, Food

Estaminet ‘t Kelderke

Posted on 1 June, 2021 by pierreo

PIERREO.COM Restaurant Review

Estaminet ‘t Kelderke

Grand Place 15
Bruxelles

+32 2 513 7344
https://restaurant-het-kelderke.be/en

Overall :

I do not trust a lot of Restaurants in and around the Grand Place in Brussels. Most places are tourist traps which serve so-so food at inflated prices.

I have been eating at this place for many years and have not been disappointed once. You also cannot beat the view from their terrace.

Food:

We went there for lunch and had, as always, excellent food. I had the Burger “L’Estaminet” and my wife had the Carbonnades Flamandes. Both came with Belgian Frites which we ate with mayonnaise.

They specialize in Belgian Food and for the moment have only a limited menu due to the current restrictions (outdoor dining only) – they also have an excellent selection of local beers.

Atmosphere:

Eating ‘al fresco’ at the foot of the Maison des Bouchers with the full extent of the Grand Place in front of you is unbeatable. There is a constant spectacle developing in front of you: tourists taking lot’s of photos; groups on a horse carriage ride; tour guides looking for their next victims, sorry customers; locals happy to just sit and absorb.

They have a very large room inside as well – I have never eaten there.

Comments :

They are highly rated on TripAdvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g188644-d694640-Reviews-T_Kelderke-Brussels.html

As I indicated above, one of the addresses you can trust in that neighborhood.

If you do not have reservations, you need to come early for lunch or dinner as they tend to fill fast especially with good weather.

Details:

Reservations: accepted on the phone or by email

Credit Cards: American Express, Cash, Visa, Mastercard, Debit Card

Parking: The Grand Place in Brussels is a pedestrian zone. There are a lot of choices for parking around the Grand Place.

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Culture

An Unusual Transhumance

Posted on 16 November, 2015 by pierreo

Last Sunday, on a prairie called “Le Chant des Cailles” in the middle of Watermael-Boisfort (one of the communes that comprises the greater Brussels) people slowly gathered but also seemed puzzled.

There are vegetables in the garden, but they are ignored by the crowd.

Children are also present, some wearing costumes, but this is not a masked ball.

There is sheep wrestling too. But the only spectators here are other sheep – they actually seem to be very puzzled as to what their “man-friend” Antoine is doing to their boyfriend! All these are 8-9 month old yews with a single “ram” charged with inseminating them. He has been quite busy and successful so far! Jamina later went to reassure the ladies.

So why the crowd – the anticipation is building as the people move to a local street. One car came up the street, and upon seeing the unexpected crowd made a quick U-turn and is now fleeing the scene. There are even professional photographers, who should watch their backs!

Jeremy has decided that all is OK and the show can begin Continue reading “An Unusual Transhumance” →

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General

A Carpet of Flowers in the Hallerbos

Posted on 25 May, 2015 by pierreo

A strange coincidence of unrelated events led us to one of the most unbelievable walks I have done near Brussels!

On Friday evening, I finally checked my hiking shoes to make sure that they were up to our upcoming trip to Peru and the Inca Trail. They are 10 years old and so due for replacement. One still looks perfect, but the sole on the other is starting to come unglued. So I decided that is was probably better to buy a new pair of hiking shoes. It will hurt to get rid of a pair that served me so well for so many years!

On Saturday, I went to one of the top Hiking and Adventure Stores near Brussels and started discussing about new shoes. I settled on Meindl Shoes – they fit and felt great. As a parting thought, the salesman, who had been really helpful suggested that I should at least try them out once before going on my trip. I indicated that I was planning to go to the Forêt de Soigne, a large forest just outside Brussels. He suggested I should go to the Hallerbos, a smaller place, but with spectacular wild flowers. I thought that might be a good idea, since I had never been there before.

