even worked under Yves Mattagne- is the driving (pun intended) force behind this new eatery. He offers a gourmet version of the classic Croque-monsieur in 4 different preparations;

• Croq-Belge : Passendale cheese, Ganda ham, braised endives and a touch of nutmegg on white bio bread
• Croq-Italian: Mozarella, Italian ham, grille eggplants, basil pesto on oregano bread
• Croq-French: Emmental cheese, chicken breast, spinach on honey and rosemary infused bread
• Croq-Indien: Fresh Tandoori cheese, sweet&sour carrots, raisins, nuts, cilantro on curry&cardamon spiced bread

All the croques are fried on the plancha with use of weights to press them down and thus baking them golden and crunchy. You'll spot no ordinary croque-monsieur fryer in this truck

I had the Croq-Belge and I found it very tasty with the savoury endives and the melted Passendale cheese. I had only one remark and that is that I would opt for another more savoury Belgian cheese than this somewhat bland tasting Passendale. Perhaps a Chimay??

The croques cost 5€ each and for an extra 2€ you'll get a nice,small dessert as well. Today the dessert was a rice pudding with speculoos/biscoff flavour.

Great idea by this ambitous chef and I will surely return @keepontoasting .

http://www.facebook.com/keepontoasting
http://www.keepontoasting.be/

Kev

Split pea soup - winter soup

It's that time again....Temperatures are dropping and getting closer to the freezing point, wind is getting harsher and rain seems to be here all day. Time to make split pea soup, a thick, hearty soup/meal that'll get the coming winter out of your head. This soup can be served as a meal with some bread, there's quite some meat in it.

Ingredients:

• 500gr. split peas
• 200gr. thick,smoked bacon. Cut in chunks
• 1 cooked smoked sausage; +/- 250gr. Cut in rings
• 1 small, smoked ham hock
• 3 onions, chopped
• 2 leeks, chopped in rings

Melt a big knob of butter in a large pan and fruit the onions. Clean the leeks under running water and add it to the onions. Let it fruit together with the onions for a minute or 2. Add the split peas. Normally you should let the peas soak in water overnight but I just add them to the soup and let all that simmer for about 2 hours, comes out nicely.

Submerge completely, ham hock also

When you've added the peas to the pan you put as much water in the pan untill all is submerged. Put in the ham hock and the bacon, bring to a boil and let it simmer for 2 hours.

Take out the ham hock and most of the bacon, not easy but you don't need to get it all out, leave some in the pan. Mix the soup untill you get a thick silky soup. Taste and season with pepper and salt.

Cut up the ham hock in bitesize pieces and add to the soup again together with the bacon. I usually let this rest overnight to get an even more intense taste.

You'll notice that this will turn into a thick, puree-like soup after a night so you'll need to add hot water to make it more liquid. 

Add the sliced smoked sausages, let it warm up for another 8-10 minutes and serve with some golden croutons.

You'll be warmed up under a minute! ;)

Enjoy,

Kev

Organs and stuff @Viva m'Boma

One of the most lively neighbourhoods in Brussels when it comes to restaurants is the St.Catherine area, around the place Sainte-Catherine and surrounding streets. Situated in the heart of Brussels it offers a taste for every hungry soul. Whether  you're craving Indonesian, Vietnamese, Italian, Thai or French dishes, gourmet dining  or just a plat-du-jour you'll surely find it here! Choices enough!

One of the restaurants that's been here for a couple of years now(6 - 7?) is Viva m'boma. They started back then with a menu offering the not so popular or more forgotten cuts/pieces of meat, in specific organ meat.

Nowadays organ meat has won popularity again and the resto is widely known for this.

The interior is beautiful, dominated by white and black accents, making you think you're entering a Brasserie in Paris. Nice white tiles on the wall and a view into the kitchen in the back.

On the menu:

• Poached  veal brain with tartare sauce
• Pig's trotters
• Sweetbreads
• Kidney's
• Cow's udder
• Oxtail with creamy mash

It might not be everyone's cup of tea but it surely is mine.If you're not into organs, there's allways something on the menu for the more 'difficult' people ;)

The chef really knows how to prepare these delicate dishes, serving them with plenty of taste. The veal brain I had for instance was poached to perfection and served with a freshly made tangy tartare sauce that gave it just the kick it needed.

The main dish I had  was the plat-du-jour, a generous serving of 2 slabs of juicy meatloaf with a potatoe and endives mash...Delish!!!

I had to skip dessert due to the generous serving and sticked to a coffee. Oh well, there's allways a next time!

Enjoy,

Kev