Pho Pho

Hello?

Is anyone there?


Have you not yet abandoned all hope? Oh goodie then, because here were are, with new portion of Brussels speciality!

Long time ago, in a galaxy far away... We visited one of our favourite lunch places - Pho Pho!

It is not much of a restaurant, more like a hip snack bar for a quick dish on the run. They have two localisations currently, first one opened in Ixelles' Boniface area, and the second one, one we get to visit more frequently, opened down-town at Rogier.

Pho is basically kind of Vietnamese broth, after wikipedia, and mr Van Nguyen took it on his shoulders to popularize the dish in Brussels. And I am really thankful!

As per his statement on their official website, he wanted to provide lighter and healthier alternative for fast-food. If you ask me, I think he nailed it. Pho is filling and tasty, yet does not make you despise yourself as it happens after visiting one of the popular burger chains.

The menu is humble - you get to choose from small selections of soups and starters. I personally can never get enough of chicken pho and deep fried shrimps. Part of the ritual is also adding combination of special sauces, available on each table, to your dish.

If you have never tried it before, I recommend you skip the soda this time, and reach for coconut juice in a can. It's very refreshing and goes really well with the dishes.

While eating, you will be entertained by music videos of (I assume) Vietnamese pop singers and bands, but unfortunately music is not synchronized. Don't miss the weird commercials of Pho Pho itself, as per image below. I cannot make myself to give the translation. You have to go through an effort of typing into Google translator and see for yourself.

Quick post with a quick summary - whether you're looking for a lunch break during work, or a snack on the way to having social life after work - Pho might be just for you, so go ahead and explore.

Ferme Nos Pilifs

Would you expect to find a full-sized operating farm in Brussels? And I mean not only the City of Brussels, but actually the Bruxelles-Ville commune. Surprise!

First of all, if you look at the map of Brussels districts, you will see that Bruxelles-Ville stretches up to north city borders, so we're not talking about the strict city center here. The area we're in used to be separate municipality called Neder-Over-Heembeek (lower-upper-heem-spring), and the name is still used to refer to it. Just next to big military hospital, we arrive at Nos Pilifs.

There's so many great things about that place, I find it hard to decide where should I start!

So first of all, it's a place you want to take your kids along with you. The access to the premises is absolutely free for everyone. There's a small playground available and then you can go for a long walk around the farm to see all the animals. And they have a lot of them!

Lots of different kinds of poultry, but also horses, goats, sheep, donkeys, and the biggest pigs I have seen in my life (just think of all the bacon!).

All animals are behind a fence (and some of them are behind an electric fence too). This is not a pet-zoo, children can't touch the animals, it is also strictly forbidden to feed them (except the pigs, no surprise).

When you're done with the tour, it's time to rest and maybe have a bite. Just in front of the playground (how convenient!) there's a small bistro with choice of beers, soft drinks and some food. The choice is not big, but I'm pretty sure the pancakes I had were fried on wood-kitchen - it gave them taste so amazing it didn't matter they were burnt a tiny bit - I ate them quicker than I could take a photo.

Now that you ate, you can do some shopping (never shop with an empty stomach!). In place you will find a small bio-shop which sells local produce and other bio-food. Wide selection of vegetables, fruits, cheese, and bread baked on wood.

On the other side you'll find a plant shop. The interior plants looked absolutely amazing.

The exterior ones were only slowly emerging after long winter, so they didn't yet look as impressive, but you can see the choice is great, and plants seem to be well taken care of.

That's a well spent day!

As a word of background, the farm is run by society that hires handicapped people. They have capacity of around 140 workers (as seen on their website). I find it a great initiative, that only adds to the splendor of the place.

And kept for the end, the thing I will absolutely have to try. Online store! In the country where 99% of commerce doesn't even exist in the internet (Chris read some statistics lately), here you can actually order all the best food with delivery to your nearest point of pickup (initially I thought they deliver straight home, but we didn't find a way to do that, still good enough).

I highly recommend that place. We'll be back! :)

La fin de siècle

Today I will be continuing the tour of my favorite restaurants with "La fin de siècle".

This restaurant is a classic for nightcrawlers in Brussels: good food, correct prices and the kitchen is opened until 1 AM.

Don't expect chips with the dishes, here it is potato or rice

To locate the place, it is in the rue des Chartreux, next to the Greenwich café (this bar also deserves a visit, especially if you like chess).

I know this restaurant for more than 10 years now and nothing changed there since (not even the prices!). For me it is filled with memories of endless conversations, big laughters and all that happens on an improvised night out with friends.

It is also the place I show to people visiting Brussels to explain how we live here: simplicity, warmth and amiability.

The place has more to offer than meets the eye (yes, I saw Transformers just before writing this.) because when you'll enter you might think "what is so special about that place? The tables and the chairs don't match,it is noisy, crowded and the crew look like 4 hobos and a bear..."

To explain, I would say that it is all about the food.
I was once said that when the bread they give you is good, the food will be good too.
Well, they have the best bread in Brussels.
And the rest follows of course. The last time I went there was the première for Agata and the magic operated, she tasted all the dishes (we were 3, our friend Jonathan joined us) and loved it all!

The black board, only menu available here. It will keep you busy while waiting for your table

On the menu my favourite dishes are:


Le jambonneau à la moutarde à l'ancienne (Ham with mustard) to eat only when you are REALLY hungry.

La tranche de gigot d'agneau sauce au porto (grilled lamb with porto sauce)

And the traditional Stoemp saucisse (Mashed vegetables and potatoes with sausage).