On Sunday morning, one cousin of mine posted on Facebook the following link:

http://epanews.fr/profiles/blogs/le-mystique-bois-de-hal-en-belgique?s=1#.VTFgLncXj8h.facebook

I was stunned as this was the same woods that I was planning to go to. The best thing about it is that further links got me to a map of the place, with a recommended walk to see the best of the wild flowers.

So we went!

And – as they say – the rest could be history!

The photos really do not do justice to what it really looks like.

As I saw horses in the distance, I tried to duplicate a painting by Magritte, but reality got int he way.

Everywhere you turn, there was a carpet of purple flowers. I can understand why this is famous – even though before that day, I had no idea it existed.

Here is a close-up of the flowers – little bells. Continue reading “A Carpet of Flowers in the Hallerbos” →

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General

The Amerigo Vespucci in Antwerp

Posted on 1 December, 2013 by pierreo

One of my favourite sail boat is the Amerigo Vespucci – the Italian Navy training ship.

It was built in 1931 and has been part of the Italian Navy ever since. The lines and the multi coloured hull make it unique amongst the large sailing vessels that regularly visit different ports.

I first saw it and photographed it in New York, on the Hudson River in 1986 when it came to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. Here are the pictures from back then

and another

When a friend called me to say that the Amerigo Vespucci was in Antwerp for a day, I decided I had to go take a look. I started in Linkeroever, on the opposite side of the Schelde from the city hoping that I would be able to get a full view of the ship, and I was not disappointed. It was moored right in the old docks, in front of the Cathedral and the older part of the city.

We went under the river in the pedestrian tunnel and came out to take a closer look. At the front, several sailors were clearly not “keeping up appearances” as they were texting with a technology that was totally unknown when the ship was first built. However, it is their time to relax when they are off-duty, so we have to give them a break.

A general view from the front gives an better idea of the size of the ship – the people on the side of it look so small!

Contrary to the reputation that Italians might have, the figurehead is a man – Amerigo himself!

A composite of several photos showing one of the masts, also showing the number of ropes that are used to control the sails. Every single rope has a unique name!

Even from the back, it is a very impressive vessel – and it is clear that the crew had made a special effort to make sure the gold and brass was shining at its best for this visit.

Not often you get to be chis close to such a magnificent sailing vessel.

If you are interested in more information on the vessel, and more photos, follow the link below detailing her visit to London just before she came to Antwerp:

http://thamesvessels.blogspot.be/2013/08/italian-navy-sail-training-ship-amerigo.html

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Culture

Ardennes, then and now

Posted on 20 January, 2013 by pierreo

During a recent trip to Arimont, Bee and I decided to stop at a recent addition to the local scene.

We discovered the Baugnez 44 Historical Center. Here is the link: http://www.baugnez44.be/

It is a very well put together story of World War II with an emphasis on what happened in the area during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.

The museum itself is situated only 100 m away from the American Memorial in Baugnez, on the road between Malmedy and Waimes.

I did not have a camera, and the weather was not great, so I have had to borrow other people’s photos, for once…

Photo borrowed from Wikipedia

This is the site where 80 American Prisoners of War were massacred by their German captors during the earlier phases of the campaign. This event was recreated in the movie “Battle of the Bulge” from 1965. This was not the only such war crime perpetrated by the German troops, but it caused the largest loss of American POWs lives in one incident.

Several soldiers survived the massacre by “Playing Dead” and their interviews can be heard in the museum. The memorial itself is, as always, sober and peaceful.

Following the massacre, there was a trial in Dachau in 1946. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia on the subject:

In what came to be called the “Malmedy massacre trial“, which concerned all of the war crimes attributed to Kampfgruppe Peiper for the battle of the Bulge, the highest-ranking defendant was General Sepp Dietrich, commander of the 6th SS Panzer Army, to which Peiper’s unit belonged. Joachim Peiper and his principal subordinates were defendants. The Tribunal tried more than 70 persons and pronounced 43 death sentences (none of which were carried out) and 22 life sentences. Eight other men were sentenced to shorter prison sentences.

