Eating with the Premonstratensians

Saturday Evening saw us eating at a restaurant named after a beer, named after a Brewery, founded by the Premonstratensians who are more commonly known as the Norbertines or in England as the White Canons (to distinguish them from the Black Friers (Dominicans) and Grey Friers (Franciscans). The monk above is holding a sign saying: "Abbey Beer on draught". The brewing industry in Belgium and in lots of other parts of Northern Europe owes its roots to the monasteries of various traditions. At a time when the fermented beer was more healthy to drink than was water, monastry made sure thier monks and dependants had sufficient. The Grimbergen beer was first made in 1150.

Back from the stroll

Before getting into the details of the meal, a little about the rest of the afternoon.

We got back to the hotel at 5pm as mentioned in my last post. After such a long walk it was time to let our legs have a little rest, so I used the time to start to edit the photos - as there are so many of them. Drew had a little shut-eye in the chair and I booked a table for dinner tonight - we had left it until now, as we weren't sure how the plan of the day would go. With the way it went we decided to book somewhere near.

On the way to dinner

While I would normally head straight to dinner, we'd been asked on Flickr if the door of Église Saint Jean Baptiste au Béguinage, at the end of the street the hotel is on, was steel or painted wood. 

We are able to confirm it is steel and has a very thick metal lock in it, which a close up of this picture reveals.

Dinner at the Grimbergen Cafe

As I mentioned above, we had chosen to eat at the Grimbergen cafe. It is 230 feet (70 Meters) from the hotel, so very convenient given that the rain which began earlier had got worse this evening.

The monastic theme of the cafe didn't just extend to its beers or the sign outside, but also to images inside. Drew was particularly taken with this one, which looked as if the monk was going to bash me over the head with a candle!!

We ordered and the waiter brought bread to start us off

Drew opted for Croquettes au fromage, these croquettes were more like chessy fish cakes than the Spanish style of croquette with which Drew is familiar - i.e. is an addict for. He thought these ones were a whole lot chesser than the ones in Spain when it isn't always obvious if they are ham croquettes or cheese croquettes. 

I was really attracted by the sound of Scampis diaboliques, this isn't (as a friend who knows better) suggested: Diabolical Scampi 😂 (you know who you are!!) But Devilled Prawns, that is plumb, juicy king prawns cooked in a rich tomato, chilli and herb sauce, it had chives sprikled over the top and was, as a Barry friend of mine used to say - Lush!  

The monks clearly didn't have a monopoly in this cafe, as Drew had spotted a nun too. He took this photo between the two courses, just to give the impression of the place.

Drew's main had been simple to choose, the only thing that was in English only on the menu! Fish and Chips, and while this was clearly Belgian Fish and frites rather than a chip shop style chip, the fish goujons were lightly battered and filled with white fish, but they came very close to the kind of fish you get in a Youngs or Birds Eye packet.

I'd chosen this restaurant, in addition to its convenience, as I'd planned to have Mussels tonight and had noted when looking at places on holiday that this was a place that did them with a Provencal sauce, rather than the more common mariner, cream or garlic versions, Provencal sauce is a tomato based sauce with garlic, onion and herbs - normally basil, oregano and rosemary, but sometimes thyme too. It was a good call as the delicious mussels were enhanced by those flavours I love so much.

What I'd not noticed when Drew and Bobby were eating their mussels last night is how many were in a pot - I think twenty mussels at a time had been my previous maximum - tonight there were at least 50, but they were so juicy and plumb, that it would have been a shame to leave any. So, I didn't. The broth with all the lovely flavours of Provance was perfect - as a soup it could have been a hearty meal on its own - with the mussels it was very generous. 

Before embarking on this trip I had read that the Brussels mode of eating mussels was with your hands.

some connoisseurs will tell you the way to eat your mussels is by sucking out the flesh from the first pair of shells, then using those shells as tongs to pick out the flesh from the other. Mussels in Brussels

I decided I would opt for this approach, which turned out to work much more easily than I had expected. 

We finished our delicious meal with an espresso each

We got back to the hotel at 9pm and were ready for bed, before our journey to Cologne tomorrow - more about that in my next post.