Brussels - La Tortue du Sablon

I apologise for my lack of recent posts.  I have been oh so busy what with summer, friends visiting, trips abroad, festivals and carnivals.  But now that we've had our last bank holiday, the weather is getting cooler and summer turns to autumn, I will have a lot more time to post regularly!

I thought for this one that I'd do a review of a restaurant in Brussels.  Before going, I had read that while there is not a whole lot to do in Brussels, the food is one of the best in Europe.  So when our hosts asked what type of food we wanted for lunch, the immediate answer was the typical Brussels meal - moules frites!

We decided on La Tortue du Sablon, which translates to the turtle of the Sablon - one of the most prestigious and attractive areas in Brussels.  It is a beautiful little restaurant specialising in seafood.  On arrival we were offered a glass of champagne with a hint of lavender - don't mind if I do!  For food there was a choice of menus - the set menu of the day, a couple of other set menus or the a la carte.  Two had the set menu, one had a specially made vegetarian set menu and I had the moules frites.

The set menu consisted of a starter of fois gras rolled in crushed hazel nuts and a main course of half a lobster served on a salad of greens and beans.  The vegetarian menu began with vegetable tempura, served with wasabi cream, followed by raclette covered with truffles.  The moules came in a white wine, garlic and cream sauce, with a side of french fries (of course!)

All of the food was well cooked and a real delight.  I have to say that with food like this, because I really like quite aromatic food, I can find it quite bland.  This meal though was well balanced and delivered on everything.  Overall though, the best part about the visit was the service.  When we explained that was had a vegetarian, the chef came out from the back to explain what he could make to ensure that the customer was happy and the waiter was extremely friendly and attentive, without it feeling like we were being constantly watched.  A very pleasant meal!

Wright Brothers take 2!

So for our second visit to Wright Brothers, we went for mine and my mother's birthday.  She had said she wanted seafood, so this was the obvious choice.  We were going to meet somewhere for a drink first, but being a Friday night and raining cats and dogs, we ended up all meeting in the bar of the restaurant.  The restaurant was very accomodating and offered to seat us whenever we wanted (even though it was an hour until us reservation).  We had a quick drink and headed down to enjoy our fish feast.

When I had previously come to the resaurant, we had opted to not have a fruit de mer plate.  Mistake.  So this time it was the first thing we ordered.  You have a number of options to choose from.  We went for a selection that included fin de clare oysters, langustines, prawns, brown shrimp, crab and mussles.  The selection was amazing.  The oysters were perfectly sized and unbelievbly fresh.  The prawns were amazing, I've never had so much taste in something so small. And the crab was a real winner with everyone.

We also ordered a selection cooked food.  Rather than each having a plate, we shared everything (so we could taste everything).  The mulles marines came in a lovely sauce, delicious with the bread.  The cod with chorizo and butter beans was perfectly cooked and delicious.  But the total winner of the evening?  Fried oysters!  Hot, creamy, smooth and tasty.  I could have eaten them all night!

So once again, Wright Brothers have impressed.  And to finish?  Well, a cheese plate of Neil's Yard cheeses of course!

So for my first real post, I've decided to take on the Wright Brothers.  A brave move as this restaurant is new, and therefore recently reviewed by many other food bloggers of the moment.  Right, well no point wasting anymore time.

It was a bitterly cold night in central London.  Three of us meet on Carneby Street - handy location for shopping, not so great when trying to find a pub that isn't full on Friday evening.  Now I know that fish may not be the most warming of meals, but as this place had rave reviews we just had to try it! Located conveniently on Kingly Street, the restaurant is impressive externally, with large windows and a heavy door.  Inside is also impressive, with wooden floors and a very clean and open feel.

The dishes are almost like tapas and lend themselves well to being shared. We begun with a first round which included some amazing Japanese oysters from the specials board. As they are quite small in size and delicately tasting, they were the perfect choice for the first time oyster taster in our group. We also sampled the Cornish crab - it was surprisingly served in a jar in order to spread on bread with a touch of mayonnaise.

For our second round of food, we opted for a selection of warm dishes.  Grilled sardines with a parsley sauce and sea bream with a light cumin and spice covering, were both served whole.  They were cooked to perfection, and the bream was especially plump and juicy. The squid while well seasoned, had batter that was a bit more soggy than it should have been.

The service was quite good - we only struggled a couple of times to get our waitress' attention.  It was also a bit quiet for a Friday night, with only three of the 5 tables in our section occupied.  The one thing we did notice was the amazing looking fruits de mer dishes on a couple of the other tables.  That is something I will definitely be back to try on a warmer day!