Brussels - Chocolate Heaven!

Happy Easter and hope you will all enjoy your chocolate Easter egg!

I must talk about fabulous chocolate experience in Brussels. Yes my husband kept his promise and has taken me to a long weekend break to Brussels the other day and I have absolutely enjoyed it. There are so much to talk about what you can eat in Brussels but I shall keep it to Belgium chocolate today.

In Brussels there are so many chocolate boutiques everywhere, not to mention famous Godiva and Neuhaus. No wonder as I have heard that there are approximately 2,000 chocolate shops in Belgium, and 22 Neuhaus in Brussels alone!!!  Every show window was fabulously decorated with chocolate eggs and they are also seriously not-cheap....

Godiva's show window - fabulous!

Neuhaus's huge chocolate egg on their show window.....

Corn Port Royall's show window

Mary's show window

Godiva's hand-dipped chocolate strawberries....

Another Godiva's chocolate-dipped strawberry corns...
I wish I had this when I was there... Look at the sizes of strawberries!!

Another show window of a chocolatier in Brussels.... Mmmmmm

Anyway, my husband and I were walking through Les Galeries Saint Hubert, beautiful glass roofed arcade in the centre of Brussels and found the original Neuhaus shop and cafe, Salon de Chocolat. We decided to go in for an afternoon dessert.

Les Caleries Saint Hubert

Neuhaus's Salon de Chocolat

Inside of the cafe

Chocolate menu....

I was really excited as soon as I seated - chair, table, table mat (although it was a paper, not linen cloth) and menus are all in light to brown chocolate colours, really enticing you to want to eat chocolate!

We then both ordered Chocolate Treat (10 euro) from the menu, which consists of a hot chocolate, a patisserie and a praline from Neuhaus selection. 

Hot chocolate was lovely smooth and silky, accompanied by Neuhaus light tea biscuit. For patisserie, I had Eclair au cafe (choux pastry with coffee cream filling and coffee icing) while, I think, my husband had Tartelette au chocolat (sweet pastry, dark origine chocolate ganache).

And for their famous pralines, I had Cornet dore (piped almond and hazelnut gianjuja) whilst my husband had Suzanne (a raspberry ganache on a fine layer of praline). The latter was a tribute to Suzanne Neuhaus-De-Gavre, the daughter of Jean Neuhaus Junior (the founder of Neuhaus chocolatier and the inventor of praline and a famous opera singer who is most remembered for the 1942 production of Manon Lescaut at La Monnaie Opera House in Brussels. 

All was really delicious but by the time we left the cafe both were totally chocolated-out! As we were leaving the cafe, I was looking at beautifully made patisserries and macaroons and really wished I could eat everything in the cafe. 

Well, one of my 'to do list' in Brussels was to go to the ultimate chocolate boutique or Haute Chocolaterie, Pierre Marcolini (http://www.marcolini.be) in Place du Grand Sablon. Pierre Marcolini was named the World Champion of Pastry in 1995 and he is one of the few chocolatiers to make chocolate from the ben themselves. . His shop looks more like a sophisticated jeweller than a mere chocolate shop and his chocolate comes with expensive price tag.

Chocolate boutique at the corner of Place du Grand Sablon.

Window display for Easter delights!

You can't buy Pierre Marcolini's chocolate at Duty Free so my husband bought me a box of Malline Decouverte -  containing dainty sizes of 34 original chocolates assortments.  

Jewels of chocolate....

So far I have only had a few, savouring as if they are precious jewels and they really are for the price !!!  I should however eat them all soon as apparently they should be best eaten within a month, which is a great excuse to eat chocolate!

I have not forgotten to get some little souvenirs for Emily and Maria from Neuhaus and their boyfriends (well, Craig is now Emily's fiancé really...). I also got them chocolate spoons from Corne Port Royal.

