Finding old favorite places in Brussels

Yesterday brought back all the golden memories of wonderful family outings to the Belgian restaurants of my childhood.

In fact we went to one of the Belgian restaurants of my childhood- L’Auberge du Chevalier. It has changed names though and now it’s called Auberge de Beersel. It’s right outside the castle grounds (you can see the castle from the outside terrace (when the weather is nice- obviously NOT in October…)

It's a gorgeous wonderful place, small and intimate and it has been a restaurant for at least one hundred years...
[click on picture to enlarge]

We enjoyed an incredible feast there. We all started the meal with ‘croquettes crevettes’, or fried croquettes with the tiny shrimp from the North Sea. For the main course my mother had a simple plate of toast and forest mushrooms (which is in season right now, and fantastically delicious!) my cousin R, (and T!) had beautiful cod fish with an amazing sauce, and Jenny had rabbit cooked in a barbeque-type sauce made with Kriek beer. I had chicken slow cooked until if was falling off the bone, in the a different barbeque Kriek sauce. (the dark sauce)

With it all we had a perfectly chilled bottle of Sancerre.

It was all awesomely delicious. We finished the meal with ice cream -Dame Blanche (vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce) and Brasilienne (vanilla and chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce and nuts) and it was marvelous. It was amazingly delicious and though I was stuffed from eating my dinner (and samples of everyone else!) I forced myself to clean my bowl.

Someone had to do it.

Of course after finishing the meal I realized that my diet was shot. But it went down in splendor!

Brussels weather is NOT Corfu weather

Brrrrr! For some reason, it feels much colder here than it does in Corfu! (possibly because it was 6C/43F degrees last night...) Autumn has arrived here.

Looking out the windows to the back yard of my cousin's home in Alsemberg, it's obvious that it's fall.

In Corfu we can still pretend we're having a bit of Indian summer weather, but in Belgium winter is just around the corner and waiting to pounce.

My cousin will finish with work early this afternoon to swoop us off to have some lunch in Beersel (near the castle!) Then we'll go and visit with my aunt.

Meanwhile: a little FYI update on flying to Brussels...

The trip was mostly uneventful, once ON the airplane, but the "new" Olympic Air is not all that much different from the "old" Olympic Airlines.

The handicapped riser (to get a wheelchair-bound person onto the airplane, didn't work in Corfu, so my poor arthritic mother had to climb the stairs into the airplane. (They offered - to her embarrassment, to carry her!)

On arrival in Athens the lift/riser DID work so she got out of the plane without having to negotiate the stairs (thankfully). And yay!, the wheelchair was there and available for her for our six hour wait between flights.

[We opted for the slightly more upscale, but MUCH nicer option of leaving the airport proper and crossed the street to the Athens Sofitel Hotel, where we had a delicious lunch in comfortable chairs - served by helpful waiters- in the bar with suitable beverages, and complimentary newspapers. Yes it was more expensive than McDonalds, but it was EVER so much more civilized...]

The next leg- to Brussels was again on Olympic Air. (or as T now refers to them, Olympic Air"heads") We left late- it "wasn't their fault!". (Just like old times!)

Also, sadly, the food was still mediocre (cleverly I chose NOT to take a tray of "pastistio or moussaka" - the crew wasn't sure either...). Frustratingly the trays remained in front of everyone for almost half of the 4 hour trip.

When we arrive in Brussels- and whether it was the fault of Olympic Air, or the Brussels handicapped services- we were again "let down", as my mother -now less flexible after a full day of travel- had to haul herself the length of the gantry to the motorized car that would supposedly take her to the baggage area. (After she reached the car the young man explained she could have taken the wheelchair, only he clearly had told her to walk to the car at the end of the gantry, while he loaded the two other ladies onto the wheelchairs.)

This young man, who was 'in charge' of the wheelchairs/automatic cart, was apparently just a poor communicator still, we noted on top of that slight problem, he managed to be singularly officious as well. (as was the Olympic Air staff at the gate).

After the Olympic Staff woman in charge at the gate came to "inform" me that I was wrong in my expectations of handicapped services for my mother, the word helpful, never again came to mind in conjunction with Olympic Air. It died a solid death with her firm words as it came right exactly at the end of our journey. Sadly, it will remain as the last "taste" in my mouth of their "new" persona.

The new Olympic Air motto expressed to me as I heard it from her, now appears to be "No Apologies. We're never wrong, you are."

Fortunately we'll be returning via Aegean Airlines. Perhaps we'll have better stories to tell...