Summer has finally hit Belgium and to start it right I booked 2 "2 Michelin star" restaurants during
" Restaurant Week " Presented by Dining City.
I got the announcement via Facebook and immediately looked to book some amongst the star restaurants but dinners were allready fully booked and even weekend lunches weren´t available, so 2 week lunches were the result.
Tuesday : Hasselt : Aan Tafel bij Luc Bellings
Friday : Dudzele : Bij Danny Horseele
2 opposite sides of the country , I was curious if that would be translated in the product choice.
I can allready tell you that it were 2 entirely different experiences, not so much foodwise though.
I had dinner already once at "Aan Tafel bij Luc Bellings" which was my only 2 Michelin star experience up to now.
Arriving at the restaurant you are welcommed by the hostess and guided to your table as chairs are pulled out for you and your handbagg (my girlfriend´s that is :) ) placed neatly on a stool.
The concept of Dining City´s " Restaurant Week" is that you can go to the participating restaurants and they will serve you for € 22,5 ( + € 10 / Michelin star ) that brought us to € 42,5 . Now as you can see on the menu, you can complete your experience by the adding the following :
- The champagne with 7 amuses
- Wines & water
- The coffee or tea with sweets
This will bring the total to € 75 which is the normal price charged for a lunch at
"Aan Tafel bij Luc Bellings".
So bassically as there is no price difference between "Restaurant Week" or any other week. It merely was an inceptive to finally book these restaurants, looking back.
Now from my experience I would certainly recommend to choose for the entire experience if you go to this type of restaurant and certainly at "Aan Tafel bij Luc Bellings". And so we did.
It´s almost natural we think but, pepper, salt, butter and olive oil are present at the table.
Like last time, Bellings adds a rose flavor and a rose petal to this house champagne which my fiancée chose. As I already tried it, I just took their champagne.
The house champagne is a Didier Michel Brut Premier Cru.
The 7 amuses were the following :
A krupuk of potato with a poultry dip.
Chicory with shrimp, a shrimp pudding, a drop of grapefruit served on a crumble of nut
Bread with an anchovy an olive tapenade and a an anchovy mayo.
Anchovies are usually to salty for me but as we say you only now if you don´t like something if you have eaten it at a quality restaurant.
This one was great actually so soft tasting.
This one was great actually so soft tasting.
2 great amuses
An asparagus mousse, a green asparagus tip, mimosa egg, a musterd cracker and a safran drop
a pike-perch carpaccio, tomato and a drop of basil
a mackerel tartare, an avocado carpaccio, apple, a drop of curry and a string bean sauce
An orriginal sauce, supprising, tastes great.
And a final warm amuse :
A duck oyster, a drop & roll of sweet potato and a peanut crumble
On to the starter, a tuna carpaccio served with shrimp, slices of radish, a cloud of sea urchin and a spinach sauce.
The sea urchin is very soft tasting and adds texture to the dish.
The accompanying white wine was Albet i noya from Cattalunia.
The main was "black leg" chicken, asparagus, spring bean, parsnip, carrot and anise mushroom.
Served with a glass of red Bila-haut Michel Chapoutier 2011 also a nice wine.
No real WOW flavours in this main, so on to dessert(s)
Starting of with a beauty babtised " Strawberry new style "
bringing strawberries in 5 different ways using a regional product Haspengouw strawberries
joined by basil ice cream topped with a strawberry tuile and a little crips and crumble for texture.
Than only chocolate containing dessert, hey we re in Belgium this is a must :)
Dulce Lecce with a layer of chocolate topped with mango and passion fruit and a white chocolate flake
A great combination of flavors.
Since a month I ve said farewell to coffee and started exploring the world of tea
Great green tea here ( which is my favorite anyway), served in nice Taitù porcelain.
Check their eshop for more designs.
You get free refills on your tea by the way.
Accompanying your tea is a fest of sweets :
Hasselt speculoos, another regional product
Blueberry and passion fruit marshmallow
a raspberry miserable
a cup of chocolate cake filled with Italian merengue, a praline sponge-cake and a lime jelly
a cold coco mocha soup
Resulting in this nice table you can enjoy in any order to finish your cullinary experience.
And while you re goin through all these sweets occassionally a waiter drops by with some fresh baked Belgian waffles ...
... or an orange jelly, a signature seasalt praline
or a cuberdon ( a Belgian candy originating from Ghent which is a must if you visit Belgium )
And so our cullinary experience came to an end with an overall excellent service, a kind hostesse, an enjoyable view over the open kitchen which is very disciplinary run by Luc with an minimal amount of talking, realy very quiet it oozed rest.
If you like fine dining , which you do otherwise you wouldn t be reading this post ☺.
I would recommend visiting this place. You can allready have an entire all in experience at € 75.
I hope you will enjoy it like we did.
