Page 149 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - Brussels Bruges Ghent & Antwerp

WHERE T O EA T AND DRINK  147

served with a dollop of
mayonnaise, are a favourite
street-food.

The Pâtissier
No Belgian community is
without a pâtisserie, selling
superlative tarts, cakes and
biscuits, and many pâtissiers
double-up as chocolatiers.
Gaufres (waffles) are another
great sweet treat, sold at
specialist shops and street
stalls. Enjoyed freshly made,
Fish restaurant in the elegant Galéries St-Hubert shopping arcade topped with knobs of butter
and a sprinkling of sugar, they
(or steak tartare) and on toast on in commercial market- may be raised to perfection
as the snack, toast cannibale. gardens. In the 1840s, Belgian with spoonfuls of jam or fruit
Dairy cattle are the source of gardeners created chicon and fresh cream.
fine cheeses, such as Herve, (witloof) by forcing the roots of
Chimay and Maredsous. the chicorée lettuce. It is now ON THE MENU
Pork products include a one of Belgium’s most widely
range of sausages, patés and used vegetables, although the White asparagus An early
the noted Ardennes ham. In most popular must be the summer speciality, it is usually
autumn and winter, look out potato, in the form of chips served with melted butter or
for game, such as wild boar, (French fries). Frites (frietjes), hard-boiled egg and parsley.
pheasant and venison, often Jets d’houblon Spring menus
served in a rich fruity sauce. feature this dish of young hop
Whelks Quail, guinea fowl, pigeon and shoots in a creamy sauce.
rabbit are also popular. Crevettes grises Tiny but
big on flavour, these “grey”
shrimps are a popular snack.
The Vegetable Patch
Stoemp Mashed potato, with
Not long ago, most Belgian flecks of vegetables or meat,
householders toiled to fill their make up this pub favourite.
gardens with tightly-packed Garnaalkroketten Deep-fried
rows of top-class vegetables – croquettes, filled with shrimp.
beans, leeks, lettuces, carrots, Speculoos These buttery, spicy
potatoes and onions. This biscuits are available in festive
tradition may be waning, but Freshly made waffles on a street stall, a shapes for Christmas.
the same quest for quality lives familiar sight in the city

Carbonnade flamande Beef is Waterzooî This classic stew Flamiche aux Poireaux Leeks,
cooked in Belgian beer, with a from Ghent consists of fish or fried in butter and whisked with
touch of sugar, to make this chicken and vegetables, cream and eggs, are baked in a
hearty casserole. poached in a creamy broth. crisp pastry shell.

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