If you're only gonna do one thing, do it well

I really thought I knew every vegetarian restaurant in Brussels - at the very least, I thought I'd heard of them all. Then a few nights ago, a friend and I were looking for a dinner that wouldn't break the bank, and sure enough, there was Mr. Falafel.

Despite the plethora of shwarma snackbars in Brussels, I haven't ever found one that served exceptional falafel. It's rarely terrible, but it also seems like a bit of an afterthought.

Mr. Falafel is a tiny snackbar that looks like any other snackbar in town: a small counter, a fridge with drinks, and three high tables. Except for the word "Vegetarian" plastered in large lettering across the front window, there is little, at first glance, that sets it apart.

Once inside, however, you may notice that there is also no menu. That is because Mr. Falafel does one thing and one thing only: falafel. The only question is how many falafel sandwiches you want. They are on the small side - one makes for a light meal; take two (or more) if you're famished. Each sandwich will run you 3.50 Euro.

The falafel balls are small and crispy, with a good mix of herbs and spices, and they cook up in no time at all. They are served up in a pita with room to spare, for good reason: Mr. Falafel is all about the garnish. A bar of two dozen salads takes up a substantial part of this small establishment. I go for hot pickled peppers, cabbage, mixed tomato-and-red-onion salad, and a drop of the hot sauce, which is indeed quite hot. You'll also find a whole slew of other vegetables and sauces to personalize your sandwich.

The owner is from Holland - he doesn't speak French but English or Dutch are fine. He's also very friendly. According to him, when he lived in Egypt, he ate falafel all the time and just likes the stuff; he's not actually vegetarian himself. He opened this place in late 2008, and boy, am I glad. Pay him a visit.

Mr. Falafel

Boulevard Lemonnier 53 (Metro: Annessens)

Brussels 1000

Open noon to midnight, 7 days a week

Bizarro Bazaar

Bazaar has been on my list for ages - since I was last there, actually. I visited the nightclub half of Bazaar on a Saturday night shortly after moving here. For some reason we ran upstairs to see the restaurant, which was packed with people and looked swank and crazy and I couldn't wait to go back (see photo). It only took me 5 years.

Our January visit had quite a different air. It was a Tuesday and the place was nearly empty and a little lacking in heating. But the crazy decor was just as I remembered. The place has the feel of a Moroccan tent, with a gigantic hot-air balloon over the bar, and now featuring huge headshot photos of be-robed people.

But all that I had seen before. It was the food that was new. The menu is quasi-mediterranean, and I must admit we started out with some disappointments. I ordered the mozzarella and grilled eggplant; based on that description alone, I expected a warm dish. I was wrong. The dish was clearly pulled from a refrigerator moments before being brought to the table. While the dish could work in a not-warm format, having it flat-out cold really limited the flavors. Gidon, on the other hand, ordered marinated sardines, which turned out to be herring. For herring, they were good; for sardines, they were a flop.

On to the mains: we were now in much safer territory. Feeling fishy, I took their no-frills grilled salmon - even after the waitress advised that between the seabass and the salmon, she preferred the seabass. No mistakes here, though. The salmon was grilled beautifully, with crispy skin; really a delight. The rest of the plate - vegetables, etc - was nice but forgettable. Gidon opted for tuna, which was also a big hit. And our friend Richard had a beautiful and quite sizeable vegetarian risotto. Three for three on the mains.

Stuffed, we ordered one dessert between the three of us. After much negotiating, we settled on the chocolate cake "moelleux" with ice cream. "Moelleux" seems to range from "normal cake" to "gooey melty filling" and this cake - to my great joy - fell at the latter end of the spectrum. Not the easiest for sharing three ways once it started oozing all over the plate but you didn't hear us complaining.

Bazaar

Rue des Capucins 63

1000 Brussels (Marolles)

Tel. 02 511 26 00

http://www.bazaarresto.be/

Open from 19h30 Tuesday-Saturday

Lebanese Evening

Al Barmaki has been on my list for a long time. It's got a pretty good rep on the blogs, and it's mentioned in the Michelin guide. The latter may also relate to the one recurring complaint: it's overpriced. And to some extent, it is. But the food is also delicious and when you're paying for real estate a couple of blocks from the Grand Place, you have to pay a certain price for quality.

A vegetarian can eat well at Al Barmaki, but only the mezzes. You have to order a minimum of three per person, which is also just about the right size for one person. The server also offered to make up a mixed platter for us, even vegetarian, but I was wary of what the bill might look like so we ordered six dishes of our own choosing.

The menu just gives the names of the dishes, no explanation, but the server was happy to answer questions. Our six dishes were:
- Hommos: this had a significant smokey flavor that surprised me but was quite nice. If you want it with tehina, that's a separate dish; we passed on that.
- Tomato and cucumber salad: ample and delish, done up with a fresh, light dressing. As good as it was, I have a hard time justifying 7 euros for it.
- Cheese in pastry: another winner. The pastry dough was thicker than I expected; the cheese was soft and mixed with herbs. Yum.
- Labne: there was much debate between this dish and another mezze of yogurt with garlic. With 20/20 hindsight, I think we should have tried the yogurt - the labne was thick and creamy but I've had better.
- Fried eggplants and cauliflower: I envisioned fritters made of both items, but this was actually just the vegetables, fried up. The eggplant was exceptional. The cauliflower was a little boring.
- Falafel: another success. Crispy, good size falafel balls, and we had unconsciously ordered all the fixin's.