The rabbit in cherry beer sauce, a belgian classic

If you prefer something lighter, you have salad with grilled chicken, rabbit with cherry beer sauce or the scampi brochette. Or you can just pick randomly, anyway it will be good (just don't take anything you are allergic to. I don't want to be sued by a potential Darwin award winner).

light and tasty, how scampi should be (don't forget to spread them with garlic butter)

I will just finish with some advices:
- first, they don't accept plastic so be sure to have enough cash (you don't want to piss off the grizzlie).

- second, be there early. I said it for the tapas locas but it is twice an advice for the fin de siècle, especially if you are a group, you might never have a table and you'll have to end up eating thaï next to the O'Reilly (I'll give you addresses later!)

- third, just enjoy, don't hesitate to engage conversation with your neighbours and to try every drink, especially the shots.

First Rodenbach for Agata, teenagers in Brussels drink it with grenadine syrup  as an introduction to beers

Le grenier d'Elvire

Touring our best places in Brussels would not be thorough without a pit-stop at Grenier d'Elvire.

The restaurant is located nearby the University at Chaussée de Boondael 339 in Ixelles.

Let's first talk about the neighborhood: the Cimetière d'Ixelles is the student's neighborhood of Brussels. It is famous for its many restaurants and bars. You will find every possible cuisine at every price (but still affordable).

You'll find many bars around so let's name some of them (we'll write about them later... Eventually):
The trendies:  "Waff", "Tavernier" and the new "Bar d'Ixelles"
The "students": Gauguin, Montmartre and Ratabar
The classics: La Bastoche, La Bécasse and L'Atelier (a very interesting list of beers there)

But we should go back to Boondael. The Chaussée starts on place du cimetière d'Ixelles but be careful, if you just go down the street, you'll never find the grenier d'Elvire. Chaussée de Boondael has the particularity of being composed of two parts on parallel streets linked by a small segment starting at Gauguin and finishing at Montmartre.

As you can see, the restaurant is not huge, so making a reservation isn't a bad idea.

The decoration really looks like the stuff you could find hidden in an attic (grenier in french) but it gives you a peaceful sensation of warmth.
Unfortunately the noise of the place chases the peace away


Let's make a proper review point by point.

First, the place itself: well situated, nice deco, a bit too loud.

Second, the service: it might not be a three star restaurant but the team is a real asset of the place. They work well and are really helpful.
The second time we went there, Agata was pregnant and ordered some food she finally could not eat. They remained helpful and didn't want us to pay even if it was our complete fault that she didn't eat (pregnancy cannot be commanded)

Third, the drinks: we don't often order wine while eating so we won't be of much help on this but I don't recall anyone complaining about that in Grenier d'Elvire. What I LOVE on the other side are their fruit punch, it is rhum marinated in fruits or spices and it is gorgeous.

That day it was pineapple, badiane or violet

Their other specialty is the homemade iced tea. Not too sour nor too sweet, perfectly refreshing!

Just try it!!!

(we'll take a better picture next time)

And last but not least, the food: one word - GREAT.

My favorite is the mixed grill and the marinated ribs are amongst the best in Brussels. (Both served with salad, great chips and homemade mayonnaise)

Mesdames et Messieurs : Le mixed grill: 

Chicken wings and natural ribs. 

So simple yet so difficult...

They also serve pasta and salad plus a really great board of suggestions that changes too often for me

 (I can't come every week to taste everything!)

tiropitakia (crunchy cheese pastries, for those who believe that fat means life!)

Scampi diaboliques (they are hot as hell !!!)

The tajine is as tasty as colourful...

The desserts are great too. Especially the cheese cake and the mousse au chocolat but you must be really hungry to achieve having one after an entrée and a main dish.

Once again, I can only recommand going there. To try it is to love it!

http://www2.resto.be/grenierdelvire/reservation.cfm?langue=FR

Tapas Locas!

Our first real post about food will be about one of our classics: the TAPAS LOCAS!

Established almost 18 years ago in the Rue du Marché au Charbon, the Tapas Locas remained faithfull to the formula that made its success: good food in small portions that you can share with friends, each at a unique price (4 euros, min. 3 per person). the variety of the dishes guarantees that you'll find something for you.


View Larger Map

We went to Tapas Locas on one of our date nights (the day we leave our baby to her grandma).
We arrived early so the restaurant wasn't too crowded.

This place is one of the few that Agata and I were sharing on our adressbooks before we met and we both have our own favorite dishes:

for Agata:

• Sausage with onions
• Scampis diaboliques (shrimps in hot sauce)
• Cassolette de brie au miel (melted brie with honey)

for me:

• Albondigas (Spanish meat balls in tomato sauce)
• Pain de viande sauce au miel (meatloaf with gingerbread and honey sauce)
• Tarte au fromage de chèvre et tomates confites (tart with goat cheese and half dried tomatoes)

Don't forget to order patatas bravas! (a plate of fried potatoes with homemade andalous sauce but we never count it as a dish).

To drink you have all the classics from Spain:
Sangria, of course, but also horchata de chuffa (almond milk) and chupitos (little shots of alcohol flavoured with fruit syrup).

!!! The famous horchatas. If you never tried this, don't miss the opportunity, it is divine !!!

   

The place doesn't accept cards and the nearest cash machine is a bit far, so you better be ready. They also don't take reservation. It is a bit less of a problem lately as the crowd moved a bit to Saint Gery and Flagey. In the good old days you could wait 1 hour to get a table...

To sum it up, the Tapas Locas (Crazy Tapas) may be not as crazy as before but the food and the service are great and it is still worth going to.

http://www.tapaslocas.be