On the menu in Brussels

I’ve already posted a fair bit about a four-day get-away my younger son and I made to Brussels, Belgium. He chose the city for our get-away (his first time there) and we saw a lot, but he continues to rave about Brussels and say he’d like to go back.

Although we had a lot of fun, and saw some interesting places, when it comes to all this enthusiasm from a kid who is pretty well traveled, my money’s on the food.

I’ve already written about all the wonderful chocolate we consumed while in the Belgian capital. Months later, we’re still remembering this chocolate fondly…

My son also loved our first “meal” when we arrived – Belgian waffles. Topped with chocolate sauce and what seemed to be about a kilo of whipped cream – what child could resist?

Then, of course, for seafood fans like us, there was the local specialty of moules-frites. Mussels and french fries. This was a favorite dinner choice during our nights out here.

There were also the french fries/chips stands all around the city that my son so enjoyed visiting. Ironically, my older son was on a school trip in neighboring Holland at the time, and this was also one of his favorite foods on that trip.

One dinner choice was not local. My son selected a Swiss/French Alps restaurant one evening, where he ate fondue and I accompanied my Belgian beer with an Alpine specialty I hand’t had in over ten years – tartiflette.

Tartiflette is reblechon cheese, lard, and potatoes in a delicious but deadly combination that made me realize why it had been a decade since I last ate it. That block of cheese sat in my stomach, and we both pretty much rolled back to the hotel after that.

My athletic son had insisted we hit the tread mills in the hotel gym each evening after our grueling walks, and that evening was no different. However, neither of us lasted very long in our workouts following fondue and tartiflette. Lesson learned.

So on your next visit to Belgium enjoy all these (calorie-laden, but delicious) local specialties.