Category: Belgium (country) (Page 7 of 8)

The Country Belgium in Europe

De Kleine Kauter: “Family friendly restaurant with great staff”

13th December 2014 / Carolien Coenen / 0 Comments

We visited this restaurant because it was close to our friends house. From the outside the building looks like nothing special, but inside, you’ll find a nice, cosy and classical interior. We went there during christmas seasons, so the rooms were nicely decorated with christmas trees.

Our company consisted of six persons and a small child. There is a seperate room for the children to play in, so they won’t get bored. Staff was super friendly and really helpful. One of our friends had some allergies and an other friend was pregnant, so when we opted to go for the menu, we had to make some modifications. This wasn’t any problem whatsoever. Our excellent waiter even offered the allergic friend a totally different menu for the same price. Included with the menu came a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine. Both were of good quality.

The menu consisted of four courses, which were all excellent. The food was very nice and prepared with care. Not fancy, but just nice and honest food. Portions were huge! I especially loved the lobster. One slight remark: my entrecote wasn’t saignant as I ordered, but cooked a point.

The four course meal was just too much, so I couldn’t finish my desert. Really, really impressed by the friendlyness of the staff and the quality of the food.

De Kleine Kauter, Leuvensesteenweg 82, Boutersem 3370, Belgium
http://ww5.dekleinekauter.be/
+32 16 72 09 44

Visited December 2014. You can find my review about De Kleine Kauter also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 5/5, atmosphere 5/5, service 5/5, food 4/5.

Hostellerie Vijfwegen Bis: “Pleasant stay”

13th December 2014 / Carolien Coenen / 0 Comments

In november we stayed one night in this hotel. Staff was friendly, the room and the bathroom were very spacious and clean. Shame about the twin beds though. In such a big room I would expect a Queen size double bed. The bed could have been more comfortable, but all in all in slept ok. I liked the way the room was decorated with a touch of originality.

Breakfast was excellent. Many options to choose from and we were served superb scrambled eggs. Really enjoyed this breakfast on a quiet sunday morning. It was very nice that the staff allowed us to sleep in untill 10 o’clock, so we could take breakfast a bit later after a night out with friends.

Hostellerie Vijfwegen Bis, Hoogstraat 166, Roeselare 8800, Belgium

Stayed November 2014. You can find my review about Hostellerie Vijfwegen Bis also on TripAdvisor. My scores: location 3/5, rooms 4/5, service 5/5.

Cafe Novo: “Very bad experience”

6th July 2014 / Carolien Coenen / 0 Comments

It was a sunny day in Brussels so we went with a bunch of colleagues for a quick lunch. Since we had enjoyed lunching in the garden of café Novo before, we decided to go there to have lunch outside. We were seven persons in total. Not a very big group, but the waitress asked us non the less to only order three different dishes.

From the start it was clear that the waitress didn’t have much experience. She started by bringing me the wrong drink. But ok, my drink got switched for the right one, so no big deal. We ordered two home made burgers, a sandwich with carpaccio, a falafel salad and a carrot soup (ok, so technically those are four different dishes, but we figured that the soup would be made in advance, so no extra hassle for the cook).

The waitress warned us that the sandwich could take some time. We were a little bit surprised by that, because, honestly, how long does it take to make a sandwich with carpaccio? Did they forget to bake the bread this morning? We joked a bit about it and waited for our food to arrive, meanwhile sipping from our drinks. My colleagues who ordered the home made ice-tea were very disappointed. The ice-tea was bright yellow and did not taste good.

One hour and a half later, we still didn’t have any food. We were by that time all very hungry and didn’t find it funny anymore. So when our food finally arrived (with no excuses whatsoever for taking this long), we were surprised to find that indeed the carpaccio sandwich still wasn’t ready.

Because we were all so hungry, we started eating, thinking the sandwich would arrive any moment. Sadly, the falafel salad I ordered was really terrible. The falafel was very dry, like eating sand. And there wasn’t enough salad on the plate. I finished my plate, since I was that hungry, but did not enjoy it at all. The home made burger and soup seemed to be better.

A quarter of an hour later, we had all finished, except for my poor colleague who ordered the sandwich. Since we were all running very late, he told the waitress to cancel the order and we left without him having eaten anything. An absolute disgrace.

