Update 24 May 2020: In view of the ongoing coronavirus crisis, please do not take offence at what follows. It was dated 17 February. We didn't know that the vile virus was already among us. Nobody did. It was not, obviously the middle of the corona virus panic. It was the beginning. COVID did do its worst. It is a relic from a recent past when we were carefree and social. God knows how many people caught the virus that night in Brussels alone. Forgive us, for we knew not what we did.
Woodbine Kitty, Gorbals and I are kindred spirits. Rebels, natural risk takers, we'll take you all down with us. In the middle of the Corona virus panic, we decided we wanted to try out a newish Chinese restaurant. I know. We just don't care. COVID, do your worst.
It was Valentine's Day, and it so happened that I had just received a Valentine from the Belgian authorities that very day. I had been registered as a Belgian. This required a vote of thanks to the Kingdom, which involved sampling several glasses of Belgium's finest. After a swift half in the Brewdog, we braved Storm Dennis as far as the Grand'Place where we ducked into Leroy's (Le Roy d'Espagne). The waiters wear funny aprons, there is a roaring fire in the middle of the room, bars on the windows and puppets and pig bladders hanging from the ceiling. So far, so Belgian. A couple of toasts to Phil and Mattie* and we were ready to pursue our odyssey.
I can't remember when I last saw downtown Brussels so packed. There was this light show going on, which we had intended to visit and then missed most of, and the weather was unseasonably warm despite Storm Dennis blowing up, which may explain partly why the city centre was so packed. Grand'Place was heaving.
In the Archipel bar we fell into conversation with some wacky young Flemings who were all wearing each other's hats. When they learned I was newly one of them, they all stood up and shook my hand and wished me Welkom in Belgium, after which we all sang Happy Birthday to You in Flemish. After 15 years in the birthplace of surrealism, this seemed perfectly normal behaviour to me.
By the time we hit Dam Sum, we were rather windswept and interesting with healthy appetites to boot. Dam Sum looks huge from the outside, but doesn't go back very far so is the opposite of the Tardis. It was packed with kwailos, and the waiting staff were uber trendy beautiful young things of all ethnicities. Our waitress was a delightful maiden from South Korea with perfect teeth and a California accent.
Kitty wanted to kick off with dim sum and cocktails. Well why not. Gorbals had never had a cocktail in his life and gave his Yantai serious examination (see above) before knocking it back in one go. I had a Hong Kong Pink, gin and pomegranate syrup and guava juice. The 3 types of dim sum (about 8 euros for 3 pieces) were good, hand made in a pristine open kitchen where bamboo steamers were on the go.
For mains Gorbals had a classic wonton soup, I had a beef noodle soup, and Kitty had something fried with noodles she'd been coveting on someone else's plate since we'd come in. The beef noodle soup was good, plenty of vegetables and meat (eyes left) but the broth was lacking in something oriental, not a patch on Thaimo my lunchtime hole-in-the-wall. We would have liked a glass of wine at this point, but the waiter said they were technically closed as of 11 p.m. and couldn't serve us anything else, even though it was only 10:50. This struck us as very uncommercial, but may explain why the restaurant is squeezed into a shopfront under a hotel.
Unable to order anything else, we paid and ventured out into the arms of Dennis who blew us clean across the square to a bar, where we had a last snifter before taking the metro home. On the tube we fell into conversation with two older couples who had clearly been on a very enjoyable night out and were wearing each other's hats. Must be a Belgian St Valentine's tradition.
* Their majesties King Philippe of the Belgian, and Queen Mathilde
Dam Sum
Quai du Bois a Bruler 51
Sainte-Catherine
and
Parvis de la Trinite 11
Ixelles
Some more of my favourite oriental eateries:
"Little Saigon" can be found in the university district known, inexplicably, as "Petite Suisse". Chaussée de Boondael alone boasts about 10 Vietnamese restaurants:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Woodbine Kitty, Gorbals and I are kindred spirits. Rebels, natural risk takers, we'll take you all down with us. In the middle of the Corona virus panic, we decided we wanted to try out a newish Chinese restaurant. I know. We just don't care. COVID, do your worst.
It was Valentine's Day, and it so happened that I had just received a Valentine from the Belgian authorities that very day. I had been registered as a Belgian. This required a vote of thanks to the Kingdom, which involved sampling several glasses of Belgium's finest. After a swift half in the Brewdog, we braved Storm Dennis as far as the Grand'Place where we ducked into Leroy's (Le Roy d'Espagne). The waiters wear funny aprons, there is a roaring fire in the middle of the room, bars on the windows and puppets and pig bladders hanging from the ceiling. So far, so Belgian. A couple of toasts to Phil and Mattie* and we were ready to pursue our odyssey.
I can't remember when I last saw downtown Brussels so packed. There was this light show going on, which we had intended to visit and then missed most of, and the weather was unseasonably warm despite Storm Dennis blowing up, which may explain partly why the city centre was so packed. Grand'Place was heaving.
In the Archipel bar we fell into conversation with some wacky young Flemings who were all wearing each other's hats. When they learned I was newly one of them, they all stood up and shook my hand and wished me Welkom in Belgium, after which we all sang Happy Birthday to You in Flemish. After 15 years in the birthplace of surrealism, this seemed perfectly normal behaviour to me.
By the time we hit Dam Sum, we were rather windswept and interesting with healthy appetites to boot. Dam Sum looks huge from the outside, but doesn't go back very far so is the opposite of the Tardis. It was packed with kwailos, and the waiting staff were uber trendy beautiful young things of all ethnicities. Our waitress was a delightful maiden from South Korea with perfect teeth and a California accent.
Kitty wanted to kick off with dim sum and cocktails. Well why not. Gorbals had never had a cocktail in his life and gave his Yantai serious examination (see above) before knocking it back in one go. I had a Hong Kong Pink, gin and pomegranate syrup and guava juice. The 3 types of dim sum (about 8 euros for 3 pieces) were good, hand made in a pristine open kitchen where bamboo steamers were on the go.
 |
| Beef noodle soup |
Unable to order anything else, we paid and ventured out into the arms of Dennis who blew us clean across the square to a bar, where we had a last snifter before taking the metro home. On the tube we fell into conversation with two older couples who had clearly been on a very enjoyable night out and were wearing each other's hats. Must be a Belgian St Valentine's tradition.
* Their majesties King Philippe of the Belgian, and Queen Mathilde
Dam Sum
Quai du Bois a Bruler 51
Sainte-Catherine
and
Parvis de la Trinite 11
Ixelles
Some more of my favourite oriental eateries:
YAKI (Viet-Thai)
Rue du Pont de la Carpe 1
Rue du Midi 52 and
Rue des Poissonniers 6b
Best Thai noodle soup I have ever tasted.
Thaimo (Thai)
Rue du Pont Neuf 35
between Adolphe Max and Jacqumain
Hole in the wall. Top notch noodle soup.
Not spicy - but they will add fire if you want.
Open lunchtimes and early evening.
Cash only.
Boulevard de la Botanique
and
Rue de la Paix 27
Pho-starter-drink combo for 14 euros, decent enough
Pho and pretty popular with Asian people so must be
doing something right.
Rue de Treves 38
opposite European Parliament
touchscreen ordering, big shared tables
full of overexcited stagiaires
320 Hanoi Square
325 Pho Diem Xuan
326 Chez Fleur (Viet)
328 Chao (Viet)
332 La Pagode d’Or (Viet)
347 Apocalypse (Viet)
360 Exodus (Viet)
436 L’Orchidee Blanche(Viet)
470 Makisu (Japanese)