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Culture, Sports

The “Engineer’s” Cycle Ride

Posted on 10 October, 201111 October, 2011 by pierreo

At the end of June, I went on a great cycle ride with a few friends. I did not tell them exactly where we were going, other than the starting point, but I knew that, like me, they would be fascinated. I had not been able to plan the weather, unfortunately, and so it was cold and we had a littl;e rain, but fortunately nothing serious. We started riding along the Canal du Centre, which soon branched into two section, the old canal and a new canal that was built in the early 90’s.

I have borrowed photos from my friends as well – not all photos below are mine.

As I said, the weather was not great, but we were still having fun.

In order to build the new canal, engineers had to ‘improvise’. They could not necessarily follow the lay of the land (a canal needs to be rather flat!) and so there were places where they had to build a canal-bridge over streets and other obstructions. Here is the larger of these bridges. It is nice to notice that technology can co-exist with traditions: there is a shepherd watching a flock of sheep grazing on the side of the pond below …

The first major stop of the ride, and also the reason why the new canal had been built: The new Ship Elevators at Strepy-Thieu. These are now the highest such elevators in the world with a height of 73 m; as a comparison, the world’s highest standard locks are on the Irtysh River in Kazakhstan and are 42 m high (the 6 Gatun Locks at the end of the Panama Canal only lift ships a total of 25.9m). I had recce’d the ride in March, when the weather was a lot better and took this photo.

We approached from the other side.

Continue reading “The “Engineer’s” Cycle Ride” →

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Culture, Travel

Le Carnaval de Malmedy – 2011

Posted on 21 March, 201121 March, 2011 by pierreo

I spent a week-end in Arimont with friends at the beginning of March. The main reason was for us to attend the “Grand Defile de Carnaval” in Malmedy on Sunday, but since we were there anyway, we went for a short walk on Saturday near the Lake of Robertville. We started at the Chateau de Rheinardstein, recently reconstructed and actually occupied.

We got a good look at it because I initially took the wrong path … it has been more than 20 years since I last did this particular walk, and things have changed a little since then.

The weather was absolutely perfect, with bright sunshine even if a little cold. We were prepared for that part. As we got on the right path, I slowly started to see scenes which awakened old memories.

The Bahyon River is a small stream coming down from the Eifel which joins the Warche at this point. The Warche goes to the Ambleve, then the Meuse and eventually to the North Sea. We are not far from the sea, but still, four rivers removed from it.

At the end of the walk, we just ‘happened’ to pass by an excellent restaurant, with views over the Lake of Robertville, so we decided to have a late, leisurely lunch.

Sunday was a different story. We came to Malmedy early to start soaking in the atmosphere so special at this time of year. You could see preparations going on everywhere and people in the classical costumes congregating from all corners of the city.

There is some reliable information that indicates that this is the 553rd edition of this particular celebration – at least the first documented one was 552 years ago – I am not sure if we can prove that there was one every year since then. I must have gone to more than 10 parades over the years.

Even the public is getting in the mood … this is not not some one I claim to know!

Continue reading “Le Carnaval de Malmedy – 2011” →

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Sports

Channel Sailing Regatta

Posted on 24 October, 201021 July, 2011 by pierreo

I interrupt my trip to Slovenia again to relate another experience I had recently.

Middle of October is the time when Channel Sailing organises its annual regatta for clients. Channel Sailing is the company where we hire the boats that we sail with during the year. Every year, at the end of the season, they organise a regatta for their clients. It is competitive, but it is also friendly and offers an opportunity to those who are not used to race to get a little excitement in controlled conditions.

Well, controlled conditions is maybe not quite the best way to describe what we had again this year.

As usual, we arrived on Friday evening to take possession of our boat for the week-end, in this case Foxtrot, a 37 foot Jeanneau

By the time Nick and I get everything organised, it is drink time. First we have to have some snack, so we dig into the lunch supplies for cheese and salami

Nick brought some excellent Rum. Since the beer is not cold yet, and Xavier has not brought the wine, we have no choice!

