Restaurant Le Martin Pêcheur 100 Boulevard Brand Whitlock Woluwé-Saint-Lambert, Brussels 1200 Open 7 days a week from 12:00 to midnight
Le Martin Pêcheur (king fisher) is a restaurant located in Brussels not far from the Parc du Cinquantenaire. It has a large terrasse which must be quite pleasant in a better weather. Inside it is nicely decorated with wood and plants. The menu is fairly varied and covers all kind of dishes, from pasta to fish, meat, mussels, salads… You have to be difficult not to find a meal that suits you.
We were four people. As main meals we ordered two gambas “vallée de Bekaa” (€34), one brochette d’agneau au thym (lamb on a skew with thyme – €19), one rôti de chevreuil aux champignons des bois (venison with mushrooms – €23). We all took the dessert of the month which was the trio de desserts (€32). As drinks we had 1/2 litre of water (€4.50) and three blanche 25cl (great Belgian beer – €9).
Interesting meals were the fondus au parmesan (parmesan cheese), the scampis frits (fried scampis), the chèvre chaud bardé de lard et au caramel vanillé (hot goat cheese with bacon and caramel with vanilla), the escargots à l’ail (snails with garlic), the vegetarian lasagna, scampi with pesto, tuna tartare and taboulé, the assiette de foie gras, the dos de cabillaud rôti crème à l’échalote citronnée et à la blanche de Haacht (grilled cod with with cream of shallop with lemon and blanche de Haacht beer).
Gambas "vallée de Bekaa"
Brochette d'agneau au thym
Rôti de chevreuil aux champignons des bois
Close-up of the venison
Everyone was pleased by their dish. I had the venison which was quite good. The meat was tender and not too overpowering, thanks to the good mushroom sauce and the mixed berries. Not exactly the light refined meal but it was very welcome after spending the day out.
Trio de desserts
Cost and conclusion: it was €121.50 in all. It is a little on the expensive side but the food, dessert included, was quite decent and the staff are very friendly. I would gladly go back. If you are in the area (in short, in the European quarter of Brussels) and into vintage cars, you should visit the AutoWorld Museum!
Samourai Japanese restaurant 28 rue Fossé-aux-loups 1000 Brussels, Belgium Open from 12:00 to 14:00 and from 19:00 to 21:00 Closed on Sunday lunch time and on Tuesday.
Good green tea
Samourai is a Japanese restaurant located at 28 Fossé-aux-loups in Brussels. It is about 5 minutes walk from the Grand Place and the nearest metro station is de Brouckère. It is rated 16/20 and a heart at Gault Millau restaurant guide and has a good reputation amongst the Japanese community here. Well, Samourai has been here since 1975 so it is pretty well known. I had eaten there several times when I lived in Brussels so this is a kind of revisit after many years.
Bento box
The decor inside has not really changed, everything is minimalist, sober but quite nice too. We ordered two Bento boxes with some green tea. The bento box was quite complete with sushi, sashimi, tempura, teriyaki chicken. It was nicely presented and the food was tasteful.
Cost and conclusion: it was 60 euros for two people. We enjoyed the meals which were excellent but I still feel it was overpriced despite the good quality. Could be because I got used to the good value for money in Japanese restaurants in London. Recommended if you are in the area and really want to eat Japanese food. If not, eat Japanese in London at Tokiya or Hazuki for example.
Eurostar Business Premier food
Eurostar claims on its website “Travelling Business Premier affords you the efficiency and flexibility to make the most of your time on board, and in such a premier service you can expect the food and drink to reach the same high standards. That’s why when you travel Business Premier you’ll enjoy delicious meals suited to your time of travel.”
Delicious meals? I travel quite frequently on Eurostar – and make a point of trying to reach the station early enough to be able to eat something in the lounge before the journey. Because the food onboard is so incredibly awful. Think of the worst of economy class airline food 20 years ago (they’ve improved enormously since then) and you’ve about matched Eurostar business class meals. I honestly don’t know how they do it. How can a train that travels to/from France multiple times a day still serve up stale and previously frozen (apt to crumble) bread? It is especially horrid on the Brussels route… How do they do it?
