Belgo Lobster Festival 2010

Knife poised above the large carapace of the sunset coloured lobster, I took stock of what I was doing. In celebration of the start of the 2010 Belgo Lobster festival, a lucky bunch of us had been invited by Belgo, the Belgian Restaurant chain offering up some of the best moules frites and beers in town, to the Centraal location to be guided through the shelling and preparing of some of their dishes exclusively offered in the June festivities by the friendly and adept exec chef, Muir Picken.

Wondering in to the underbelly of Belgo Centraal, I had found a small group of food bloggers and writers chattering excitedly, including Londonist's Tiki Chris, Neil (LambShankRedemption) and Kristiana (Turquoise travels).

A gentleman clad in monk's habit introduced himself as Luigi and asked if I'd like a trappist beer or sparkling rose to drink. After my recent visit to Belgium I confidently asked 'You got any of them fruit beers?' 'Er, yes I'm sure but you wouldn't drink those with lobster dishes...' Well I got told. And rightly so; the pairings our beerologist later offered added a whole new dimension to the dishes - some complimented perfectly, others added a sharp contrasting kick to the palate. My favourite was probably the Kwak, but the nifty little wooden handle and bell glass may have had a lot to do with it (in the olden days I would have had to hand over a shoe as deposit, but instead I just smiled sweetly).

We helped to prepare two starters; the overly traditional Lobster Thermador and a similarly prepared Thai Lobster (the dish I prepared), using a red thai curry sauce instead of the standard creamy one, finished with crushed peanuts in place of grated cheese. Next was the lobster salad main in a lemony dressing; very tasty but quite pricey at £17.95 as a whole lobster is used.

Next out were the first fresh lobsters we'd seen (the first few were pleasantly boiled before we arrived). These were put into a dormant state by freezing for 30 minutes - I think more benefit to the chef than the lobster. There is still no consensus on the pain capacities of a lobster, the Norwegian Scientific Committee for  Food Safety confidently claim that 'it is unlikely that lobsters can feel pain', while there are many counter arguments saying otherwise.

In any case, if you choose to eat lobster, you should be clued in with how the creatures are dealt with before reaching your plate. For the whole lobsters (warning: gets a little graphic here) the lobsters are placed in their dormant state on a chopping board and a large knife is used to dispatch them swiftly. They are then prepared, smothered in garlic and parsely butter and popped neatly under a grill.

We had these served up in the surf n turf variety with a plump piece of steak and a bowl of frites, which would normally set you back a reasonable £17.95 for a half lobster. This plate was perhaps my favourite - apart from experiencing it gratis - the decadence of a good steak served with a nob of garlicy pernod butter, accompanied with a succulent lobster half, would surely demand a repeat visit in June.

Lobster festival runs only in June across the five Belgo branches so look here to find your closest. Big thanks to Relish PR for the super opportunity.

Heffalump herd hits London

If you go down to the woods (central London) today, you're in for a big surprise...
Over 250 life-size baby Asian elephants have been painted and planted on street corners and parks to highlight the plea for the endangered Asian elephant.

The outdoor exhibit runs from May 3 - June 29 2010, and hopes to bring in up to £2 mil. I think it's a fantastic idea and although these are Asian ellies (as opposed to their African cousins clearly identified by the size of their pinnae, ahem) it's also fun to hunt them out.

If time allowed I'd love to hunt each one out, but I'm not sure if that's the best use of my time but I see they've created a handy Elephant parade map for just that!

So here's my favourite so far, hiding in Carnaby street. Get your safari gear out and enjoy the hunt; ah and here's ways how you can help.

The beers of Brussels

'I'm a bit tired of the berry ones and already tried the peach - is there any other flavours you could recommend?' I asked the young dread-locked lady behind the bar. 'Coconut is my favourite, do you want to try it?' 'Coconut beer? Well yes, why not.' I blinked in the cloud of cigarette smoke as she slipped into the giant walk-in fridge and came back with a disappointingly normal bottle of beer. Then she reached behind the counter and pulled out a half coconut shell and started washing it under the tap, and I reached down to pick my dashed hopes from the ground. She poured the frothy brew into the shell and handed me a cane ring on which to stand the shell. I handed over the 4 euros and whisked my prize over to my friends who were just as tickled as I. (Grab yourself a half a coconut and you can get the Mongozo beer over here)

In a bid to tick off three new countries this year, continuously squirelling away leave, I set off for Belgium over the Easter weekend with my boyfriend and, accidentally, with another couple we know from London.

The Eurostar is always a pleasure when it's fully functioning and we were in luck with a clean pull in to Brussels Midi on schedule. We tumbled out and shuddered to a city surprisingly chillier than London, and scratched around for our brollies.

After being instructed at the info kiosk that our hotel was a short walk away we happily set off, our wheelie bags purring along the cobbled streets. An hour later, the purr having turned into a sneer, we trudged down the final road and arrived at Hotel Bristol Stephanie.

It was a bit more corporate than I was expecting, and we'd certainly brought down the average age; the downside of being so good at finding good hotel deals. After being ignored for 20 minutes, all three attendees flapping over a single customer I was about to give them a piece of my mind when they gave us a room upgrade, prompting me to shut my mouth and smile.

After settling into our tennis court room we took the metro into town from Louise/Louiza station and popped out near the Grand Place (left). We met our friends who'd found a decent bar down one of the side streets and had Hoegaarden Rose (have a look at one here) - a white beer flavoured with subtle raspberry which was rather delicious. We then picked a spot nearby for dinner and, opting for the most obvious choice, waited for our steaming pots of mussels to be carted out (in our defence it was Good Friday our options were already limited, ahem). After some rather mmmmediocre moule frites we went around the corner to Cafe Delirium for a few drinks.

Cafe Delirium is aptly named as, with over 2000 beers available over 3 floors, the place is manic on a Friday night. Peering through the smoke you'll find nifty little nooks and crannies to sit on, and strange old furniture and decorations plonked in, like carriage roofs and trolley tables. Despite it being a rather chilly night we escaped the smog by heading outside with beers we'd picked up from the Floris Bar section of Delirium across the alley (same bar) that specialised in fruit beers.

Here they have Floris Kriek (cherry) beer on tap and a fruit salad of different beers as well as others like chocolate and honey. I tried the cherry, strawberry, apple and peach and sought after something a little different which lead me to the coconut which was probably the best. In the first day we'd done the fruit beers and moules frites and while it was entertaining, it was also surprisingly pricey. We wandered make to our hotel, a little less sturdy than before, and planned the next day in our cloudy minds.