European quarter lunchtime therapy

I keep myself busy between a few jobs, but when I'm wearing my paralegal hat, that means I'm off to the European Quarter, where the low point of every day is finding lunch. The only things that aren't overpriced are the sandwiches, and boy, do I get sick of sandwiches. Will someone please open a salad bar in this neck of the woods? I don't care if it's overpriced, I will be your most loyal customer.

I try to keep my spending within reason, but on the occasions when I want a nicer, sit-down lunch, I'm still traumatized by the lack of vegetarian options. However, my friend John recently pointed me to Quarter Libre, which is not a bad find.

This place is all about choice: 16 small dishes are on offer each day; you take a little piece of paper and choose the four you want which are delivered in small tapas portions on a platter. I've been twice now - the first time, I had all four, plus a dessert, and wasn't completely full. This week I went and couldn't even finish my platter. Both times the platters cost a borderline-outrageous 14 EUR (prices are standard - no variation based on what you order). To be fair, virtually all prices in this area are borderline outrageous.

I've had a few lovely items here - a recent visit featured a pesto pasta, a carrot-basil gazpacho, a slice of eggplant wrapped around ricotta, and a nicely dressed avocado salad. Warning however: on my first visit, I ordered a feuilletine du brie, which should have been brie in phyllo dough (in my book) but they snuck some bacon in. So for the true veggie-wary, you want want to ask a few questions before ordering.

The decor is all wood, with soft lighting, and there's a lovely patio in the back for soaking up the warm, sunny weather (while we've got it). If you aren't scandalized by the price tag (in which case you probably pack a lunch from home if you work in this area!), I definitely recommend it.

Quartier Libre
Rue de Treves 44
1050 Ixelles
Tel. 02.230.41.94
Open for weekday lunch only

NB: Their business card states that their website in http://www.quartierlibre.eu/, but that brought up nothing on today's attempt. However, Google leads me to believe that they may maintain a second location on Rue Lesbroussart. No promises.

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

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

Don't call them tapas

Gidon and I hadn't seen much of each other lately so I put him in charge of planning a little date for us. My one request: take me somewhere where I will have some choice on the menu. We can all give him a nice little round of applause for this one:

Comocomo.

It means "how do I eat" in Spanish, and the answer at Comocomo is "not with utensils". The restaurant follows the YO! Sushi model, i.e. a handy conveyer belt winds around the restaurant, bringing the food from the open-air kitchen right to your seat. Instead of sushi, you get to sample pintxos, which is the Basque version of tapas.

The word 'Basque' usually makes me think something like 'militant' or 'nationalist', but that was before I knew they could cook! Top of my list was definitely the Bravas Ali-Oli, which was basically thick-cut potato wedges fresh out of the deep fryer, topped with aioli (we had to have that one twice). I also enjoyed manchego with rosemary honey and quince jam, served, as many of the pintxos are, on a piece of bread. Gidon had a seemingly-vegan mushroom mix with truffle oil on millefeuille and also made some very excited noises over deep fried sardines. For dessert we had churros and arroz con leche, which happily put us over the edge towards explosion.

A few pintxos were not so successful, either the flavorings weren't very interesting or, in the case of a white-asparagus-and-cheese dish that I was very intrigued by, the asparagus was virtually impossible to bite through. While we were fond of the conveyor belt gimmick, germophobes will probably be horrified (most dishes are covered with a little plastic dome, if that helps put your mind at ease). They say that each dish will only make the rounds so many times before it gets replaced but you do wonder how they monitor that, or at least I did. Still, we took the risk and came out not only unscathed, but happy.

The color of the plate tells you which category for the food falls into: cheesies (yellow), veggies (green), some garlickies (purple), and sweeties (orange) are veggie-friendly, and are so labelled on the big poster on the wall that gives you the full list of options. There are also fishies (blue) for those who swing that way. The names are a bit to cutsie for our liking, but the food is good enough that we're willing to overlook it. The restaurant also has an extensive wine menu, coded with little icons to help you choose dry/sweet, or what kinds of flavors you want in your wine.

At the end of the night, they count the number of plates sitting in front of you and tally up a bill; the cost per plate goes down the more you eat and there are three set menus of 3 (8.50 Eur), 6 (14 Eur), or 9 (19 Eur) pintxos. There are 6 dishes in each category, so it's more than enough to send a vegetarian home happy. Then again, not all the dishes are on the conveyor at the same time, so we did end up waiting for certain ones and eventually caved in and ordered a couple of things.

Total (stomach) damage on this visit? 20 plates. A rare feat for me but it was obviously all in the name of research. You could easily make a meal out of 6-9 each, depending on how ravenous you are. And as the food is already making its circuit as you walk in, this definitely makes for quality fast food, assuming you aren't too picky about which dishes you take. It's equally easy to linger over a few glasses of wine, wait for the particular pintxos you want, and turn it into a nice, leisurely outing.

As for us, there are still a few pintxos we haven't tried yet, so you may see us there when you visit.

Comocomo
Address: Antoine Dansaert 19, Brussels, 1000
Tel: 02 503 03 30 Hours: 12:00-14:30 & 19:00-23:00 7/7 Also in Antwerp. Menu, information and online reservations at http://comocomo.be/main.html