DONALD AND CATHY'S WORLD ADVENTURE

What and where are we eating?

 

At hawker stands!

 

A hawker center is the name given to an open-air complex that has several small booths or hawker stands that sell a variety of inexpensive food.  

Each dish is made to order, so it arrives hot and is delicious.  You can add additional peppers or spices if you like it hot.

 

 

Hawker centers sprung up in urban areas in the 1950s and 1960s and were considered a venue for the less affluent.  They were primarily built to reduce the unhygienic food preparation by unlicensed street hawkers.  

Over the years, hygiene standards have vastly improved and the food stall operators are given cleanliness grades (A,B,C) by the National Environment Agency (NEA) to help customers make an informed choice.

Today the hawker stalls are becoming mainstream and are popping up in food courts in shopping malls.  They are still independently owned by the family - no McDonald's or Burger King in these food centers.

 

All meals are served with rice or noodles.  They predominately serve pork, chicken, and fish.  And eggs, lots of eggs.  Beef is not very popular here.  

 

The one below has dried fish on the top - I think this is an acquired taste.  Luckily I tasted it before I mixed it in the soup. 
 

 

 

Oh and the very best part of the hawker stands is they are CHEAP!  We have never paid over 5 Singaporean dollars ($3.85 USD) for these meals.

 

 

The restaurant in the photo below is one step up from a hawker stand. They seat you and take your order, but it is still very casual.  This one was located in the part of Singapore they call Chinatown.

 

This restaurant served chicken only and you could have it on noodles or rice.  Look at that beautiful crispy skin.

 

 

We picked noodles.  This meal was twice the price of the hawker stands, 9 SD ($7 USD).  The owner told us they have been in business since 1963!  It was very good.

 

 

 

 

If you want to see what a rambutan is - hop over to my art blog, ma vie trouvee.

 

In De Wulf - Restaurant - THE BEST EVER!

 

To celebrate D getting the new job and our wonderful time living in Belgium, we SPLURGED on Friday for lunch at the Michelin-starred restaurant In De Wulf.  It was a two-hour drive each way and the meal lasted three and a half hours.  It was the most expensive meal we have ever eaten, but it also was the best!  It consisted of 20 small courses  :  )

Chef Kobe Desramaults is quite young (30 years old), but wow can he cook!  He was born in Heuvelland Belgium, which is in the Flemish region near the French border.  He grew up in an old farmhouse - now the location of his wonderful restaurant.

We opted to take our aperitif and amuse-bouche in the front sitting room by the fire.  We started our celebration with a local champagne.

The dishes are shown in the order we ate them.  The French name is written first then the "roughly" translated English version.

 

In De Wulf’ Menu - November 2011

Lard seche maison =

House speciality - homemade bacon;

salted and smoked, then dried-cured for 6 months

 

Cereales & Herbs =  

Crispy morsel on cream

Betterave rouge yaourt =  

Beet root crisp with beet yogurt 

Looks so simple but it was packed with flavor -

one of the top bites of the day!  For the crisps, the chef makes an emulstion of beets and beet juice, gels the mixture in a thin sheet, then fries the beet gelatine.  This gives the crisps more intense flavor.

 

 

 

Poulet carotte =  

Carrot mousse on crispy chicken skin

 

 

Pain brule, Maroilles =

Burned bread filled with cheese from the Maroilles and covered with mushroom dust.

Another one that looks simple but oh my gosh! 

One of D's favorite of the day

 

 

We then moved into the dining room to begin our culinary adventure.  Kobe's food has been described as an explosion of flavor and we found this to be a great explanation of what we experienced.  Each bite was so fresh, so unique -  it is hard to even describe.

Pain with frais beurre, lardon cream =

bread with creamy fresh butter and lard spread

 

Panais, lovage =

Crispy parsnip with a parsnip cream

 

 

 

 Bulots =

Local cockles with sauce

 

 

 

Before we get too far into the meal - just a quick mention that we had a flight of wines that were carefully selected by the sommelier for each course.  We did not have a different wine with each course....but the wine changed every few courses.

