La Sucrerie Brasserie Restaurant

La Sucrerie Brasserie Restaurant
Grand Hotel
Chausee de Tervuren 198
B-1410 Waterloo
Belgium
Tel: 02/352 18 15
Fax: 02/352 18 88

Heigh-ho. I'm away on business again. The meeting scheduled for Luxembourg has been cancelled, and re-scheduled to take place in Waterloo, Belgium. I'm staying at the Grand Hotel, and very nice it is too!. I had checked out their restaurant on their web site because it seemed quite a way to go into Bruxelles for dinner, something I would have liked to have tried.

The menu for La Sucrerie was very enticing, and I relaxed a bit, because, although I don't normally find hotel fare very good, this looked good. After I checked in, I looked into the restaurant - it was quite empty, perhaps another three or four people. I knew that people here eat later than we do, and I left it until after 8:30 pm local time before I went for a table. There were a few more people there then, and it filled up gradually as I progressed through my meal.

I elected to go for the "Menu Gastonomique" proposed by the Chef de Cuisine, Jean-Pierre Mitaine.

Marinade de Thon aux epices ou
Medallion de foie gras aux pommes a la cannelle

Frittote de Lotte au vinaigre de safran ou
Brochette de scampis brille au curry doux

 Filet d'agneau roti et nouilles chinoises aux champignons noirs ou
Turbotin roti aux lentilles et gingembre

 Trilogie de cremes brulees ou
Biscuit moelleux a la papaye du Chili

 Cafe

A plate of olives and aioli, bread and butter arrived and the waiter took my order for a glass of the house Medoc, and a bottle of Perrier.

The foie gras was superb: served with a fruit jelly and crisp brown toast, this was a perfect first course. The flavour was subtle - the pate had something else in it - I couldn't tell what, but it made the texture smoother.

The waiters were attentive, but unhurried. I appreciate this, as I'm a slow eater and I like to give each course time to settle before ploughing on.

Next came the Frittote de Lotte (Monkfish). Served with a saffron vinaigrette sauce, lattice cut crispy potatos and a spring onion and mash base. Absolutely spot on.

Then the Lamb. I had asked for it to be served "au point" - and it was. Beautifully pink on the inside, and properly cooked on the outside. Served on a bed of Chinese noodles with a form of rice and black mushrooms on top, the splash of Jus around the dish finished it off.

Finish off with what I can only describe as Papaya cheesecake, surrounded by a raspberry coulis. More delicate and refined than your average cheescake, I found this marred by the taste of chocolate which came from the artistic line drawn with it to hold back the coulis from the center of the plate. I'm not a fan of chocolate, so don't read this as a negative point.

This was one of the best dinners I've had in years. The setting is interesting (see their website for photographs). The menu enticing (again see their web site - which even has a recipe for one of the dishes, including photographs of the process!). The food is delicious and the service is accomplished.

The only downside is possibly that the portions are somewhat "nouvelle cuisine" - fine for me, but if you're a trencherman, you may want to order some side dishes. To cap it all, the bill came to... wait for it.... 1790 FB ...which equates to £28.

Astounding value compared to what I'm used to. I can only hope that this is close to the norm in Belgium, so I can take advantage on my next visit. 

Sandro