Monday 2 July 2012

Eat List: Belgium

Some of the popular snacks and food in Belgium that you shouldn't miss!

1.  Belgian beer

You can't really visit Belgium and not try their beer. There is an abundant variety of local beers and the prices are dirt cheap. During our trip, we ordered beer at every restaurant we dined at. Gave us every reason to be cheerful and bubbly when we toured Bruges and Brussels.

Bier Leon (house beer at Chez Leon)

Trappistes beer (made by Trappist monks)

2.  Belgian chocolate

We sampled three different brands of Belgian chocolate during our trip: Dumon Chocolatier in Bruges (they don't have a branch in Brussels), Mary Chocolatier and Neuhaus both in Brussels. Since these are specialty chocolate shops, the prices are steep. I enjoyed Dumon the best, Mary follows closely and then Neuhaus is far behind.

Leonidas is probably the cheapest specialty store they have but they are mainstream now and have branches in Canada and even in the Philippines; I wanted to try something exclusive to Belgium. There are also souvenir stores that sell Belgian chocolate boxes at low prices but I don't know if they are good quality.

Dumon Chocolatier

Mary Chocolatier

Neuhaus

3.  Belgian waffles

We went to Biscuiterie Dandoy, a pastry specialty shop and tea room, to sample Belgian waffles. They offered two types of waffles - Liege and Brussels. I personally preferred the Brussels waffle, which are the more common kind of waffles available in North America. They are crunchy outside and fluffy on the inside. The Liege waffle is thicker and has a chewier texture and I found it to be sweeter.
Liege waffle

Brussels waffle

4.  Belgian fries

The world is familiar with French fries, but this well-loved snack traces its origin to Belgium. If you love fries, you should try the frites in Belgium and pay homage to the country that made it all possible.
Frites with spicy mayo

5.  Moules-Frites (Mussels and fries)

Moules-Frites is probably the most popular dish in Belgian restaurants. It was in the menu of all local restaurants we went to. Chez Leon is the most popular Mussels and Fries restaurant in Brussels. We ate at Chez Leon and found it to be just average. We had a better Mussels and Fries experience in one of the bistros at the Markt center of Bruges. The mussels there were bigger, juicier and the sauce was more flavorful.
Mussels and Fries from Chez Leon

6.  Waterzooi

Waterzooi is a kind of seafood stew that originated from Ghent, Belgium. The soup is creamy and reminds me of the New England clam chowder.
Seafood Waterzooi from Chez Leon

7.  Speculoos

The speculoos is a gingerbread-type biscuit that is popular in Belgium. It has a strong distinct taste because of the spices used - cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and others. In the picture below, the Dandoy biscuit is a speculoos.

Speculoos gelato and biscuit

Eat List: Barcelona, Spain

Here's a list of what kind of food to look for while touring Barcelona, Spain.

1.  Tapas  

It will be next to impossible to avoid tapas when you visit Barcelona. Most restaurants offer specials and a great selection of tapas.These small courses go well with sangria, wine, beer or <insert favorite alcoholic drink here>.
Assorted cold tapas

Chopitos (Fried tiny squid)

Chicharron (fried pork rinds)

2. Cava

Wine in Barcelona was so much cheaper than in Toronto and I know that this area of Spain is famous for their wineries. So definitely try some of their local wines. Our hotel offered us Cava (sparkling wine) upon check-in to welcome us into Barcelona so we were off to a great start in our trip. Cava is to Spain what Champagne is to France. Drink, be merry and you'll have an even more pleasant vacation :)
Privat Cava 2009

 3.  Cochinillo (Suckling Pig)

I'm a huge pork eater since I originally hailed from the Philippines which was a Spanish colony for 333 years. So a lot of our food actually has Spanish influences. We do have amazing cochinillo in Manila too. Try Casa Armas if you ever visit Manila but you'd have to call a day in advance so they can prepare the whole pig.

During our trip, El Celler de Can Roca had roasted suckling pig in the tasting menu. We also ordered suckling pig at Montiel since this was their specialty and had glowing reviews from TripAdvisor members. Both were incredible - crispy golden brown skin and tender melt-in-your-mouth meat.
from El Celler de Can Roca

from Montiel Restaurante

 4.  Churros (Con Chocolate)

Churros has always been one of my favorite desserts. In the Philippines, Dulcinea served decent churros con chocolate. In Toronto, Pancho's Bakery in Kensington Market sells freshly fried churros with a variety of fillings to choose from. Of course, I've never had authentic churros so I couldn't vouch for their authenticity.

So, during our trip to Barcelona, we had to put churros into our eat list. After some Googling, we found Barcelona Food Girl's blog pointing us on where to find churros and chocolate walking distance from our hotel. The Xurreria fried a new batch of xurros/churros when we ordered them so it was fresh and hot! We headed to La Granja which was nearby for the thick Spanish chocolate to dip our churros with. Fried dough dipped in chocolate is always a great treat - yum!

from Xurreria

Chocolate from La Granja

 5. Paella and fresh seafood near the pier

For our last supper in Barcelona, we opted to have fresh paella near the pier to cap our memorable 3-day trip. There was a whole slew of restaurants lined near the pier. We had to walk through some smaller streets and further off the pier to find Can Majo. Definitely worth the trek for avid foodies!
Paella from Can Majo
Seafood soup from Can Majo