Back home now, my manager has given me a box of Linden Lady's hand-made chocolate fudges for Easter. They are so pretty to look at as well as delicious to eat. As soon as I came home, I could not wait to try them and now half of them have already been consumed by my family. Yummy. 

After we came back from Brussels, I have heard on the radio that Belgium post office have started selling the series of five stamps with chocolate flavour for Easter. Apparently an infusion of a little cacao oil in both the ink used to print the image and the glue that you lick on the back, wow! Both the sender and the recipient get some of Belgian chocolate. I wish I knew and I could buy them for postcards, but for the numbers of postcards we sent whilst we were in Brussels, I might as well spend that money on real chocolate from Neuhaus or Godiva or even Pierre Marcolini, so just as well.

Happy Easter and that's all forks!

Happy Mother's Day

I know it's a bit late but I thought I mentioned what we had for lunch when my daughters, Emily and Maria, took me and my husband for Mother's Day a few weeks ago.

They booked us for a table for 4 at City Merchant Restaurant (http://www.citymerchant.co.uk) in Glasgow and we had a lovely lunch from their Mother's Day Menu. This is a seafood restaurant that has been operating since 1988. I heard about this restaurant but had never tried this place before so it was a lovely treat.

Inside of the restaurant

For starter, Maria had Butternut Squash Soup with sage and permesan, Emily had Shellfish Cocktail with Marie Rose sauce while my husband and I had Whisky Cured Salmon with capers and creme fraiche.

Butternut Squash Soup

Shellfish Cocktail

Whisky Cured Salmon

For main course, Maria had Roast Sirloin of Beef with crushed roast potatoes, thyme gravy and Yorkshire pudding. Emily and my husband had Pollock Mornay with a prawn and dill sauce. I had Seared Hake with a mussel, tomato and vegetable broth.

Roast Sirloin of Beef

Pollock Mornay

Seared Hake

To finish off the meal, we then had desserts - Maria and I had Chocolate Torte with raspberry sorbet and creme Anglaise. My husband had Tipsy Laird Trifle and Emily had due of Scottish Cheeses with biscuits, chutney and grapes.

Chocolate Torte

Tipsy Laird Trifle

Duo of Scottish Cheeses

We really enjoyed our lunch. Being fish/shellfish lover, it was also nice to have fish-based menu instead of meat based menu for a change. So much so my husband and I will go back there sometime soon to try their seafood platter which, according to their website menu, consists of langoustine, scallops, oysters, mussels, shell-on prawns and crab claws. (We actually got a good on-line deal for two x seafood platters with a bottle of wine to share so we are hoping that Maria, who has recently passed driving test and loves driving for every opportunity she gets, will come and pick us up from the restaurant after the dinner.....).

Emily and Maria paid our lunch, with their hard-earned cash for Mother's Day, especially Maria being a student too.  How grown up they are now to do this for us and what wonderful daughters I have!  Thank you, Emily and Maria for lovely lunch for special day!

Oh, I also checked the toilet, of course and it passed my test. It's a bit small with 2 cubicles and any more than 3 people around hand wash area would make one feel a bit crowded but it was clean. Toilets are in downstairs and corridor leading to the toilet was all decorated in tartan and made us feel if we were in a Highland lodge and suddenly you forget you are in the middle of city centre Glasgow or made us feel even if we were in Brigadoon but luckily we were not in a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every hundred years!

For your information their website also informs us that they offer 30% discount on a la carte every Sunday (except Easter Sunday) if you book your table quoting code CMSUN30.  Menu looks nice and it caters not only for seafood lovers but also for vegetarians and meat eaters too.

I shall report back after we try seafood platter soon.

That's all forks!

Cafe Coia for everyone - Italian in Glasgow

We went back again..... to Cafe Cois on Duke Street, Glasgow. This time with my mother-in-law Mary.  The restaurant has a Diner feeling, it's Italian restaurant and caters for everyone and offers everything.  There are so many dishes on the menu, I wish I can just go through the menu, from the top to the bottom, trying out every single dish on the menu....