Service at Novo was absolutely terrible. Never before have a been to a café or restaurant where one of the persons just didn’t get any food without any form of apology or compensation.

Personally I will never set food in this café again and I strongly advice against eating here.

Cafe Novo, Pl. de la Vieille Hle aux Bles 37, Brussels 1000, Belgium
http://www.cafenovo.be/
+32 2 503 09 05

Visited July 2014. You can find my review about Cafe Novo also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 2/5, atmosphere 3/5, service 1/5, food 1/5.

Dharma Bed & Breakfast: “Lovely host, beautiful house”

27th April 2014 / Carolien Coenen / 0 Comments

Dharma B&B is situated in the center of Kortrijk very close to lots of nice restaurants and shops. Linda is a superb hostess. Very friendly and welcoming, always giving tips to enjoy Kortrijk. Breakfast is excellent. So many lovely cheeses and slices meats to choose from. Every breakfast comes with fruits, yoghurt, nuts and a boiled egg. Lovely. We also enjoyed having breakfast with the other guest and exchanging stories with them.

We stayed in the superioer room, which was beautifully decorated with antiques from an antique shop owned by a friend of Linda. Our room was a little bit dark for our taste and internet didn’t work too well, but we had lots of room and a very clean and spacious bathroom with a shower and a large bath tub.

Since the room has single pane windows, noices from the street can effect your sleep at night. Since the room isn’t insulated very well, I can imagine it will be a bit chilly in winter.

Dharma Bed & Breakfast, Groeningestraat 18, Kortrijk 8500, Belgium

Stayed April 2014. You can find my review about Dharma Bed & Breakfast also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 5/5, location 5/5, sleep quality 3/5, rooms 4/5, cleanliness 5/5, service 5/5.

Sansai: “Great food, service could be better”

27th April 2014 / Carolien Coenen / 0 Comments

Sansai is a beautiful decorated restaurant in the heart of Kortrijk. We ordered a starter and a main course. I had mussels as a starter which were excellent. The kind of course I would gladly travel to Kortrijk for again. My main course was a stew with salmon and noodles. Very good, but a little heavy for me. Quality of the food was very good and the value for money was excellent.

Service could be better though. The staff wasn’t very attentive to our needs. They seemed busy doing other stuff and we felt a bit ignored. Shame.

Sansai, Grote Markt 40, Kortrijk 8500, Belgium
+32 56 20 02 11

Visited April 2014. You can find my review about Sansai also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 4/5, atmosphere 4/5, service 2/5, food 4/5.

Beau’M: “Uitstekende bediening”

21st April 2014 / Carolien Coenen / 0 Comments

Wij verbleven tijdens het paasweekend in Kortrijk en dit restaurant werd ons aangeraden door de vriendelijke uitbaatster van onze B&B. Wij reserveerden een tafeltje voor twee om zeker te zijn van een plaats.

We werden heel vriendelijk welkom geheten en kregen meteen de menukaart toegestopt. Wij kozen de marktmenu. Een mooie driegangenmenu voor een aanvaardbare prijs. We namen allebei de carpaccio als voorgerecht en de paling in ‘t groen als hoofdgerecht. Voor het dessert liet ik me verleiden door de crème brûlée en mijn vriend koos de chocomousse. Alle gerechten waren zeer lekker en mooi geserveerd.

De bediening was erg vriendelijk en efficiënt. Nooit lang moeten wachten en altijd met de glimlach bediend. Toen ik per ongeluk mijn mes liet vallen, kwam de ober al een nieuw mes brengen nog voordat ik erom had kunnen vragen.

Het interieur is gezellig en de ligging (op de Grote Markt) is ideaal. Het lijkt me ook leuk om hier in de zomer op het terras te eten. Klein minpuntje: er scheelde iets met de afstelling van de lichten, want zo nu en dan flikkerden deze of werden ze plots gedimd.

Beau’M, Grote Markt 22, Kortrijk 8500, Belgium
http://www.beau-m.be/
+32 56 22 42 20

Visited April 2014. You can find my review about Beau’M also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 4/5, atmosphere 4/5, service 5/5, food 4/5.

