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Advantages: If you want mussels there's plenty of choice at Bacino Disadvantages: Think twice about trying 5 different types
I have an on-going debate with my Belgian colleague Joep about who and what Belgium is famous for. We've done the 'Name 10 'famous' Belgians' challenge a dozen times and even tracked down the 'www.famousbelgians.net website to substantiate some of the names were weren't too sure about. But one thing we both agree on is that it's easier to think of famous foodstuffs for which Belgian is renowned. There's the chocolate, the zillions of different beers, the outstanding national skills with chips and my favourite - mussels. Everyone has probably heard of Jean-Claude van Damme - the man nicknamed the muscles from Brussels. This review is an account of my hunt for the mussels of Antwerp.
I go to the lovely old city of Antwerp every couple of months and I usually call my friends Alex and Katya to arrange to see them and to go out for dinner ...
I'm lucky to have friends, Alex and Katya, who live in Antwerp and when I visit the city for work, I try to meet up with them to play with their very fine Persian cat and go out for dinner. They have been living there for a couple of years so by now they know where's worth a visit and I've not been disappointed with any of their choices. Just before Christmas we set out to find some dinner and Katya and I decided we wanted mussels. Our craving drove us to stroll around the town centre until we found Het Vermoeide Model where we checked the menu boards outside to confirm the presence of mussels and headed in.
First Impressions
Entering the restaurant was like stepping back in time. The ground floor had a small room with bare brick walls, a complicated looking sink and beer tap to one side and a staircase heading to the first ...
Advantages: great place to eat Disadvantages: slow service
The Walter Arms is a local pub and restaurant just close to where I live. You can find it on Bearwood Road, between Barkham and Sindlesham on the outskirts of Wokingham. It has recently undergone a substantial refurbishment so when I visited recently I was interested to see if and how it had changed. It is now described as a pub and restaurant with a hint of the mediterranean!
The pub used to have quite a cluttered old fashioned feel to it but that has all changed now. When you first go in you notice a light, airy modern feel although they have still retained a real fire which on a cold February night was very welcoming. The last time I visited was on a Friday night a couple of weeks ago with a group of girlfriends for a meal and a natter. As we were there a bit early we stood in the bar area and had a drink first but we could have gone ...