Allan and Annemie joined us later and we went for a very nice dinner in Zeebrugge.

The next day, Saturday, the wind has picked-up significantly and it rains occasionally. Sailing will be tough! After the briefing, at about 10:30, we sail out of Zeebrugge into the North Sea. Even this close to shore, the waves are high (3+ meters) and because of the harbour and shore, are not very regular.

Since we are running with the wind, Nick asks Allan and I to set up the spinnaker pole to hold the genoa. It is a struggle as we have not done it for a while and make a few mistakes, but we get it done. Unfortunately, both Allan and I are now a little seasick and with the weather and waves, there is little chance to recover…

As we approach the committee boat, we manage to take down the pole and sail normally. There are only 4 boats today and we get ready for the first race. Nick is steering and we all help as we can. I am still coping, but Allan is looking greener by the minute. On top of that, it is getting colder and we are all struggling to stay warm.

We get a good start and head for the windward mark – with the high waves, we can only see the mark when both it and us are at the top of a wave, so finding it is not easy. However, at least we have a rough idea where it is, so we head in that direction. As we get closer, we finally spot it and head for it. We are second as we round the mark and head on a reach toward the next marker that we expect is to the left of the first mark. After several minutes, we see nothing. We head upwind to search there with no success. the rest of the fleet seems to be mystified as well. One by one, the boats give up and start running back to the committee boat and the leeward mark. Nick does not ask us to set up the spinnaker pole – good – I feel woozy and that would spell the end of my breakfast.

We find the leeward mark but then the committee boat cancels the race. We find out that they could not set the second mark and therefore we should only do an up and down, just like the America’s cup.

Is is now noon and we have not had a complete race yet. We get ready for the first race again. Good start, we now know where to find the first mark which we reach in second place. Back to the leeward mark, which we almost missed until Allan saw it than the finish line and we come in second! Good result. I am surviving (just) but Allan is very cold now. We have a long debate but decide to do one more race then stop regardless of what the organisation does. Over the radio, they indicate that the next race will be just start-windward mark-finish, no leeward mark. We ‘survive’ again the last race, finish second again and then head for home … which will take more than one hour since we are heading into the wind and into the tide.

As soon as we arrive inside Zeebrugge harbor, I feel better! We finally tie-up at about 17:00. The rest of the fleet is right behind us as there was no additional race – wise decision.

The next day, the wind is down, the sun is slowly coming out, but the temperature is even lower. It is only 5 C and with wind still at 20-30 km/hr, the windchill is very low. We are fortunately equipped for it as demonstrated by Xavier and Nick.

We do five races on Sunday. we win two, finish second, third and fourth in the other three. We all get to steer a race. For mine, we take a terrible start as I am blocked away from the start line by the other boats and have to do a 360 at the last second. We start last, but are able to come back to a credible third place (which is later corrected to fourth as the boat behind us has a better handicap). Races done, it is time to relax and head back to Zeebrugge.

It is still very cold!

Back at the West-Hinder Marina, we pack up our stuff, clean the boat, put everything in order and wait for the announcement of the final results.

Overall, we ended up in second place, same result as last year. A good result considering.

Two and a half hours to drive home and I get there absolutely exhausted. I was in bed before 9PM!

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Culture, Sports

Manneken Pis Celebration

Posted on 10 October, 2010 by pierreo

I interrupt the telling of my trip to Slovenia to relate our recent Manneken Pis Day here in Brussels. Every year, the cyclo club I joined, the Cyclo Woluwe St Lambert or CWL, celebrates the most famous statue in Brussels. We did so again on Saturday, my first opportunity to take part in this unique event. More about the club at

http://wolucyclo.be/index.htm I am hoping that there will be more pictures there as I could not take any of the whole group.

It was a beautiful day and I was dressed for action, the first time I was wearing the club colours as I had only obtained my new jersey the week before.

