De Vitrine - Gent

After having visited 'Coeur d'Artichaut' in Gent recently I still had a hunger for some more culinary violence from this city and decided to visit 'De vitrine'.

 This resto, another disciple of the bistronomy trend is in fact owned by Kobe Desramaults from 'In de Wulf'. Where in his 1 Michelin star rated restaurant in Dranouter he can unleash his gastronomical devils with his local and experimental cuisine 'De vitrine' offers a more approachable insight in his cuisine.

We enter the resto, an old butchershop - reminds me of 'La buvette' in Brussels- and have a seat at the bar. We start of with some bubbles, Crémant de Loire L'Albatros and a portion of fresh whelks with a honey mayonaise. Ideal to start with a clean palate.

First dish is a serving of white 'dune' asparagus, cooked al dente, combined with fresh purslane, purslane sauce ,a creamy egg yolk and raw asparagus in a light vinegar. A light yet tasty starter, nice acidity and the asparagus prepared like they should.
The wine we have with this dish is a natural, bio Sylvaner with a quite prominent sour mineral taste and a hint of oak. It pairs well with this dish.

The second dish was optional and I'm glad we opted to have it as it was my favourite of the evening.

An escabeche of mackrel rolled in a thin sheet of horse radish, fermented/preserved garlic,a green herbs cream/mayo and toasted quinoa. A super fresh velvetty mackrel filet, partially raw with a nice vivid taste from the escabeche marinade. The preserved garlic was quite prominent but didn't overpower and that green herbs sauce(a mixture of garlic, chervil, taragon and chives and prepared like a mayo) was simply delicious!

Following dish was a small, roasted zucchini/courgette with charred onion leaves, toasted wheats, thinly sliced poached zucchini/courgette and a cream of zucchini/courgette flavoured with bacon(that's what  I think I tasted, the flavour was quite prominent). Nice dish combining the roasted/charred flavours with the sweetness of the zucchini and the smoked flavour in the cream. And as you can allready see green was the colour of the evening!

This was followed by a flavour packed, slow-cooked piece of lamb shoulder. A very fatty but deep taste with soft, succulent flesh and paired with some young turnips, fresh goat cheese and charred spring onions. 

Dessert was a daring combination of chervil cremeux, sorrel granité and fresh crispy cold chervil served on a small tarte sablée. A combination that seemed odd on paper but wonderfully worked as a light, refreshing end to my dinner.  A risky combo though...

My wife opted fot the assorted chees platter and received a nice piece of Damse mokke, a St-Romain and a Belgian goat cheese. All perfectly ripe.

Coffee came with some brownies and lemon curd.

There's no A la carte menu here, you can only choose for the 4-service menu for 45€ with an option for a 5th dish at 10€, drinks not included.

De vitrine offers a modern cuisine with some daring dishes but all prepared with great savoir-faire. The escabeche of mackrel is allready one of the best dishes I had this year and more than worth our little trip to Gent.

Vaut le détour!

De Vitrine

Brabantdam 134

9000 Gent

09/336.28.08

Enjoy,

Kev

Jantje van Sluis

There's a nice story behind this beer.

 The person that gave his name to this beer was Jantje, the bell-ringer of the city of Sluis. The morning after the annual city fair he overslept cause he had one or two beers more than he could handle and so no bells were sounded that morning. The Spanish troops were waiting outside the city walls, ready to attack on the first bell to sound. A sound that never came cause Jantje was sleeping off his hangover and thus saving the city from the Spanish invasion.
At least so goes the legend.......

Now, the beer:

Pour: Misty blond/golden with a firm, thick head and a lot of carbonation in the glass

Sniff: Some yeast, floral and slightly fruity scent, a small hint of vanilla

Sip: Medium taste, not very pronounced. Some slight caramel malt and an overall sweet taste. Triple style.

ABV: 8%

Brewery: Van Steenberge Ertvelde

Not bad but not super, a good blond triple that will please most people.

Cheers,

Kev

Foodsterbox - part 3

Third foodsterbox was delivered, thank you Mr.mailman!!

Now what do we have in this edition?:

• A jar of organic Bergamot honey, 250gr. Eh, for sore throats and stuff.....Sorry, I'm not a big fan of honey but maybe I can use it to sweeten a sauce.
  
• A jar of 'Sel d'Alae', Hawain red salt, 60gr. Sundried salt mixed with some purfied red Hawaiian clay giving it it's red colour and delicate taste. Ideal for grilled meats and to add some colour to your dishes
  
  
• A jar of aroma caviar, a kind of jelly pearl with rose petals aroma used mainly for decoration
  
• A jar of lemon curd. A tangy,sweet cream that can be used to put on a cake or just be eaten straight from the jar with a spoon
  
• A tube of mustard 'violette de Brive' made from raisin must. Pairs well with all black pudding/morcilla sausage.
  
  
  
  Thank you Foodsterbox and see you next month for more yummy goodies!
  