All this was served with thin, soft bread (I was corrected for calling it pita), and we got a bowlful of tasty black olives (and I'm normally not a fan of black olives) and pickled peppers. Service was mediocre by Belgian standards, and although the setting isn't particularly swanky, it would definitely make for a good date location.

Plus the place gets bonus points for the table seated right next to us: five older gentlemen who looked Lebanese and also looked like they ate there at least twice a week. That's the best vote of confidence any restaurant can ask for.

Split down the middle, the bill came to just over 25 eur for each of us, including drinks, which might be a bit on the steep side but isn't outrageous. In my never-ending quest for quality food in the area of the Bourse, I think I can safely add Al Barmaki to my list.

Al Barmaki
67, rue des Eperonniers
1000 Brussels
Tel. 02 513 08 34
Open from 19h to midnight, Mon-Sat
Reservations recommended.
http://www.albarmaki.be

It's Greek to me

Today I finally have the time to share Nea Genia with you. It is a Greek restaurant in Ixelles, and I thought I knew how to pronounce the name until I called to make a reservation (that G disappears somewhere in the back of your throat). Pronouncable or not, they offer up a ton of tasty vegetarian options in a cozy setting.

I first went to Nea Genia several years ago. As much as I enjoyed it, Gidon contended it was overpriced and I haven't been able to drag him back since. But while he was out of town, I snuck out for a girls night. Not only could we enjoy these Greek delicacies, but we got to try out my friend's new RestoPass. This was a tremendous discovery that I may need to invest in - a "passport" giving you a 30% discount (drinks excluded, we discovered) at 30 survey-selected restaurants. Fantabulous.

As was the food. Melty, spicy feta... huge beans in a tomato stew... greek salad... aubergines with garlic... tzatziki to die for. Sadly their vine leaves were stuffed with meat, so instead we splashed out with the two biggest sardines I have ever seen. The meal is tapas-style, served with lots of bread, and they suggested three dishes per person. We probably could have gone with five dishes between the two of us, but you won't hear me complaining. And there's plenty more to choose from so I look forward to a totally different meal the next time I'm there.

The candlelit interior is comfortable and chic - and the servers are helpful. Our waiter realized we were eating vegetarian and volunteered the information about the vine leaves (1 point!), and no one kicked us out when we lingered over the meal for three hours, past their closing time (another point!). Also they were just plain friendly.

Now, as to the overpriced question: this is not the cheapest meal in town. But we did leave full and happy, so although it may be a bit on the pricey side, it's not enough keep me away (now I just need to convince Gidon...).

Nea Genia
Chaussée de Waterloo 437
1050 Ixelles
Tel. 02.344.58.76
www.neagenia.be
Closed Sundays, and lunchtime

Check out Chickpea - CLOSED

We're reaching the end of Passover here, meaning a. life is slowly calming down again, and b. soon we'll be eating normal food once more! Although I haven't had time to write about it until now, we did sneak in a trip to Chickpea just before Passover. This was an exciting discovery that I'm happy to share with you.


Located at the chic intersection of Avenue Louis Lepoutre and Chaussee de Waterloo (leave your car at home), Chickpea is a mediterranean restaurant that opened about 3 or 4 months ago. It's Israeli-owned, but not kosher - so it can serve as a partial replacement for the now-closed PilPel, certainly on the vegetarian side. That said, it's a bit more upscale than PilPel ever was, with a modern, candlelit interior, so you may want to save it for a nicer night out.


Then again, the night we were there, a fairly tame bachelor party of Israelis and Italians had dressed up the groom-to-be in a bunny outfit and he went around the restaurant selling chocolate eggs to the other patrons. So they aren't too hung up on propriety.


Fortunately, they are hung up on good food. The menu features a selection of starters, many of which are vegetarian, and all of which sound delish. We opted for their salad selection - a tapas-style serving of a dozen or so different salads, served with a warm, soft lavash type of bread. Although we were 4 at dinner, the waiter (thankfully) suggested ordering only enough for 2, since we would all be having main dishes afterwards. It was a welcome suggestion since the salads quickly filled the table - hummus, tehina, cucumber/tomato, spicy tomato salsa, pickles, cauliflower, falafel, you name it. All of it seasoned with different combinations of lemon, mint, pepper, and all the things that make mediterranean food so fresh and scrumptious.


For our main dishes, there were a few orders of fish and one meat. These were a bit of a disappointment, particularly following the fantastic starters. The fish was fine but really nothing to write home about. I bet they could do up some sort of vegetarian main if you were really hankering for it, although nothing appears on the menu. I'd suggest going full-on tapas style, ordering the salad selection for the whole party, throwing in some of the warm starters as well. Or just tell them you're vegetarian and see what they suggest.


