Changing time on Sunday

Just a reminder: We’re changing the time this Sunday, March 30. All EU countries will be making the switch this Sunday, in addition to Greenland and some parts of Russia.

More details in previous post.

Brussels Tango Festival – April 4-7

Looking for something different to do? The third edition of the Brussels tango festival will start next week, on Thursday, April 3 and run through Monday, April 7.

In addition to milongas (equivalent to a “tango ball”) at which you’ll be able to dance the night away until as late as 5am and watch brief show performances by a number of local and international professional tango dancers (the show part usually lasts about an hour at most), you will also be able to participate in different workshops to learn how to do the basic tango step or perfect your tango and milonga technique (for intermediate and advanced dancers).

The entrance for milongas is priced at EUR 15 or EUR 20 depending on the night. Dancers and non-dancers are welcome, even though it is of course more fun if you can dance and participate. Workshop prices range from EUR 15 to EUR 20, depending on how many you take. (Note: Many of the Argentinian-led workshops are already full. There are some local, non-Argentine instructors of so-so quality, so beware… You’ll also notice that in the shows – some dancers are solid, others try to compensate for their poor technique with lots of showy stuff).

The tango atmosphere at this festival can be a bit snobbish – people will tend to stick to their dance partners or people they know – so if you’re not already an insider, and you’re used to the tango attitude in South America, southern Europe or even the US, you might be surprised and find you really need to make an extra effort.

Full details on the official site or event blog.

Barcelona restaurants

Two favorite picks from BCN locals:

El Merendero de la Mari is perfect for a Sunday lunch. Make sure to call for a reservation or arrive very early, especially if you want to sit outdoors as this is a very popular restaurant with excellent food, and also happens to be a favorite among the wealthier locals. (I would not recommend indoor seating during the day, as it’s rather dark inside and you’d be missing the sun and great views). The restaurant is right at the port (Placa Pau Vila 1, Port Vell, Tel: +34 93 221 31 41) and the food (Spanish) is simple and excellent, especially the seafood and fish dishes. You can expect to pay around EUR 50 per person for a meal with wine.

Senyor Parellada (Carrer Argenteria 37, Tel: +34 93 310 50 94) offers traditional Catalan cuisine and is located in the popular El Born neighborhood, where you can stroll around and look at the shops and stands before dinner. Because of its good food and reasonable prices, this restaurant attracts locals and tourists alike.

And if you’re also looking for a place to stay at, just go upstairs to the Banys Orientals, which is probably one of the best deals – if not the best – in Barcelona – an elegant and modern three-star boutique hotel with double rooms for just EUR 100 a night. The rooms are small, but clean and nice and the location is perfect to explore the city, as it is in the hip, happening part of town and only a couple of minutes away from the closest metro stop. Since the hotel has become extremely popular, if you’re traveling on weekends or during high season, you might need to book a few months in advance though… (For more hotel ideas, see this previous post),

Keukenhof – Tulip park opens March 20

The famous Dutch tulip park Keukenhof will open this year from March 20 through May 18, every day (including public holidays and weekends) from 8:00h to 19:30h (ticket sales until 18:00h) with an impressive display of tulips that makes for a nice day trip from Brussels (about 2-2.5 hrs by car – it is north of The Hague in a town called Lisse).

The park is rather large, so those responsible for the park say you need about five hours to visit the whole park, which you can do by yourself or through a guided tour (available in various languages – more info on the official website).

Tickets are EUR 13.50 for adults (EUR 6 for children) and can be bought in advance online which will save you some time if you go on weekends or holidays when lines are longer. Parking is EUR 6 per car.

La Piola

Dinner is a straightforward and enjoyable affair at La Piola. With only five main course options, and three for dessert, the only choice that might take a bit longer is picking the wine (the wine list is quite extensive – Italian wines, of course, for consumption in house or purchase to take home at very reasonable prices starting at EUR 5 something).

La Piola is already open for the aperitivo from 18h00 to 20h30, with a nice selection of appetizers (Piola Libri seems better, even though the people behind it are said to be the same). Wines are either by the glass (around 4-5 options for both red and white) or by the bottle.

The venue itself is nothing remarkable, but very casual with barely ten tables, which can be quite enjoyable. The paintings on the walls are a conversation-starter, but probably not something most people would hang up at home… So, definitely not a place to take a date, but perfectly fine for a casual dinner with friends.

(Sorry about the quality of the photos, obviously taken with a phone camera…)

The food is simple, but good. I am not sure if it is always like that, but when I went there, all dishes were pasta dishes, either vegetarian or with meat, and all of them were nicely cooked and tasty. This is not fine cuisine or something that will make you go crazy, but it does qualify as a nice, homemade, unpretentious meal, which sometimes just hits the spot.

The tiramisu is very good (despite the picture, which does not do it justice), and the only drawback with having dessert at La Piola is that if you’re not truly Italian (many of the Piola customers are, which is always a good sign when you’re in an Italian restaurant…) and you don’t want to have an espresso after your meal, you might have to go elsewhere.

All in all, good casual restaurant, but Il Pasticcio still tops my “best Italian” list so far.

Daylight saving time – change to summer time

Time changes are often confusing, but especially when they happen at different times, depending on what part of the world you are in. The US changed to daylight savings time last weekend (which means that there is a 5 hour time difference between Brussels and the East Coast now), but we still have a few more weeks to go before making the switch.