Airlines (whose food is rarely this bad) at least have the excuse of altitude, highly restricted space and time/distance from places where the food is produced. But a train that makes just a 2-hour journey? What follows is pretty typical Eurostar fare. And tasted about as good as it looks 😉
Eurostar meal
Minced meat
Closer...
What we have here is some wilted salad (that means salad most likely made yesterday, but in any case old and drooping), some minced lamb (I think – it really isn’t certain), and some (powdered?) mashed potato. No flavour, no seasoning. Honestly, unless you’re starving, do yourself a favour and either eat first or wait for the nearest McDonalds on arrival. Your stomach will thank you for it… The dessert was an apricot pastry accompanied by some canned apricots. Again, old and dry. Probably made in the morning (this was an evening train) and left out or refrigerated uncovered since that time. If you really want an apricot pastry, I recommend trying them in the St Pancras lounge before departure in the morning – at which time they are actually fresh.
Cost and conclusion: the meal is appalling for a business class. Take advantage of the lounge before departure if you missed your lunch/dinner! It is really too bad since the trip on Eurostar is much more comfortable than flying to Brussels/Paris where we waste time with all the security.
The Prince Albert 85 Albert Bridge Road, Battersea London SW11 4PF
The Prince Albert
Two dogs at the door and a cow on the roof
Nice great Dane
Great statue
The main entrance
The Prince Albert is a surprising-looking pub with two big statues of dogs outside and a cow on the roof. If, like me, you like to see Meerkats at Battersea Park Zoo and feel hungry after watching them eating (the feeding time is 11am by the way) the pub is very well located right in front of Battersea Park on the Albert Bridge road side.
The counter
Another view
Inside it is spacious and there is also outside seating. It seems the pub is frequented by many parents taking their babies out at the park but we did not hear any babies screaming etc. It was fine.
We ordered chicken liver pate, apple chutney (£6.50) and onion and thyme soup with Cheddar cheese toast ($6) as starters. They were followed by a cheese burger, dill pickle and chips (£9.50) and a Kilravock pork chop, Irish black pudding and duck egg (£10). As drinks we had a lemonade (£1.60) and a pint of Stella (£3.50).
Ketchup and mayonnaise in the little cups
Other interesting meals were the Berkswell cheese, pickled walnuts and beetroot salad (£7.50), the smoked trout, green brean and soft boiled egg salad (£8), the Scottish mussels, cider, leeks and bacon (£9), the 28 day aged rib eye steak on the bone, parsley butter and chips (£18.50), the roast skate wing, brown shrimps and capers (£13) and the Welsh lamb rump, roast garlic and white bean stew (£12.50). I was interested by the Ploughman’s lunch but unfortunately it contained stilton cheese and I have not been converted to it yet despite living here for over 5 years now. I still remember the spoon of vegemite on a toast I ate in Sydney while visiting a friend. It was horrible but compared to stilton it was quite edible.
The two starters
Chicken liver pate
The chicken liver pate was quite large and thick. It came with 4 slices of toasted bread but they were still not enough to accomodate all the pate. Another slice would have been welcome. As for the pate itself, it was very rich (it was surrounded by butter-like fat on its side, if not just pure butter) but was nice and smooth. Conversely, I really did not like the apple chutney. It was like baby food and I stopped eating it after half a spoon.
Onion soup
The onion soup wasn’t too good either. It was made with a sort of caramelised onion that rendered the soup itself sweet (really not what you want with onion soup). The cheese was fine, but the toast it apparently was on was well and truely disintegrated within the soup, so hardly noticeable. Overall, a rather strange and not especially nice dish that I would not choose again.
The two main courses
Kilravock pork chop
The Kilravock pork chop was a little dry and bland. Full of fat too and little meat, and I am not a fat meat gourmet. It was well cooked at least but no taste at all. Maybe they forgot to add some salt? The Irish black pudding was good, not too strong as can happen with black pudding. The duck egg was perfectly cooked. Compared to hen eggs, duck eggs contain less water so the white looks more gelatinous which is the case here.