  
  Enjoy,
  
  
  Kev

Coeur d'artichaut - Gent

Is there a better way to start the weekend than being invited by a restaurant owner and his head chef to try out the new concept of resto Coeur d'Artichaut with other foodbloggers? Yes, probably but this comes close!

Restaurant Coeur d'Artichaut has been  active in Ghent since 1992 starting as a bistro with a focus on healthy food and later transforming into a gastronomic venue. 

And now owner and horeca-entrepreneur Eric de Wagenaere felt the time was there to follow another culinary path, the bistronomic way. 

A more open interpretation of the high-end cuisine and accesible for all.

Chef Tom Van Lysebettens was given the challenge to put together a menu for 13 critical and hungry foodbloggers. 

He made a menu with 4 different starters, a fix second, 4 different mains and 3 different desserts thus giving us the opportunity to sample the cuisine he's offering. With an history in 'Ter Duinen' and experience at 'Het gebaar', 'Volta' en 'C-jean' I knew he had some skills and he didn't dissapoint me.

Cuttlefish/Cucumber/Puffed rice/Dill was the starter I first tasted and I found it to be very refreshing and tastefull. The combination of the dill, cucumber and some grapefruit worked ,though a bit more acidity could have taken this dish to another level!

Another starter was Fresh goatcheese/Smoked red beet/young sprouts. Goatcheese clearly is a trend lately, I had it served allready a couple of times in the last weeks. I actually didn't taste this dish but I heared it was also a nice combo. Only the serving of goatcheese was a bit big  it seemed and quickly overpowered the palate. For goatcheese lovers!

Chicken rilette/Taragon/Tomato confit. We all know that chicken and taragon are a match made in heaven and this interpretation was also very good. A nice combination of textures, soft and crunchy. A rich rilette and tangy tomatoe confit cream. Nice

Pork cheeck/Pomme Pont-Neuf/Picles mayo. This was served between our entrées and mains. A braised pork cheeck, pulled apart and pressed into a rectangular shape and then baked crispy. Served with crisy pommes pont-neuf and a pickled mayonaise. Delicious!! Strong, intense flavour in the cheeks and a fresh,tart mayo to balance it out! Very nice!!

Oysters Grevelingen/Horse radish/Chervil. I didn't taste these. Somehow I wasn't in an oyster mood and to be honest I prefer my oysters clean and simple with nothing on it except maybe some pepper and a squeeze of lemon. My neighbour however told me they were great.

Cuckoo from Mechelen/Tomatoe tartlet/Greek yoghurt. Opinions were a bit divided on this one. All tastes were good but the combination lacked a bit structure, didn't blend well together. The poultry was fresh and of  good quality but the cuison was a bit on the edge, could have used a tad more heat. The tartlet wasn't necesary and another ingredient could have given this dish more value, perhaps some turnips?

Halibut/Curry cream/Fungus/Sea lavender. A nice piece of firm fish, cooked to perfection with earthy mushrooms/fungi, a salty sea lavender and a curry cream. Good but the curry overpowered the whole dish. Good effort though!

North Atlantic Cod/Cream of Oud-Brugge cheese/Tomatoe&Basil/ Cockle clams. My absolute favourite dish of the evening. Yet again a firm, flakey piece of fish served on a sweet cream of Oud-Brugge cheese and paired with the tanginess of the tomatoe and basil puffs/cream. The cockle clams added a briny taste and completed this dish! Spot on for me!

White asparagus/Cream of egg yolk/Hazelnut crumble/M'Hamza couscous. I'm not often tempted by a vegetarian dish but this was amazing. Al dente cooked asparagus, rich creamy yolk and hazelnut crumble and couscous. Nice combination and also showing that the chef knows his techniques.

Tartine Russe. First dessert and a miss unfortunately. Like someone at our table said 'You get this served, you expect to taste something refreshing and you get heavy and creamy'. Indeed the crème-au-beurre like cream was too heavy and made the whole dish a hard to eat composition. This should be lighter and fresher.

Milk chocolate tart/Speculoos/Passion fruit. This dessert was better. The milk chocolate tart was rich and dense and dusted with speculoos but the cream of passion fruit gave this dish the needed freshness/lightness. Good!

Tainori ganache/Blackberries/Quark. A deep rich taste of origine chocolate paired with some blackberries and fresh quark cheese. Nice combo.

I had a wonderfull dinner in company of colleague foodbloggers. All flavours were good and the dishes were all presented/composed according to the actual high standards but I felt that chef Tom Van Lysebettens is still a bit strugling with some dishes. These are just minor details and some dishes were truely spot on but some needed a bit more work/focus. 

Still the quality is allready at a high level and I'm sure that he will keep working to reach even higher so really don't hesitate to have lunch or dinner here when you're in Gent, you won't be dissapointed.

Thanks to Pieter Declercq and Caroline Dhondt for the beauifull pictures and Kristof Verheyden for keeping me company during our 2-hour drive to Gent trough trafic inferno!

And a big thanks to Edward Vanhoutte for setting this up and to Eric De Waegenaere and Tom Van Lysebettens for having us.