We gathered at the usual starting point – Stade Fallon – at 8:30, quite early for a week-end.

Everybody is wearing his club colours. There are a lot more people than usually on Sundays. This is good. We even have guests from Bouillon (in Belgium) and Meudon (in France), two clubs with which the CWL had events this years.

And we are off. About 50 cyclists meander through the outer communes of Brussels on the way to the Grand Place. It is quite a crowd waiting for the light on Avenue de Tervuren.

Continue reading “Manneken Pis Celebration” →

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Sports, Travel

Zeebrugge-Dunkirk-Zeebrugge by sea

Posted on 15 August, 201021 July, 2011 by pierreo

On Monday, I met Rob, Zuzana, Machteld and Filip. We are part of the crew going sailing this week-end and this is the one and only meeting for us to organise the outing.

On Thurs, Rob is enthusiastic about the week end, where we are going and the weather – here is the note that he sent out (the underlines are mine):

“All,

As we get closer to leaving, the forecast is looking good for Sunday, but a
little more unsettled on Saturday. Depending on which weather forecast I
look at, I would summarise the current position as:

Wind force 3-4 SW going W on Sunday
Chance of showers on Saturday, with some maybe harder. Looks like the
weather will get better during the day as a low front passes away.

Looking further at locations, if we cannot get to Gravelines on Saturday
night, I think that Dunkerque may be a good option. There are a number of
marinas open to all states of tide, and (at least from the websites) looks
quite pretty. I will do some more research tonight.

Don’t forget to bring enough dry clothes. See you all tomorrow evening. “

It turns out that this weather forecast was not far from the truth – the problem will be the direction in which reality will deviate from forecast. But once again I am getting ahead of my story.

We left for Zeebrugge on the Friday evening after work. Rob was driving and I was navigating. We did not have too many problems with traffic until we came close to Gent where we lost about ½ hour because of road works. We arrived at the boat and Machteld and Harry were already there. Zuzana and Filip arrived soon after and so we started organising food, drinks, personal stuff etc. It always takes quite some time to checkout the boat too, and do a full inventory so that we know where everything is.

For this week-end, out home will be Swing, a 37 ft Jeanneau from Channel Sailing. I have sailed on her sister ship, Foxtrot, last year and I know she is a good boat. Annemie arrives later – she was stuck in the office later than anticipated, and so with a full crew, we decided to have dinner at a local restaurant at about 21:00.

When we get back the the boat, there is an annoying alarm and we do not quite understand what it is for. We are able to silence it, and since it is late, we decide to deal with it tomorrow.

By 6:00, most of us are already up and eager to get started. The weather looks great and I decide to wear normal clothes to start: long pants, warm shirt, sweater and a windbreaker vest. It may seem like a lot for the middle of summer, but with the wind and the cold water, it is just right. The wind feels like a good force 5, or somewhere around 20 knotts (about 35 km/h).

Since the alarm is still on, we call Carlos to discuss what to do. He indicates that this is because the second battery is running low on power. We figure that as soon as we turn on the engine, it will recharge and the alarm will clear – nothing to worry about.

We leave our mooring a little after 7:00 and start motoring towards the mouth of the harbour. It is a rather long way in Zeebrugge and after 20 minutes, I call Port Control to get permission to get out – it is granted immediately.

Unfortunately, we discover that Battery 2 is still not charging and therefore we are not able to clear the alarm. This could be a problem as it is already low and all the electronics on board run off that one battery. We decide to go on, thinking that we will figure out a solution later.

Once outside the harbour entrance, we raise full sail and shut down the engine. The wind continues at about 20 knotts in a Southerly direction. Since we needed to go South West, we were beating as close to the wind as possible, doing a good 5 to 5.5 knotts with a slight tide against us. We take turns at the wheel, changing about every hour or so. Most people have done it before so it goes without problems. Here is Harry at work, while the rest of the crew relaxes.

Continue reading “Zeebrugge-Dunkirk-Zeebrugge by sea” →

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