Aux Armes de Bruxelles

Just behind the Grand Place there's a fairly touristy street called Rue des Bouchers, which is supposed to mean the street of/with the butcher. It's cited as one of the biggest tourist traps in Brussels, but it's a lovely walk down the entire stretch lined with seafood restaurants.

The atmosphere is quite different at night - the cracks in the walls disappear, the peeling paint is no longer apparent and everything looks more colourful and vibrant.

Even the seafood displays seem to call out your name even louder

We did some homework and searched a number of food forums on the internet. We found Chowhound to be a pretty good start. Many of the posts mentioned that this was Aux Armes de Bruxelles was the only restaurant on this stretch that locals would patronise, so off we went in search of it on our 3.5 year wedding anniversary. We found it very easily, just opposite Chez Leon. We reached there about 9pm, and were fortunate to get a table that had just been vacated. First course: beer : )

Their bread was pretty good...we saved some for the mussel juice.

We ordered escargot to start with. These were fabulous. I loved the garlic+herb butter sauce.

Using the tongs was a bit more tricky. The husband nearly had a Slippery Little Suckers moment a la Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, but the flying shell was saved before it flew beyond the table.

I ordered a mussel pot with a tomato concasse base. This was lovely, and absolutely top quality. The mussels were extremely fresh and the flavours of the shellfish and combination of tomato, onion and garlic were incredible.

Mussels never come without fries : )

Plump and juicy : )

Website: www.auxarmesdebruxelles.be/

Beer in Belgium

We met up with a friend who was also in Brussels for a conference for an evening of drinking, drinking and more drinking. First we started off at Moeder Lambic at Place to try their lambics, which unlike normal beers, ferment spontaneously.

We also had a cheese and cured meat platter to go with the beers.

Second round at Moeder Lambic - I really loved the fruit beer (Grisette fruits de Bois).

We then headed to A La Mort Subite just at the end of the St Huberts Gallery for Round 2. The husband was dying to try the Peach Lambic and I wanted the Cherry Beer. It did not disappoint : )

Mort Subite was absolutely packed to the rafters.

2 Peach Lambics and another beer that I can't quite recall. The Peach Lambic was the best beer of the evening - light, fruity, sweet and yet with a richness and depth of flavour.

We also had dinner there - Croque Monsieurs (without eggs)

And Croque Madame, with the egg.

Websites: www.moederlambic.eu and http://alamortsubite.com/

De Noordzee/La Mer du Nord, Brussels

It was a lovely day in Brussels to have a croissant and coffee for breakfast at one of the sidewalk cafes, and then to walk around the city watching people on their way to work and seeing the shops open. The Grand Place was crowded even though it was early in the morning.

Since I had no timetable to stick to, I decided to have an early lunch and try out a seafood stall at Place Ste Catherine that we had unsuccessfully tried to eat at when we were in Brussels last year. Then, we had attempted to get a standing space at peak hour and were sadly disappointed. So this time I made no mistake. It's called Noordzee in Flemish and La Mer du Nord in French - both mean the North Sea, and it's a small stall just at the rear of the Eglise Sainte-Catherine, or the St Catherine Church, fronting an open plaza.

I started with a bowl of fish soup, which was lovely in the cold weather.

The fish stock was extremely rich - I could taste heaps of flavour from the fish bones and other vegetables that had been thrown in. The shredded cheese was amazing with the soup - after melting, it added a different dimension to the soup.

The prices are all on the board so you know exactly what you are going to get. I started off ordering in French, but it got much easier once I realised the server understood English.

Having been convinced that this was a good place to stick around, I then ordered the scampi a la plancha, or the grilled prawns. This came with the most amazing seafood sauce. I have no idea what went in, but I daresay that there would have been some lobster/shrimp stock, mixed with butter and other vegetables and herbs, and then reduced to a thick, wholesome gravy. The prawns were extremely fresh, and with a dash of pepper, absolutely heavenly.

After seeing the old man next to me order a dozen oysters for himself, I decided to follow his good example and order a couple to try. They shuck the oysters on the spot.

I was told that one had a stronger taste of the sea, while the other had a milder flavour, because of where they were harvested. I can't remember which is which now, but they were very very fresh.

I was debating between having more oysters or trying something else, and in the end, reasoned that I could eat fresh oysters anywhere in the world but that I would not be coming back to this place for a while. So I asked for a couple of scallops, also known as Saint Jacques in french. The chef asked me whether I wanted grilled vegetables with them instead of salad, given that I had already had an earlier serve of salad with the prawns. Fortunately my French was good enough to understand that much! That was a really nice touch - it's just a roadside stall, but they bothered to make the visit a memorable experience for the customer. And the scallops were to die for - nicely cooked on the outside with just a little bit of a grill mark, and soft and still slightly raw on the inside. Perfect.

After eating I had to go for a walk around to walk off the food - the area near Ste Catherine used to contain quays where seafood was delivered in the past, and there are still many seafood restaurants around currently. The streetscape was very quaint and interesting.

I also came across a park full of cherry blossom trees - it was a truly wonderful day.

Website: www.vishandel.noordzee.be/fr/home.asp

Address: 45 Rue Sainte Catherine, Brussels