Eating in Belgium

I spent a few days in Belgium a couple of days ago, mostly visiting friends and eating at their home – but we did get out one day, had lunch in Brugge and then dinner in Brussels. We went to restaurants catering to the tourist trade, both offering Belgian specialties with prix-fix menus giving limited choices.
At Brugge we went to the ‘T Oud Kanthuys restaurant, somewhere near a canal – I can’t be more specific. Adriana had some cheese croquettes which were quite nice and I had a pate paysanne (sp?) which tasted like a million others of those. Then she had the carbonnade a la Flamande, which was quite good – just like the one I made for my Belgian dinner. I had rabbit in a wine sauce (I think), which was also surprisingly tasty. For dessert I had an apple tart, and I don’t remember what Adriana had. Lunch with a coke and a beer came up to about $40 euros (service charge not included) – about $50. Not bad for a multi-course lunch of such quality.
Dinner in Brussells was at the “Aux Arcades” at Rue des Bouchers. I had the “cheese fondue”, which actually was very much like the cheese croquettes Adriana had had for lunch: thick chunks of cheese, breaded and deep fried. Good but not what I was expecting – though this seems to be what they mean by “fondue” in Belgium. I can’t remember what Adriana had as an appetizer. As her entree Adriana had their moules, not fried but in some sort of sauce. She was less than impressed by them. I had the carbonnade, which once again was good but I felt the beef was tougher than it had been that morning for lunch. Dessert was some sort of tart, not very impressive. In all, we felt the meal had not been as good and for E58 ($73), including two beers, it wasn’t nearly as good a deal.
That was it, no other Belgian food for me. I may have to go again.

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