[Review] 2 Course lunches at Belgos for £9.95

Belgos opened it's first restaurant in 1992 on Chalk Farm Road specializing in Belgian mussels and beer.
Now there are more branches including Covent Garden.

About two decades ago, they had the 'beat the clock' offer (where you pay the price of the time shown on your food order) and an express lunch set menu offered.

Now they are doing a two course lunch for £9.95 which is probably the right move with 7 dials market nearby.
Got there around 12 for lunch but the lunch menu was not available to us until we inquired about it.

As there were three of us, we ordered one of each appetizer choice.

Moules Vol au vent:

Mushroom Vol au vent:

Chicken wings:

For the mains, ordered the two different mussels and a salad.
Personally I would also recommend the rotisserie chicken because it is a signature dish as well as mussels.

Moules Garlic and herb:

Moules Mariniere:

Barley Salad:

Mongozo coconut beer:

Belu Sparkling Water:

Decor at Belgo Centraal:

Overall, we were all impressed with the lunch and the mussels were fresh and delicious.

Lutosa at HOFEX 2019

As a potato and carbs lover, I was immediately drawn to the Lutosa booth Thanks to those eye catching Belgian cones that hold the fries/chips.

It sent me memories of La Cornet Belgie in Central.

I tried samples of the flat slices which were fried to perfection!!!
They were similar to potato scallops but without the batter.

At the front, there was a cabinet that showcases most of the products they have.

I believe I have tried most of them at various different restaurants except the Pom'Tapas so I was really keen in trying some.
They are delicately flavoured potato mash under a crispy crust and they come in four flavours:

Pom'Tapas Sirataki: garlic onion paprika, coriander, cumin, pepper, caraway seed and oregano
Pom'Tapas Latino: tomato, paprika, pepper, allspice, cumin, oregano, thyme, bay leaf and parsley
Pom'Tapas Basilic: basil
Pom'Tapas Arabesque: coriander, cumin, curcuma, pepper, fennel seeds, aniseed, allspice, celery seed, mace.

All of them were captivating especially the Arabesque and Green because I love cumin and fennel.
I can imagine for the Hong Kong market, restaurants would probably want to offer the Italian but in UK it would be the Arabesque or the Latino but I believe they would all taste great.

Tried the Pom'Tapas Sirataki which was just how I expected it to taste, they were crispy on the outside and silky in the middle infused with light cumin and caraway seeds.

All the samples I tried were good on their own and didn't need sauces.
Quality potatoes and bi products should be tasty on their own and things like mayonnaise should enhance the taste.
It frustrates me when I see people dunking their fries/chips in sauce without trying how it tastes alone.

After browsing the Lutosa catalogue, they offer more than just fries and it seems I have tried a majority of their items at different restaurants.
It is hard for me to remember fries/chips but if I was to seriously taste test them I possibly could, whereas the restaurants that serve different potato products make it memorable.
My personal preference is [blonde] lightly crispy on the outside and not hollow in the middle but in Hong Kong fries have to be CRUNCHY or people complain and even bread has to be hard toasted.
This explains why my blonde hair is white to them as their definition of gold is BROWN, so if you ask for blonde hair at the hairdressors in Hong Kong,  you get ginger.
The fried stuff in HK which is golden brown by their definition is burnt in my opinion!!!

The HK KFC fried chicken has a different batter to UK, again it is crunchy!
They serve grid fries only whereas UK serves chips.

I just wish that Hong Kong restaurants could be more adventurous with more variety.
Once something is trending then all restaurants will be serving it which makes dining so boring as the menu is practically the same everywhere.
I understand they will only serve what will sell but as a consumer I feel that the restaurant scene is getting boring.
As well as the restaurants, shopping malls are clones with the same shops, restaurant groups and even clothes.
The hilarious thing in Hong Kong is that when the temperature drops below 14 degrees, you will find 90% people wearing puffer jackets!!!

Enough ranting for now, here are the potato products from different restaurants which I believe are from Lutosa.

[Please Note:  Some restaurants below are no longer in business]

Mini Waffles at Shelter Lounge, Sheung Wan:

Croquette at Shakeem Bun, Wanchai

Dauphines at La Cantoche:

Duchess at Champak:

Vegetable Rosti and Cheese Rosti at Chip In"

Potato cubes at the Green Waffle Diner:

• Lutosa also does mash and roast potatoes but I would really need to try samples from them to recall anything but for now I want to buy every Pom'Tapas flavours as you can put them in the oven according to the brochure which is convenient!!

Comforting food at de België

Previously tried Belgica in K Town so I knew the mussels were going to be good here because it is part of the same group.
de België is on the corner of Elgin Street looking small on the outside but spacious once you venture in.

That night, we had a bit of everything because they have other dishes as well as my beloved mussels.

Started with the Tomato aux crevettes and the pulpo a la gallega.
The Tomato aux crevettes were tender translucent shrimps in a delicious dressing encased in a tomato.

The pulpo a la gallega was tasty slices of octopus tentacle on top of new potato slices sprinkled with chili and paprika on a bed of creamy aioli.

It was a great start followed by the mussels.
Again, it was hard to choose because you could choose from mussels cooked in wine, beer etc.
I went for the beer as I was after strong flavours.
It was a huge pot of mussels served with their homemade fries that are fried twice to get that lovely texture.
The mussels were sweet infused with beer and they were free from grit and beard.
While I was eating them I thought I was lucky that the mussels were beard free but later the Chef told me they had removed the beard before cooking you can just enjoy them.

After the mussels, I had the herb roasted chicken.
The chicken was really comforting because it tasted how a roast chicken should taste, ie fully flavoured by the herbs as they were rubbed evenly and it was roasted just right.
The vegetables that came with it were fantastic because they were cooked thoroughly and flavoured in honey, something difficult in HK because the potatoes are normally too hard as the Chefs just grill them to save time.

Had a sweet ending which is hard in Hong Kong because it is really hard to get proper Western desserts.
The Waffle was done just right because it was not too sweet as the sweetness of the cream complemented it nicely and the Chantilly cream was fluffy and airy.

If you drink, I seriously recommend the coconut beer which I tried at the Belgica [other branch]!

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de België:
21 Elgin Street, Central, Hong Kong.
https://www.facebook.com/deBelgiehk/

NOODLEs or WAFFLEs! Waffills

Went past Waffills because I wanted to check out Belgos and other eateries around the area and discovered that Waffills had this noodle waffle and other new savoury items.
I was quite amazed with this new creation, noodles in the shape of a waffle!




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Fried waffle noodles:


The presentation was really fun and creativity is endless because they can also put rice in it and make waffle shaped rice!
Anyway, I loved it because it was soft noodles in the middle with a slight crispiness on the surface. It tasted a bit like noodles in oyster sauce with a hint of spiciness which could have been stronger and the spring onions gave it a nice flavour.
The texture and taste is a bit like the chiuchow style crispy noodles but better because it is not dipped in sugar.
There was also liver terrine with it to make the noodles richer and silkier but it tasted great with or without because the noodles were in a carrot ginger sauce.





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Lollipops:
As well as the noodles, this was divine because the goose liver and waffil bread were just perfect together and the apple balanced the heaviness of the goose liver terrine.
The waffil bread was crisp with a slight chew and is similar to pitta bread but better because there is an even crispiness and structure to it.






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Possible Taco:




The pork was good on its own without the sauces but after adding sauces, it tasted even better with a fuller flavour because the sauces were bold and strong.

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Chocolate milk:


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