Exclusive preview: Bistro Belge, authentic restaurants in Belgium

SPOTTED – 10.11.2019

Next month, the first and long-awaited june. book will be released: Bistro Belge, authentic restaurants in Belgium (Luster Publishing). You can already pre-order your signed copy and register for an exclusive dinner at Bistrot du Nord in Antwerp (1*). A pre-publication.

‘…Years ago, when I cycled home from school on Wednesday afternoons, my only desire was to sit down at the table as quickly as possible. That probably had to do with the wind, or the driving rain. In my memory, it was always winter on that bike. However, my haste was primarily culinarily inspired. I was on my way to the best restaurant in the world. And the chef was my grandmother.

On some Wednesdays, Grandma would start a broth from marbled beef in the morning. That was turned into tomato soup. Around noon, the gently cooked meat was placed in sizzling butter and fried until crispy all over with finely chopped shallots. I still remember how the beef fat in the pan slowly turned yellow and finally melted completely into the cooking juices. On other Wednesdays, she used to boil a pork tongue during the morning. The delicate meat was skinned, sprinkled with white pepper, and served with a lumpy mashed potato into which she mashed savoy cabbage. Even at ten years old, I was already a fan of stamppot.

Later, my parents took me to restaurants, where Campari-orange or perhaps even Pisang Ambon was drunk in a small lounge—the latter I try to forget, or at least give a separate little corner in my memories. We were regulars at the now long-gone restaurant Don Pepe in Merelbeke, where the waiters addressed me as ‘sir’ and knew exactly how I liked my steak best: with gravy, and the fries on the side…’

Read the full article on JUNE

Toni De Coninck

It is with no small amount of pride that I can announce my new book will be published in November: ‘Bistro Belge, authentic restaurants in Belgium’ (Luster Publishing). This is also the very first book for which I provided both the text and photography, so I can call it ‘my baby’ just a little bit.

Toni De Coninck
Founder and editor-in-chief of june., the online travel and lifestyle magazine.

Over the past few months, I drove around Belgium, from Mouscron to Sint-Truiden, from Blankenberge to Bouillon, to capture the soul and ambiance of about 40 authentic restaurants. Very often these are institutions, restaurants that have belonged to the same family for generations, and where the noble art of brasserie cuisine is executed to perfection. I have seen hundreds of eels, entire cocottes of beef stew, and tasty cartloads of mussels. I have seen refinement in sometimes centuries-old interiors, and rustic craftsmanship in the most beautiful spots of our country. In the Flemish and Walloon Ardennes. At the coast, in the heart of Brussels, in the Westhoek and the Meetjesland.

In bookstores next month, in Dutch and English. More info and how to obtain: https://lnkd.in/gcRxAc3