Foodie Chat

As part of our 70th birthday month ( ), we had a lovely meal at The Ivy. Excellent staff, service, and food. My only criticism was the food could have been slightly hotter. But we’d happily go back any time.

Oh, we were there yesterday Amber.

York or Harrogate?

Yesterday we had lunch at Erimi's Kitchen, George cooks good old fashioned Fish & Chips, proper double cooked, hand cut chips and a light batter on the fish. You know which patrons are Cypriot, they are the ones eating salad with their lunch.

Moira

Today our friends took us to

https://www.huelsmannshof.de/restaurant

It’s in Essen. It’s very nice. I had a pork schnitzel, and OH had John Dory. The others had various pork dishes. When we got there, we realised that we had been before, and it was definitely worth going back. The seating was fairly busy, but it transpired that half of the indoor space had been closed off for a wedding reception. It was very warm outdoors. The bride was in white, but the attendants looked uncomfortable in black, and I think they were glad to be indoors quickly.

https://theangelmicrobrewery.co.uk/

Fishfinger sandwiches and a glass of wine before the cinema this afternoon.
I haven't eaten here before but the food always looked good.

It was

aero280 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2024 4:52 pm Today our friends took us to

https://www.huelsmannshof.de/restaurant

It’s in Essen. It’s very nice. :)

It looks nice, what a lovely building. I cannot abide fish, tasteless mush IMO but if the diner enjoyed it that's great. Plus what an interesting interlude watching the wedding. It seems like you're having a good trip.

Last night we had to walk into Wernigerode for supper as the hotel we are staying at closes on Sunday. The Weisser Hirsch is very good. The lamb was excellent. The waiter was third generation English. His grandfather was in the Army, stationed at Guterslöh, and married a German girl. Their son also married a German girl. They all spoke English at home, so the waiter's English was perfect. He has an English and a German passport, and he has only been to England once for a holiday.

tonight we are eating in. The only choice is what sort of schnitzel to choose...

The German food sounds good, as I've been in Brussels, of course I've been eating out, we booked dinner each night as there are 9 of us, and we did quite well at picking from the Internet

Friday: T'kederke, an old vaulted cellar on the Grand Place, good food and service right in the city centre, if you follow the link do sroll down to see the pictures. I had the kidneys in mustard sauce, delicious and well cooked
https://restaurant-het-kelderke.be/en

Saturday we had booked a pizza-pasta place, not far from the hotel, not realising they had no drinks licence - but they had a friendly bottle shop next door, so we had nice pizza washed down with a glass of wine, sitting outside, finishing just before it started to rain, Saturday was a hot day.
But the highlight was a visit to á la Mort Subite - a beer hall as well as a bottled beer (it means sudden death), if you go to Brussels do visit, it's a perfect, glorious, 1910 beer hall complete with aproned waiters running round with trays lifted on one hand, They don't do full meals, but pub grub, toasties etc and the famous beer (it's a sour beer so not for me, I prefer a biere blonde)
https://alamortsubite.com/en

Sunday was a bit odd, we thought we'd booked a small Lebanese restaurant called Sumac on the Mont des Arts (museum quarter) but although looking again I can see some of the photos for Sumac a show a big glass roofed space, some of those we saw were either taken in one of the downstairs dining rooms or the Antwerp branch, showing a cosy Middle Eastern space. And the menu was mainly Mexican. However we had some decent food, I shared the veggie meze with someone and it was excellent, a few ideas to copy, and rosé but it was very noisy (big hangar-like space, glass roof, Brazilian (?) birthday party, techno music but the party asked for that to be turned down)
What we expected
https://pleinpubliek.be/wp-content/uplo ... S-2023.pdf
What we got
https://pleinpubliek.be/wp-content/uplo ... b-Menu.pdf

Yesterday we had lunch at Le Cerf on the the Grand Place, €24 for a starter (shrimp croquette for me), a main (moules et frites) and a dessert (waffle) - ultimate Brussels meal! Lovely old building and we had the upper floor to ourselves.