 

 

Bigorneau =

Periwinkle Welk (sea snail) with herb sauce

 

Crabe, blette, feuilles de Capucines =

Crab, spinach, buttermilk-chive sauce

 

Chau pointu raifort huitres plate de Zelande =

Oysters from Zeeland, covered with cabbage leaf and horseradish 

 Coquille verveine pourpier =

Scallops with walnuts and verbena sauce

Another one of my favorites!  I love the smell and taste of verbena.

 

 

Bar de mer betterave maritime navets =

Sea bass with turnips strips, laural leaves, and bone sauce

 

 

 

Celeri-rave en croute de sel fromage cremeux, vinaigre de pomme, oseille =

Celery root baked in salt crust, with celery foam and cheese sauce

 

 

 

It was baked on the open flames (which was right next to our table) in a salt crust.  They only served the middle part.

 

Champignons sauvages, cereales =

Wild mushrooms, foam, and crispy cereals

 

 

 

 Choux laurier, coeur de boeuf =

Mixed greens covered with dry-cured ox heart shavings

 

 

 

Lievre boudin des pates topinambour =

Wild hare fillet and sausage with carmelized onion, artichoke sauce and sunchoke crisps

This was another of our favorites.  We are used to rabbit, but wild hare had so much more flavor.

 

   

 Gateau de fromage, poire de Kemmel =

Pears from Kemmel, cheesecake ball, served in elderberry juice

 

 Noix, biere Pannepot, lait de Kemmel =

Hazelnut, beer icecream,  crisp, and buttermilk reduction

 

 Pomme romarin, chervil

Apple tuile, rosemary mousse, Spanish cheese

 

 

Back to the front room for coffee and more sweets.

 

 

 

From left to right = chocolate, carmel, and salt,

marshmallow covered in chocolate with layers of cake

fruit gel

 

and last but not least - smoutebollen....doughnuts  :  )

 

 

Donald was "fat and happy" with his gastronomical meal!

 

Here we are with Chef Kobe.  We bought his cookbook and he signed it for us.  Donald spent the next day reading it and is already trying a recipe.  I will not be using this cookbook  - too complicated for me!

 

 

We had a fabulous time and it truly was the best meal we have ever eaten!  If you have a really special event to celebrate and are living in Belgium - we highly recommend you splurge and go to In De Wulf..

 

Lunch at St. Nicholas Hostellerie - a two-star Michelin restaurant

 

 

Yesterday D took off work and we drove an hour and a half into the western part of Belgium to go to

St. Nicholas Hostellerie - a two-star Michelin restaurant.

 

 

Warm bread was immediatly brought to the table.  Then, our first course, an amuse bouche.  From left to right: a guacamole pillow wrapped in bacon, prawn marshmallow, and goose foie gras covered in a crackle crust served with a glass of kir.

 

 

The little pillow crunched in our mouths

and then a shot of guacamole flooded in.

 

The marshmallow melted like air, dispersing

a shrimp flavor over our tongues.

 

The next course, another amuse bouche, was king crab wrapped with beef carpacchio; and in the white dish, (right to left) goose and quail liver parfait with shrimp, risotto, and a mushroom.  The parfait was delectable.  This was served with a nice white wine from Spain.

 

What a fun way to serve a small taste. 

Just a simple glass turned upside down.

 

 

Beautiful! 

The chef, Franky Vanderhaeghe, described the main theme of his cooking as "pure gastronomic pleasure".

 
Here is a detailed shot of the goose and quail liver parfait.

 

The chef is fairly young to have two stars. 

He creates very innovative and creative dishes.

 

We have never seen black gloves worn by the servers. They had them on when they placed the silverware on the table or when serving a dish. I wonder how many time they take those gloves on and off in a day?

 

 

Our third amuse bouche was a cup of prawn bisque with veal tartar on the bottom.  The herb leaf was peppered with parmesean cheese.  And on the plate was ham pate wrapped in a vegetable casing.

 

 

Look at the little puprle leaf on the left.

 

A unique table accessory, an eyedropper design used for olive oil for our bread.

 

 

Our appetizer was shrimp served five ways.  

But we think there was a frog leg thrown in there (sometimes hard to tell with the language barrier)  :  )  all were divine.

 

 

The biscuit on the end of this shrimp roll was so savory.

 

Our main course was wild boar with potato quenelle, celeriac puree, and mixed fall vegetables.  They pared a soft red wine from Bordeaux.