Be sure to check out the blogs of the other food bloggers:

• Caroline Dhondt  - www.avocadovandeduivel.be
• Edward Vanhoutte - www.tafelvooreen.be
• Els Debremaeker - www.njamelicious.be
• Frank Cops - www.be-gusto.be
• Kim Recour - www.cookanista.be
• Kris Herrijgers - www.kriskookt.be
• Kristof - www.meersmaak.be
• Kristof Verheyden - www.legourmandbelge.be
• Mélanie Velghe - www.illyvanilly.be
• Pieter Declercq - hotcuisinedepierre.wordpress.com
• Steve Engels - www.bistronomie.be
• Yves Van De Ven - www.coolinary.be

Enjoy,

Kev

Gin&Tonic ~ TGIF

One a day keeps the doctor away.....

That's what somebody told me but I don't plan to put that to proof!
I do love a good gin from time to time, I'm not overly attached to a specific brand. Monkey47, Mare, Hendricks, Sipsmith,....as long as it's good quality.

Be sure to check out this brandnew webshop offering the best quality gins and tonics, gintonicshop.be. A nice variety of gins categorized following the main taste; herbal, floral, citrusy,.....
I was invited to the opening but couldn't make it unfortunately, looks like I missed something.

So now you don't even have to leave your house to get drunk, fashionably drunk that is!

Poison of the evening:

• 2 shots of Monkey 47 gin
• 2 ice cubes
• 2 parts of lime
• A splash of tonic water

Enjoy,

Kev

Caprese - spring is there?!

Finally, first sunny day in spring.

 What better to celebrate this than with a light yet savoury salad? One of my favourites; a caprese salad.
Simplicity at its best but with the best of products. Well....apart from the tomatoes as these were Belgian/Dutch greenhouse products as I didn't have a better quality available.
Nothing that makes me long for the summer more than tomatoes. Usually we plan a trip to Italy in the summer and for me that means tomato time! Fresh,sweet tomatoes grown under the generous Italian sun and packed with firm tasty flesh - not like our water tomatoes over here!
So if you can, get good quality tomatoes like a decent Coeur de boeuf or a plum tomato.

Ingredients:

•  about 4 ripe tomatoes
• 3 balls of mozzarella di bufala
• plenty of fresh basil leaves
• some dried oregano
• black pepper
• salt
• good olive oil

Cut the tomatoes in slices and do the same with the mozarella and put them in a layer on a plate. Put some leaves of basil in between and on top of the mozzarella and tomatoes. Grind some black pepper over it, sprinkle some salt and add a generous amount of oregano.

Drizzle with a good amount of decent olive oil.

Dig in and....

Enjoy,

Kev

Ellis Gourmet Burger - Brussels ~ Burger Version 2.0

A good burger has allways been a favourite of mine but has had a bad name for so long due to the domination of Mc Donalds and Quick.

What do people think of when you ask them about a burger joint? Right! The 2 before mentioned corporate food traps that made a sport out of promising juicy big burgers but preparing cardboard dry, flattened, tasteless burgers. And what do kids prefer?? Right! The same 2 cause there they'll get a present with their meal. Evil marketing at it's best!!

Luckily there are also good burger joints around that specialize in making a good burger the name worthy.

Ellis Gourmet burger has been around for some years now in Brussels and has become the reference for a juicy burger. Since their upstart in Brussels they have opened another burger resto in Knokke-Heist and are now launching their Antwerp division. A big launch with Viki Geunes(2** 'T Zilte) and Nick Bril(3*** Oud Sluis and soon La Chapelle in Antwerp) creating a signature burger.

They offer top quality beef burgers, thick and juicy and well seasoned on a fresh craft bun. As it should!

Ellis Special Bacon

The Ellis special(100% beef patty, smoked bacon, cheddar,lettuce, red onion and tomatoe) is still my favourite. The beef patty is well seasoned and has a pure,natural beef taste, the bacon adds some smokeyness and saltyness to it and makes it a complete burger. A mess to eat but so are most good burgers!

Other burger variations are:

• Blue cheese madness burger: Beef patty, red onion, red onion marmelade and a big chunck of blue cheese. A good combination of the salty cheese with the sweet marmelade

  

  Blue cheese madness

• Funky Chicken: Chicken filet, grilled veggies, estragon mayo and parmesan
• Guaco-waco: Lamb burger, guacamole, sweet chilli sauce
• Rossini: With a big chunk of foie gras and onion marmelade

They also have a vegetarian option with portobello mushrooms or a fish burger with a salmon filet and even a special Meatlover burger for all you hardcore meatheads out there with meat coming from the well known butcher Dierendonck.

Coleslaw

All this with some french fries, a cob of buttery corn, lettuce or coleslaw(with raisins, my choice) 

on the side, served with a glass of beer and I'm a happy man!

For me Ellis is the top reference for a burger but there are other places in Brussels that also serve a good quality burger:

• Houtsiplou 
• Les super filles du tram
• Junkfood deluxe by Quentin
• Cool bun

Enjoy,

Kev