Salad days

Don’t get the wrong idea: salads, you can throw together at home, and soon you’ll have to because most Brussels restaurateurs skedaddle for the summer. Paul Ames selects a doughty trio that mostly stay put and on whom you can rely when you want to take a break from those lovingly tossed raw greens and veggies

For the past 25 years, the junction of Rue de la Réforme and Rue Fernant Neuray has been one of Brussels’ most agreeable places to eat. With Chef Christian Schmit whipping up consistently delicious Franco-Belgian dishes and Corinne Noël ensuring guests get a warm welcome out front, La Canne en Ville was set up in 1983 as a neighbourhood restaurant. Its reputation has now spread well beyond this tranquil corner of Ixelles.

Squeezed into a former butcher’s shop, the small and unassuming place retains its original ceramic tiles and is decorated with a clutter of watercolours, walking sticks and antique radios. Tables are covered in crisp, white-and-cream linen, and from April to September there’s outdoor dining on the pavement.

The cooking is classic with some unusual cuts and preparations. A recent menu included warm lambs’ tongues served on mesclun salad with a herb vinaigrette, or seabass carpaccio with a tapenade of dried tomatoes and black olives.

By eight o’clock on a balmy summer evening, the terrace was packed with diners tucking into starters that included half a pigeon delicately de-boned and fanned on the plate with postage-stamp-size squares of smoked foie gras and a sticky balsamic syrup; a timbale of raw tuna, avocado, and orange and onion relish sprinkled with sesame seeds and dribbled with olive oil; and a contrastingly simple globe artichoke primed for dipping in vinaigrette.

Chateaubriand steak of Irish beef accompanied by a hot-from-the-oven gratin dauphinois and goblets of home-made mustard and béarnaise sauces is La Canne’s signature dish, but there are plenty of other treats on the menu.

The sweetbreads braised in meaux mustard were fabulous, with a fine, crisp coating surrounding the softest, melt-in-the-mouth flesh. Tender pink lamb chops were roasted with oregano and served with a lemon-thyme jus to produce a feast of flavour. The steak was seared perfectly, the béarnaise carried the tang of fresh tarragon and the gratin dauphinois was creamy, scented with nutmeg and too much to eat.

For dessert, there’s a list featuring speculoos ice-cream, crème brûlée and dame blanche. Excellent, if unexciting, they are backed by seasonal supplements: the fresh strawberries with whipped cream were the ideal way to finish off the meal, washed down with a raspberry eau-de-vie from the Biercée distillery in Hainaut.

The Flagey building is one of Brussels’ great treasures, with its towering Art Deco architecture, the perfect acoustics of its concert halls, the eclectic cinema programme and the multifarious charms of the Café Belga. On the southwest corner of the building, facing the Holy Cross church and the Ixelles Ponds is Le Variétés, a bustling brasserie where the L-shaped dining area wraps around the kitchen, offering views of the rows of golden chickens slowly roasting on their spits.

For those who prefer watching live fowl, there’s a broad terrace overlooking the ducks and geese on the ponds across the street. Independent of the Café Belga, Le Variétés nevertheless echoes that café’s 1930s design, its walls covered in panels of striped zebrano wood from central Africa.

Food-wise, it’s bistro favourites. There’s a blackboard with daily specials that can include the likes of lobster en bellevue or truffle ravioli. The rotisserie is the main attraction, however. You can get hams or whole fish from the spit, but most go for chicken: plump, moist birds that come with a range of preparations – with apple purée; in a creamy Sambre-et-Meuse sauce, or au naturel with a rocket and tomato salad or green beans. All come with a stainless-steel bucket filled with thickly cut chips.
Seasonal desserts included excellent strawberry and raspberry tarts and a refreshing ‘soupe aux fraises’ – basically a smoothie in a dish.

When you’re stuck at the traffic light at the top of Avenue du Parc in Saint-Gilles, the thickly curtained, red-brick facade bearing the name Kocharata has an aura of mystery and exoticism.

I finally made it inside this outpost of Bulgarian cuisine seeking shelter from a downpour. We arrived late and the place was all but full, but a waiter speaking heavily accented French and wearing a vaguely folklorish outfit found us a table, set down a complimentary plate of cheese-filled byurek pastries and steered us to a bottle of chunky red Mavrud wine from the plains of Thrace.

This is an immediately likeable place, friendly, cosy and decorated with warm red rugs, strings of dried peppers and colourful Troyan pottery.

The food was hearty and meaty. The mixed grill featured the favourite double act of Bulgarian barbecues: kebapche and kyufte (minced meat rolled into sausage or ball shapes), shish kebabs and marinated chicken, served with rice, onion and a spiced tomato sauce. Gyuvetch is a national dish – beef stewed with tomatoes, peppers and aubergine, here topped with crumbled white cheese. The recipe is said to have originated in the Rila Monastery up in the south-western mountains.

Starters include roasted red peppers with garlic, garlic and cucumber soup or soft, herby goat’s cheese that you whisk into a warm paste over a dish of flaming alcohol that’s placed on your table. To finish up there’s an array of honeyed pastries, muscular Turkish coffee and, for the brave, a selection of slivovitsas and other fruit brandies.

La Canne en Ville
Dinner for two €60
22 Rue de la Réforme
Ixelles
Tel 02.347.29.26
www.lacanneenville.be
Closed on Saturdays in July/August
Closed August 13 to 22

Bulletin rating: 16/20


Le Variétés
Dinner for two €35
4 Place Sainte-Croix
Ixelles
Tel 02.647.04.36
www.levarietes.be

Bulletin rating: 14.5/20


Kocharata
Dinner for two €35
4 Avenue du Parc
Saint-Gilles
Tel 02.537.42.96

Bulletin rating: 14/20