So when and how will this happen? Sunday, March 30 at 2:00h (2am).
“Spring forward, fall back” which means that at 2am we will have to turn clocks forward one hour to 3am.

To see when and which countries will change time, check the World Clock (just select the city you’re interested in and go to the daylight saving time section).

Tea & Eat

I stumbled across Tea & Eat in the Woluwe Shopping Center and it happened to be quite a nice discovery in a mall where the dining options are otherwise not incredibly appealing (Quick, food court type restaurants, Exki, etc.). Maybe not a coffee/dining destination in itself, but very likely the top choice for a shopping break in the mall.

Tea & Eat is a shop and coffee place, as well as a casual restaurant, open during mall opening hours. For a shopping mall restaurant, it is quite chic and resembles a “real restaurant” in every way. Hidden in an alley on the upper floor of the Woluwe mall, Tea & Eat can be easily missed and you might walk by it without noticing that there is actually quite a lot of seating available in a covered, well-illuminated terrace.

I only stopped by for a coffee and dessert, but saw how fellow diners were enjoying casual sandwich and salad meals that looked quite appetizing (simple meals on the healthy side, I would say, including a somewhat overpriced lox bagel sandwich for EUR 12).

The service was quick and friendly – always a welcome shocker – and prices quite reasonable for a mall and a setting for which you would expect to pay more than EUR 3.20 for a latte.

More to come once I actually go there for lunch…

Ars Vinorum

Ars Vinorum is a wine bar / restaurant located on a 60-meter long street right behind Porte de Namur (rue de la Reinette 6, 1000 Brussels, Tel: 02/ 503 39 33). I went to this restaurant following some very positive recommendations, but was a bit disappointed because even though the food is good, there is much better in Brussels.

This Italian-owned restaurant is small (about 12-14 tables) and has a nice decor, with wine bottles lining the walls and dining room. The menu changes twice a week, offering a selection of pasta dishes, meat, fish, and risotto, and each dish comes with a wine recommendation, which makes decision making much easier and allows you to try wines you otherwise might not have chosen. The dish-wine pairing up is quite good, so I would recommend going for their suggestions unless you are a true wine connoisseur.

The food is overall good and prices are reasonable (between EUR 15 and EUR 20 for the main course, including a glass of wine). However, the food is not exceptional and for the same price, you can have a much better meal at other Italian restaurants such as Il Pasticcio.

Ars Vinorum is open for lunch (11-13h) and dinner (19-23h) during the week and for dinner on Sunday evenings. I would recommend it for a nice, casual meal with friends, but probably as a second choice if other options are already booked.

Chez Oki

Chez Oki is a very original and great French-Japanese fusion restaurant with dishes you are unlikely to find elsewhere in town (foie gras sushi is a definite favorite).

The restaurant is run by Oki, a young and friendly Japanese chef trained in France who manages to successfully combine the two cuisines to offer a savory dining experience, as well as the kind of friendly, efficient and attentive service that is not that easy to come across in Brussels. The restaurant is relatively small, so book well in advance.

I have been to Chez Oki several times and have never been disappointed. However, what I would recommend above all is picking the chef’s surprise menu (omakase, in essence, but they just don’t call it like that but rather “menu yeux fermes” = closed eyes menu). This comes in three alternatives: 3, 4 or 5-course menu. The four-course menu (EUR 40) is probably the perfect choice unless you’re very hungry, as it consists of two appetizers, a main course, and dessert.

On my last visit to Chez Oki, the 4-course menu consisted of a duck amuse-gueule, a foie gras sushi entree (three pieces, which keep you wanting for more), a perfectly thin tuna carpaccio with a sweet hoisin-like sauce and a wasabi sauce (also as an appetizer), Japanese-style sliced duck (Kobe-beef like) in a lightly caramelized sauce with a variety of vegetables, and a soft and original dessert cake, which was something of a mix between Japanese pound cake (much lighter of course) and a soft cream cheese. All four dishes were excellent and achieved a true fusion between Japanese and French cuisine – hard to explain how, you’ll just have to try it.

Of course, for those who are less adventurous or have specific diet restrictions and want to know what they’re going to get in advance, it is always possible to order from the menu, which changes every few months.
Check Oki is located on rue Lesbroussart 62, between Place Flagey and Avenue Louise. Closed on Sundays, and Sat+Mon for lunch.

If you’re looking for more traditional Japanese restaurants, check this previous post.

UPDATE (Jan 2009) - Chez Oki still offers an interesting dining experience but the quality seems to have declined somewhat, as Chef Oki increasingly does less of the cooking himself…

Oeno t k

Just off Trinite, in the Place du Chatelain area you’ll find a pink neon light bar called Oeno t k, a trendy wine bar (enoteca in Italian) that is quite popular among Brussels expats and Chatelain fans. The bar serves wines and the offering of wine by the glass changes on a weekly basis, with wines from all regions of the world.

The ups are that you get to taste the wine before deciding if you want the whole glass, and that the atmosphere is laid back (of course, keeping in mind that it is Chatelain and people expect to see and be seen). The downside is that the bar is quite small, so seats are hard to find, and that they don’t offer any complimentary appetizers, like they would in an authentic enoteca for the aperitivo, which means that if you want to have a couple of drinks and some snacks you’ll end up paying around EUR 20-25 per person.

It’s an ok place, but I’d much rather go to the less well-known, less wanna-be-hip and much more authentic Piola Libri.