 

At first we were told it was deer and it was described to us as white pork - remember we are in west flanders - the Dutch speaking part of Belgium.  We tried again with another server who was able to tell us in French which of course D was able to understand...wild boar.

 

 

The boar meat was delicious and as tender as butter. 

 

We thought this garnish was very creative - endive leaves wrapped around the potato quenelle.  We may have to give this one a try at home.

 Dessert time!  For the first round, we were served pear sorbet and mint foam marshmallows.

 

With a little biscuit and meringue.

 

The yellow cube is the mint marshmellow.

 

 

Next came our coffee.

 

I absolutely loved the container the cream came in.  When we took off the lid - it had a little ladle.

 

I need to look for one of these for us to serve our cream!

 

This is what I love about the Michelin restaurants, just when you think you are finished, out comes another round of desserts!

 

The very popular macroon with an orange filling,

 

a lemon drop with silver leafing which burst with flavor as we bit into it,

 

and a decadent brownie bite.

 

I like this angle D captured of our sweet little morsels.

When we finished the second round of desserts, D leaned back and declared this to be a perfectly wonderful meal!

I agreed!

The four hour dinner

-

WARNING:  Do Not Read if you are hungry :  )

Le Prieure Saint Gery is one of 14 two-starred Michelin restaurants in Belgium.  We have been wanting to try it for awhile, but it is hard to get reservations.  They have a special offer which includes dinner, and over night stay in their 6 room B&B, and breakfast.

 

 

The meal lasted four hours and it had 13 courses.  We selected the flight of wines where the sommelier paired a wine with each main course with a sweet wine for dessert. 

This was the pre-pre amuse-bouche.  Tomato mousse with mini savory waffle.  It is a little dark as I took this first photo without a flash.  I was trying to be "cool".  The restaurant was very relaxed so I didn't worry about the flash later.  My Blog readers needed good photos!

 
 

Next course, and one of my favorites (because of the ice cream) - cold asparagus soup topped with parmesan ice cream and a parmesan crisp.

 

The next two came on a plate together - oyster in a pesto broth and 

 

white fish with olive tapenade with creme fraiche.

 

 

Another amuse-bouche - seafood egg roll with aioli sauce.

 

Wait, one more amuse-bouche - warm egg salad topped with shrimp and broccoli gelee.  This one definitely tasted better than it photographed.

Oh and I can't forget the bread.  I could have just eaten this along with the butter.  It may have been the best butter we have had.  It was from from Brittany France and they are known for their superior butter.  Guess where I want to go next?

 

 

 

And finally the real appetizer - a lovely white fish, called Saint-Pierre served with eggplant, grapefruit, saffron and a few other tasty morsels.

 

 

Ta-Da - our first main course.  Red fish, bouillabaisse with clams, zucchini, arugula pesto, with a to-die-for cream broth.

 

 

A palate cleanser, again one of my favorites as it was sweet pea ice cream served with crispy bacon salt and asparagus cream.  Doesn't this make your mouth water just reading the description.

 

The second main course.  It had a sauce, but I was so anxious to eat it, I forgot to take the photo after the sauce was poured.  Duck breast, duck rillettes, asparagus, wild mushrooms, spring onion and red fruit.

Of course there had to be a cheese course.  One of the most beautiful cheese carts we have experienced.  

Worthy of three photos.

 

 

You are able to select the cheeses you want.  But we told him to just make a plate for us, each one different so we could share.  We told him small.  He gave us each seven cheeses each.

 

The cheeses were served with a plate of condiments.

I now have no room left.  But wait, how could I skip dessert? 

I can't  :  )      Good thing it was small.

The little chocolate one deserves a close up

 

Perfect......until we discovered this was just the pre-dessert to dessert!  Below is dessert, a parade of chocolate.  Again, another one that was hard to photograph, but trust me - it was so devine it melted in our mouths.

 

And believe it or not.....there was a post-dessert, dessert cart with coffee and ICE CREAM!!!  Now you know I was completely full as I passed on the dessert cart.  Just to make sure you caught that.....the dessert cart had ice cream and I passed on it.  I could not find one teeny-tiny spot to put it in.  It may have been the first time in my life I skipped ice cream  :   (

We were very happy that we only had to walk upstairs to go to sleep.  Certainly an unforgettable meal!