It was lunch time but my daughter Maria ordered all day breakfast that came with nicely toasted bread. (If you want you can also order vegetarian breakfast!)

Mary ordered OHP special and chose fish and chips that came with slices of bread, a mug of tea and dessert of apple pie and ice cream!  I stole some of her chips and it was real chippy's chips and fish was fried to perfection!

My husband and I ordered seafood linguini each as predicted....with abundance of seafood. I could not finish all so I had a doggy box to take home. That became my husband's dinner the next day when he came home after Aikido practice in the evening and he really enjoyed!

We then had cafe latte and cappuccino to finish off our meal, helping out Mary's apple pie..... yum!

I should try something else as I always order the same thing and there are so many dishes to choose from the menu!

We will be back for sure.

That's all forks!

Love is all around ....

I have been neglecting to update my blog again.... and I know it's far too late to talk about Valentine as it's almost a month ago but I got photos so why not?!

Anyway, every year for Valentine, my husband and I just exchange cards but no special Valentine Dinner at a restaurant. Younger daughter, Maria went to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen with her boyfriend on  Valentine's Day but no photos for their dinner. 

Well, as most of you are aware, Emily and Craig are now officially engaged!!!  So exciting!!! We are now going around all wedding exhibitions and wedding dress shops around the country soon....

Anyway, Emily and Craig went to Las Ramblas (http://www.lasramblastapas.co.uk)  in Bearsden, outskirts of Glasgow for Valentine's dinner on Valentine's Day but Craig did not propose her then as he had a huge plan to do that in New York in 2 weeks later.  Craig just wanted to have romantic dinner with Emily on Valentines' Day whilst Emily, who had no idea what was coming in 2 weeks later, was busy taking photos of tapas she was eating using flash while other diners were holding hands in romantic low light ....  anyway, here are what she ate (but she couldn't bring herself to take photos of what Craig had, in case restaurant threw her out for ruining other diners' romantic dinner .... no, just kidding :-) ....)

She had mixed Seafood Tapas (squid tons, prawns and white cod in a batter served with garlic and herb mayo dip, lemon and salad; Patatas Bravas; Mushroom stuffed with chorizo and black pudding; chicken croquettes, garlic bread and finished off with hot caramel apple pie with crunchy caramel on top and Scottish tablet ice cream. She said this was TDF!!!.   

The next day, my husband, Maria and I went to Sarti in Glasgow for dinner and we ended up having Valentine Menu. We didn't plan to do that so it was rather nice for a change, so here are what we ate:

Pan seared king scallops served on a bed of wilted spinach for starter

Tagliatelle alla Eros - Tagliatelle with fresh water king prawns
and baby prawns in a light chilli sauce for main course

Maria had Pesto Linguine (not Valentine Menu)

Maria had Chocolate Torte (not Valentine Menu)

My husband had traditional 24 month Parmigiano cheese served with honey
Let's not worry about calories ....

I had Panna Cotta with steamed pears and chocolate sauce

So, in the end everyone got lovely Valentine Dinners and love is all around.... Well, now almost a month later, a lot have happened!  Maria passed driving test so she is now driving my car around and also becomes our designated driver if we go for a meal and my husband and I can have a vino or two... lovely!   Emily and Craig has now engaged in New York where they went for holiday, lovely. Food photos will follow soon so watch the space! And, you never guess, we now have a cat in our house. Her name is Yuki, which means snow in Japanese, as she is all white (except her tail and bit of her face).  In my entire life I was allergic to cats (or according to my husband it was all in my imagination) until now. I said to my husband, "Let's go to Cat Rescue Place, just to have a look and we are not getting any...."   So off we went one Sunday in February and here she is now, she has taken over our lives, but she is such a lovely cat!   Oh, Maria has also done very well at Critical Assessment at placement the other day and her future is definitely bright, lovely!!!! 

Love is all around us.

That's all forks!