We got talking to our waiter (who may also be the owner?), and I asked a very important question: what is their limonana status? For those who don't know, limonana is an out-of-this-world lemonade with fresh mint - actually, that's really all there is to it, and you can make it at home, but it's absolutely the perfect summer beverage (or really at any time of year). The bad news is that they don't have it. The good news is that they don't have it - yet. A machine is on order so I can soon get my fix. Meanwhile, you can make do with their decent wine list, including some Israeli kosher wines - a pleasant surprise for us.


Bete'avon!


Chickpea
Chaussée de Waterloo 510
1050 Ixelles
Tel: 02/345.80.08
Open every day! 12h-15h & 18h-22h30 (Fri/Sat til 23h)

Kosher Brussels: PilPel - CLOSED

First of all, Happy new year! I hope 2009 will bring peace, health and happiness to the world. It certainly promises to be an interesting year, starting with a fairly momentous event on January 20th...

But back to the real important things in life: vegetarian food in Belgium. While searching for a sardine recipe (apparently they are one of the 11 healthy foods you aren't eating), I stumbled on www.trinigourmet.com. Written by a woman who is half-Trinidadian, half-Jamaican, and Jewish, I figured I could not go wrong (I was right, her sardine pate was delicious). We got in touch and she asked whether there was much of a kosher restaurant scene in Brussels, so I figured I would post something in reply.

Brussels is indeed shy on kosher options, while Antwerp has no shortage of kosher eateries (for a few highlights, see the article I wrote for Flanders Today magazine). That's what an active, ultra-Orthodox community will do for you. But of the teeny bit Brussels has to offer, my resto of choice is PilPel.

Kosher food comes in three varieties: dairy, meat, and pareve (neither milk nor meat). The fourth category, treyf, covers all the non-kosher stuff. What's good about kosher establishments is that you have certain guarantees walking in; for example, a dairy restaurant will never have any meat products whatsoever. This can be a handy thing to know as a vegetarian. Moreover, if you're vegan, ordering something vegetarian in a meat restaurant is a pretty safe bet since there will be no dairy products for miles (but do watch out for eggs, which are pareve, and can appear in both meat and dairy restaurants).

But you didn't come here for a lecture on the laws of kosher eating.

PilPel (Hebrew for "pepper") is a meat restaurant, but a vegetarian can get by quite happily. For one, they have falafel. For two, they have a whole slew of salads that you can order one by one, or as a mixed assortment. This includes delicious hummus, as well as different combinations of eggplant, tomato, cucumber, carrot, beet, and more. Everything comes with warm, thin, happy pita bread. And of course the meat options open up many more doors, so it's a good choice for a simple meal when you're heading out with non-veggie friends.

Nothing fancy, but definitely yum, and although you're sitting in a mini-mall, the decor is actually quite pleasant (hint: make sure to check out the shape of the ceiling lights when you visit). They also have a shop in case you feel inspired to pick up some kosher food.

A word to the wise: non-Jews do not often realize the quantities associated with Jewish eating. The general thought process is "the Russians are coming!" In short, we have a deep-seated fear of expulsion, to be followed by starvation. You have been warned.

PilPel
Avenue De Fre 82 (De Fre Shopping Center)
Uccle 1180
Tel: 02-374-5300
www.pilpel.be
Open: Mon-Thurs lunch & dinner; Fri lunch; Sunday from 12pm-10pm

Savor the Saveurs

Thursday night I needed a restaurant that was
a. veggie-friendly (obviously)
b. could easily accommodate a to-be-determined group of 6-10 people, and
c. open during the bloody summer vacations.

For these circumstances, I took a little trip back in time to Saveurs du Liban, a restaurant I had visited three years ago and had fond memories of. Last night confirmed that those memories were well founded.

Vegetarians will be eating tapas-style here out of the cold and warm starters, but don't fear - there are 15 veggie-friendly choices (we counted; in fact, we nearly ordered them all) and 4 of us were totally stuffed on the 10 that we split between us. The rest of the group ate meat and were apparently happy with it, but you don't care. What you want to know is what to order when you visit - or take away, since they also do that, even with delivery via RestoPresto. So don't miss:

- the hummus (need I say 'duh'?)
- the labneh with garlic and mint, which tastes like Boursin but fresher and better
- balila, which is warm chickpeas with maybe some lemon and other tastiness
- the eggplant dish that resembles babaghanoush but has a different name
- rkakat - cheese-filled fried cigars.... mmmm....
- we also ended up with a nicely dressed salad with pita chips on top that was excellent but I have no idea what you call it.

It was quiet there on a Thursday at 9pm but the last time I went it was a Saturday and earlier in evening, which meant, you guessed it: belly dancer. Goes on the above list of "don't miss."

Saveurs du Liban
Chaussee de Waterloo 599
1050 IxellesPhone: 02.347.79.39

Photo from RestoPresto