Cinema ZED: “Alternative movie theatre with great movies”

11th January 2014 / Carolien Coenen / 0 Comments

Cinema ZED is the place to be for anyone who loves movies. They program real great arthouse movies. Cinema ZED helps organizing various film festivals in Leuven which draw a large public. They have special programming for different occasions, season 2013-2014 for instance they had films in 18 different languages to celebrate 40 years CLT (Center for Living Languages) in Leuven.

And yeah, definitely a plus: they don’t sell popcorn!

Cinema ZED, Naamsestraat 96, Leuven 3000, Belgium
http://www.cinemazed.be/
+32 16 32 03 10

Visited December 2013. You can find my review about Cinema ZED also on TripAdvisor.

notre dame quasimodo: “Have a drink at the terrace in the summer time, don’t eat here”

11th January 2014 / Carolien Coenen / 0 Comments

Notre Dame is a very big restaurant with an impressive range of choices on the menu. The problem with the food is that it is mostly precooked food heated in a microwave. No quality whatsoever. The service is also rather rude, but on the other hand very efficient. So if you’re looking for a quick meal, this place will do it. Don’t expect your food to be tasty though.

However I can recommand the terrace in summer to have a drink and watch people. Notre Dame is located in the center of the city on a beautiful historical square. Just have dinner or lunch elsewhere.

notre dame quasimodo, Grote Markt 11, Leuven 3000, Belgium
http://www.notredame-leuven.be/
+32 16 22 37 62

Visited June 2013. You can find my review about notre dame quasimodo also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 3/5, atmosphere 2/5, service 2/5, food 2/5.

De Mosselbeurs: “Nice restaurant with lovely interior”

15th September 2013 / Carolien Coenen / 0 Comments

Based on the Tripadvisor reviews I ended up having diner in De Mosselbeurs. I didn’t go for the obvious choice: the mussels, but decided to go for one of the suggestions: turbot fillet with arugula and lemon puree. The fish was fresh and the combination with the arugula and lemon puree was absolutely fabulous. Loved the dried tomatoes and capers. Service was very friendly. And I loved the atmosphere of the place with beautiful black and white tiles and a spiraling stair case in the middle of the room. For desert I enjoyed me some crème brûlée with orange and lemon zest which was delicious. In total my meal costed 42 euro, which is a little bit on the pricey side, I guess.

Information
De Mosselbeurs (reopening as Mommys Bastards)
Dwarsstraat 10
8400 Ostend
Belgium
http://www.demosselbeurs.be/
https://www.facebook.com/DeMosselbeurs/
https://www.mommysbastards.be/

Visited September 2013. You can find my review about De Mosselbeurs also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 3/5, atmosphere 4/5, service 4/5, food 4/5.

Zuki Sushi: “Horrible sushi restaurant”

4th September 2013 / Carolien Coenen / 0 Comments

We ended up in this restaurant because of a Groupon deal. The Groupon deal claimed that for only 30 euro you would get a Japanese meal for two persons worth 73 euro. That’s one hell of a deal. To good to be true? Of course it was!

The interior of the restaurant isn’t much to speak of. They try to create an oriental feeling in which they more of less succeed, but the room is very dark.

We started of well enough with basic miso soup which was fine. The sushi boat, supposedly worth 73 euro, looked ok, but the sushi was really terrible. The rice was super dry and the little fish served, chewy and not that fresh. There were only four pieces of nigiri sushi on the boat and the sashimi was nowhere to be found. This boat was at best worth 30 euro. Nowhere near the 73 euro we were promised (which I didn’t expected, it’s Groupon afterall). The sushi rolls were very clumsy made and not at all refined. I had to drink lots of water to swallow the sushi, because it was so dry.

As an avid sushi lover, I was appalled. Possibly people using the groupon deal will have their first sushi experience in this restaurant and will think this is the real deal. One advice: skip this restaurant all together.

A plus: the girl who served us was very friendly.

Zuki Sushi, Sint-Paulusplaats 21, Antwerp 2000, Belgium
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zuki-Sushi/342865172480183?rf=529483663757531
+32 489 33 43 55

Visited September 2013. You can find my review about Zuki Sushi also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 2/5, atmosphere 3/5, service 4/5, food 1/5.