We took the train from Amsterdam to Brussels and stayed one night, and rented a car in the morning. We rented a car from the south train station, which is in the Anderlecht, the middle eastern and north African area of Brussels aka the best place to eat. I'll have pictures of some of the food from when we came back to Brussels.
Chez Moeder Lambic (in Brussel's St. Gilles neighborhood) is one of the best bars in the world, and now they have an outpost in central Brussels. It's in a cheesed-out area, and the new bar is somewhat generic feeling.
Don't look, Janatalie, this is rabbit with gueuze sauce.
And of course, a bucket of wonderful fries. Somehow when I'm in Belgium I can eat fries every day with mayo and not gain weight.
Here's the La Chouffe brewery. At night it is entirely staffed by trolls.
Here's the hearth of the 400 year old stone house that is the Vieille Forge inn
Next day we drove around a lot
We visited the La Rulles brewery. There isn't much there except a shop. They sell their beer absurdly cheaply. They make a nice hoppy blonde that is not exported to the US. Gary at The Shack and Rob at Pangaea are both big fans of La Rulles, so if you want to try their excellent tripel, check there.
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The Vieille Forge had a fully stocked beer fridge on the honor system, mostly filled with local beers. The Orval abbey is very close, unfortunately the cafe was closed while we were in Belgium so we couldn't go!
I was told by a cheese shop dude that this is a very typical Belgian breakfast cheese. It is a raw cow's milk cheese and it smelled so much like ass it was kind of unbelievable. It was so stinky that we couldn't find a place to stash it and ended up leaving it in the car so it wouldn't stink up the whole inn.
He gave me two little samples of this fruit syrup that comes from Liege. He said that that's what Belgians eat with the cheese. I loved it and brought some back.
The syrup is very thick and it's made of boiled-down fruit like apples, pears, dates, or prunes.
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We partied with this guy, Belgian Willy, one night. He was an inspiration. He busted his trumpet at a local restaurant, and then later it turned out he was staying at the inn. He introduced us to the idea of the Duvel nightcap, which will certainly put you out. He was from the Belgian seaside area and he came from a family of seamen. He had done everything in his life from tugboat captain, to restaurant owner, and now he is a very successful entrepreneur who travels all over the world. Either that, or he's a really good liar.
Everyone has stuffed boar's heads cuz of all the boar in the area.
How can you not love an inn that has a cat and a dog who are best friends?
Pol, the innkeeper who is married to Tine, is a serious brewer who makes two brews (a witte and a milk stout) in the smallest brewery in Belgium. It is the size of a walk-in closet. Both of his brews are excellent, especially the witte. He only brews for himself, his friends, and to sell at his inn and in the little bar that he opens only on the weekends. People want him to sell more but he doesn't want to. He's an interesting guy with some very strong opinions about beer. A drawing of his face is on the bottle
We didn't get to hang at the bar (which stays open until 3 or 4 am on Friday and Saturday), but here's what it looks like. Lots of famous brewers visit from all over and he knows all the Belgian brewers. I'll be back to party here someday!
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Goodbye Vieille Forge!
See you next time
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Next...more Belgium...swimming in an ocean of gueuze and lambie
7 comments:
A bar. On your private property. Stocked with great beer. And records. In the Belgian countryside.
-miller
Sounds terrible. Do they at least get RedZone?
when is Smiller gonna start rockin' a tweed newsie cap and carefree wool scarf? inquiring minds want to know....
Smiller, I think you've found what your going to do when you retire.
Charles
Retiring is for losers.
-miller
Well, then it's what you are gonna do when you have your mid life crisis. Or now?
ec
Same thing!
-miller
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