Saturday 27 September 2008

LA BECASSE: ALL FLESH AND BLOOD

The nights are drawing in, the falling leaves drift past my window, and the prospect of another long cold winter looms. Not that you would notice much difference from the summer we've just had. Christian and pagan rituals alike at this time of year are all tied up with withering, darkness and death. At the end of this month falls All Hallows with its American commercial entity Hallowe'en, when we honour the departed to appease them from coming back and haunting us. All over the world different nationalities celebrate the arrival of the "dark side" of the earth's yearly cycle in different ways, often verging on the macabre.

In Poland, for example, the entire population heads for the cemeteries on All Hallows Eve to light candles and tidy up graves. The overall effect is rather jolly, the cemeteries are like Piccadilly Circus and the flickering multi-coloured candles creat the effect of a sort of nightclub for the departed. The late Late show, you might say. It's just as commercial as Hallowe'en in its own way: candlemakers and chrysanthemum growers can retire to the south of France for the winter on the strength of their October sales. Parents take their children to visit the ancestors and to pay homage to the many who gave their lives in defence of their country. This could explain the uniquely Polish absence of any fear of death, which you will have witnessed if you've ever been in the back of a Warsaw taxi.

Ixelles cemetery is a peaceful and tidy place, where the tombs are better kept than most people's front gardens. The section where many soldiers of the Great War are buried is particularly moving, the rows of tombstones laid out as if on parade in straight lines, separated by hedges which recall the trenches where so many of them met their deaths - mostly Belgian, but a large number of French, British, Russian and Italian soldiers too. The fact that the Armistice fell so close to All Hallows makes it all the more poignant.



The cemetery is close to the ULB campus and the large number of young people in the area is a cheering reminder that life goes on. After a pensive stroll among the tombs with Bert, musing on pre-paid funeral plans, we had worked up an appetite, and in the fading light we thought it prudent to leave the eternally slumbering to their everlasting peace and repair to the restaurant across the street for a fortifying apéritif. La Bécasse is a no-nonsense traditional brasserie in rustic style, with efficient waiters in long aprons. The menu is extensive with a lot of beef - particularly raw, in the form of carpaccio, filet américain and steak tartare. It's popular for Sunday lunch, and in fine weather you can eat outside with a cheery view of the cemetery gates. In winter a roaring log fire will keep the cold out.



After a very posh kir with a maraschino cherry in it (I'm easily impressed) a bowl of piping hot French onion soup warmed me up. Bert, who is something of a carnivore, had a plate of glistening carpaccio. I couldn't resist my favourite kidneys in an unctuous mustard sauce, which came with four perfectly formed potato croquettes - arranged in the form of a cross! And just as well. Bert's steak tartare consisted of a two-inch thick slab of raw prime minced beef with a raw egg, chopped onions, chives, side salad and chips. The cow (vegetarians look away now) was only just dead, and the meat was bright red ... Bert’s fangs flashed once, and then his face was in his plate, and all that could be heard were Teutonic chomping and slurping sounds. I started to feel a bit uneasy when he got very insistent that we be home before dark … there really is something of the night about Bert occasionally. Lucky I eat a lot of garlic. Happily, it transpired that he just wanted to catch Match of the Day! What a relief. Sometimes I let my imagination run wild.

Intimations of mortality make me want to eat heartily to stave off the reaper. I finished off my meal with a Dame Blanche, an appropriate ghostly dessert for the time of year, and a coffee. Count around 30-35 euros a head with wine.


La Bécasse

Chaussee de Boondael 476

1050 Ixelles / Elsene

Tel: 02 649 0641

http://www.labecasse.net


Friday 19 September 2008

KANTJIL & DE TIJGER, Amsterdam


The Netherlands produce many comestibles of note, not all of which are ingested via the stomach. "Grow your own" in Amsterdam does NOT mean strawberries. Dutch cheese, fruit and vegetables, and chocolate are exported all over the world. However, unless you have a weakness for raw herring, you will probably find Dutch cuisine pretty bland and non-specific, and, as in Britain, the local cuisine is considered something for preparing at home and not for eating out. However, Amsterdam has a vast selection of foreign restaurants, and if you love meat, more "Argentinian" steak houses than any city this side of Buenos Aires.

Rijsttafel is the Indonesian cuisine which has become to Holland what Indian cuisine is to Britain, and for the same reasons: The Dutch were the colonial masters in the East Indies, and adapted the local food to suit their tastes. There are more Indonesian restaurants in Amsterdam there than you can shake a shadow puppet at. On a Saturday evening we must have got the last free table at Kantjil & de Tijger, so I would recommend booking in advance. It is a smart, modern restaurant with no kitsch Indonesian decor. Not having the faintest idea what we were ordering, we picked out a selection of meat and vegetarian dishes, two kinds of rice and one bowl of noodles. The Dutch and Indonesian waiting staff speak perfect English and can advise on all the dishes. Be careful, some of them such as ajam smoor chicken make a Vindaloo look mild, and there's nothing on the menu to warn you.

The dishes that arrived were very diverse, ranging from fresh fruit to blow-your-head-off chicken, but on the whole very tasty with more diverse flavours than a curry meal. I particularly liked the gado gado, which is a dish of lightly steamed vegetables with a peanut sauce, as well as staple dishes such as nasi goreng (fried rice) and bami goreng (fried noodles). With three beers and a bottle of house white, we came out for just under 25 euros a head, bellies full. A full rijsttafel menu can be had here for 22 to 28 euros a head, without wine, and if you can run to it, I'd recommend going for the full monty and getting a wider view of what Indonesian cuisine has to offer.

Kantjil & De Tijger
Spuistraat 291-293
1012 VS Amsterdam
Tel: 020 620 0994
www.kantjil.nl