Cheese burger
The cheese burger had potential – but the “medium” cooked burger was rare to the point of nearly being a tartare! I could have lived with that, but had asked for it medium expecting – as is usual in the UK – to get something well done, as I wanted my meat well cooked. It also seemed a little sad that the burger arrived rather empty looking with just the meat and cheese inside the bun, with a little squirt of mayonnaise, whilst the remaining contents were outside on the plate. The chips it came with were fine and crispy, if a little floury.
Cost and conclusion: it was £37. The food was average, nothing exceptional but it is conveniently located and has a pleasant clean surrounding. The service was friendly and it is kid friendly.
Simpson’s-in-the-Strand 100 Strand, Covent Garden London WC2R 0EW
Simpson's-in-the-Strand
Although I walk past Simpsons on a daily basis, I have never before gone to this restaurant (though I have been to functions in the building). There are many tourist traps in this area (well, most of the restaurants in this area), and I feared this might be another one. Simpsons is located in the Savoy Palace building, home to the Savoy Hotel and Theatre. With one guest for lunch, who was a visitor to London, I decided to risk it (mainly for the historic nature of the restaurant – it originally opened in 1828). We had not booked, but we were quickly given a table.
The carvery
The decor at Simpsons speaks of Olde English club – which of course, is exactly this restaurant’s origin, as a gentleman’s club and chess venue. The walls are oak panelled, and the lighting chandelliers. Actually, it is very pleasant, and well worth a visit just for the experience. The service is polite and efficient, with no trouble attracting the attention of a waiter at any time. The restaurant has good acoustics too, with no risk of your conversation being magnified across the room, nor drowned out by the conversations of others.
Although Simpsons is best known for its carvery, and also offers an attractive fixed price lunch menu (£24.50 for two courses) we decided to dine a la carte. In fact we chose only one course each, as our time was limited. We ordered Roast Duck Breast served with potato dumplings, confit duck leg and baby spinach (£18.50) and Pan-fried Trout with crayfish & lobster bisque, crushed new potatoes & olives (21.00). We also took as side orders some mashed potato (£3.50) and chips (£3.50). In this case, my non-British colleague was stunned to discover that chips were fries – I had not thought to translate for him before ordering. To drink, we took a bottle of still water.
Mushroom soup
Our meal started with some warm bread rolls (complementary) which were very good. We were then served a small cup of cream of mushroom soup, which was also complementary. Both were very much appreciated, and very good too.
Great mashed potatoes
My meal was the duck, which I have to say was very nicely cooked. The potato dumplings it was served with reminded me rather of gnocchi – I wasn’t too keen on those. The (shredded) confit of duck leg was quite well done, if perhaps a slightly strong flavour, and the baby spinach was perfectly cooked. Nothing like the nasty spinach experience I’d had a few days earlier at Joe Allen! the mashed potatoes were absolutely superb. The only somewhat negative remark I would make about this meal is that Simpsons does serve a type of duck that only seems to be served in the UK – and is most unlike the duck served in most parts of Continental Europe. This is a shame, as British duck somehow seems, however well it might be cooked, to have most of its colour and flavour removed. And so it was in this case. I cannot fault the cooking, as it appeared to be perfectly cooked and was very nice and tender. But it lacked the flavour that can only come from the meat, and not from anything the chef may add to it. Considering how nicely cooked it was, I would not hesitate to return to Simpsons – and I certainly will. But in doing so, I will choose something else from the menu.
Pan-fried trout with crayfish & lobster bisque
My colleague’s trout was also beautifully cooked and nicely presented. Being his first experience of trout, he was suitably impressed and enthusiastic about that dish.
Sadly we did not have time for dessert and coffee, but considering the good quality of the rest of the meal, I would certainly have tried these if time had permitted. Well, another time!
Cost & conclusion: it was £56 and some pence, service charge included. Particularly compared to some recent experiences in nearby restaurants, I think this was very good value for money. The service was polite and attentive, but also very discrete and professional, so it was certainly worth the service charge – even if it was pre-added to our bill. Our meals came perfectly cooked, and the little touches such as the soup to start our meal were very nice. I will return for certain.
