Charleroi - September 2007

Charleroi means work and meetings but food is great here though and most of my Belgian colleagues are a delightful lot.

Lunch at Le Trois Petits Bouchons, a small but charming little place. Since there were about 8 of us, arrangements were made in advance for set meals which were excellent!

Cured Mackerel and Couscous Tower - surprisingly I liked this dish - extremely flavourful without the fishiness. Coming from a person who shudders at the thought of cold herring, it is THAT good!
OK, this may sound odd but this dish was made specially for Nathan, a Belgian colleague who is allergic to "white fish". All shellfish and other coloured fish are OK. Strange....
Our steak - I am rarely disappointed with steaks in Europe - this chunk was so tender and moist without the bloodi-ness. And the gravy...Yum!
My stomach always protests come dessert time but I couldn't care less - the homemade raspberry sorbet was divine. So was the slice of layers of cake, strawberries topped with creme brulee. The slight tartness from the berries was just the right finishing for the rich meal.
Apart from the wines we had to imbibe over our meals, coffee is always a must before asses can leave the chairs. What I love most about coffee time is not the coffee but those little Belgian chocolates, artisan cookies or even macarons that ccomes with the hot cuppa. Though I never order coffee (allergic to it - haha!), I almost always get somebody else's choc or cookie.

This restaurant was kind enough to provide 2 platefuls of these little jewels of macarons. They were utterly delicious - small yet not dry and best of all, not unbearably sweeeeet!

By dinner, jet lag set in again on me and I finished my dinner quietly in a daze. Somewhere along the line I know I had a comforting warm lamb soup, Parma ham with melon and a fried sole. Remembered but vaguely a comment made by my colleague about my huge appetite judging from the 2 starters I had...Most memorable of all was the vision of bed I had.....