Going downstairs again soon for another schnitzel, probably, but alternatives look a bit routine. Steak and chips. Liver and onions. Maybe three others. But the schnitzels are available in seven styles, and two sizes. The small is 7 ounces and the large is 14 ounces! before the sauces and garnishes. Then there’s a salad and chips on top. The chips were very nice, hot and crispy. I will probably succumb to another one.

https://www.hotel-alte-brennerei.de/Res ... Brennerei/

You can download the menu. I had the Brockenschnitzel. OH had the Jägerschnitzel.

Mort Subite is lovely, we went on our last night in Brussels a few years ago. I’d been really unwell for most of our stay but was determined to make it out that evening

Their fruit beers are not sour at all unfortunately, the one I had was cloyingly sweet. Beautiful surroundings though.

Hearing about Sue’s trip is making me want to go back to Brussels

Intrigued that the schnitzels are available in vegetarian, made from fake meat aero! I still haven't been to our local schitzel restaurant, must try it,

Yes, neither of us are vegetarian. But all the German restaurants seem to have take veggy and vegan on board. When we first started coming to Germany with the family in the late 80’s it was unheard of. And before that, on school & uni group trips, it wasn’t even thought of.

Fake meat and 0% alcohol were both readily available when T worked in Germany 2013 onwards - and probably had been for much longer. I have my theories as to why (there and not, say France, where it’s only just appearing in supermarkets) and in burger form in cafes and bars.

Today for lunch more tapas, this time in Competa. Same stuff more or less. Fried Aubergines with black ‘honey’, Patatas bravas, toast and aioli, toast with goats cheese and onion jam, garlic mushrooms and bread and butter. Far too much food! About 25 euros. We’d have had the same number of dishes, a quarter of the food and it would have cost £60 in London, possibly, without the coke, Fanta, large bottle of sparkling water and pint of red wine spritz thing.

herbidacious wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2024 9:16 pm large bottle of sparkling water and pint of red wine spritz thing.

Was it Tinto de Verano? Loosely translated as ‘summer drink’ equal parts red wine and lemonade/ limeade. Very dangerous drink as I can consume vast quantities thinking it’s harmless!!

BB

We asked (what other people were drinking, having seen it a lot) but didn’t catch what she said. It was a no menu kind of place. The first word was tinto. I didn’t touch it! Still not convinced my alcohol free sangria was! (But probably was.)

herbidacious wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2024 9:16 pm Fake meat and 0% alcohol were both readily available when T worked in Germany 2013 onwards - and probably had been for much longer.

Wasn’t Hitler a vegetarian?

Definitely sounds like Tinto de Verano. My favourite drink in Spain. It’s better than drinking a glass of wine as there is half the amount of alcohol and is more refreshing. But there is certainly alcohol in it.

Pepper Pig wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2024 7:58 am

herbidacious wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2024 9:16 pm Fake meat and 0% alcohol were both readily available when T worked in Germany 2013 onwards - and probably had been for much longer.

Wasn’t Hitler a vegetarian?

No, just faddy according to some historian I heard - Dan Snow possibly?

The Germans have always had a tendency to fling in the odd meat free or almost meat free meal, look at some of Uschi's suggestions for light fruit and veg based repasts to refresh the palate and the organs!

We had a vegetarian with us in Brussels, very little for vegetarians, though we found a couple of the really traditional places seemed to keep something like individual veg lasagne in the fridge to put in the oven when required, that's what she had at very trad Le Cerf, it was huge and apparently good. They also tend to cook the frites in beef dripping

I think we ended up eating Italian on our last trip to Belgium. Had some nice cake though.

Our ex-NDN is from Seville. She makes Tinto de Verano with bitter lemon. There’s quite a lot of ice too, but it still contains red wine of course.