Winter Vacation '08 - Brugge - The Eating

Even though we failed to sample some the Belgian standards, such as moules, or frites, or --- blasphemy! --- beer, we did enjoy some interesting eating during our ~30 hours in Brugge.

Waffles & hot chocolate

First, the cliche hot chocolate and waffles. We stumbled upon this place at an incredibly lucky time when a little table in the window had just opened up. Trying to find seats at restaurants and cafes in Brugge was like playing musical chairs with a 10:1 people to chairs ratio. Not great times. But this one worked out for us.



The place obviously gets crushed by a relentless stream of tourists, which is reflected in the weary stoicism bordering on resentment with which the staff serves you. Civil and efficient, yes. But don't hold your breath waiting for a smiley face to be drawn on your check.



The basic hot chocolate was very good. And they didn't skimp on the schnapps in my amped up version.



The waffles were so light and clean tasting (if you can say that about something drizzled in chocolate and ice cream), that you can't even compare them to the stuff that gets passed off as waffles in your local diner. But then, that's not really saying a lot, eh?

Net: nice little rest stop to warm up for a few minutes before rejoining the touristic horde.

Dinner @ Maximiliaan's

Recharged by the sugar and warmth of the cafe, we ambled about the town looking for a place to get dinner later. We selected Maximiliaan von Oostenrijk almost entirely on looks. The setting on the outside was picturesque (though this shot from by BlackBerry doesn't really do it full justice).



Plus, from what we could see through the windows it looked to have the kind of rustic vibe we enjoy.





Tucked away a bit from the main streets, we also thought it might be a bit less crowded than some of the other places we had passed.


Image source: Maximiliaan von Oostenrijk

So, we decided to give it a shot. When we showed up for our reservation the atmosphere was mostly what we had expected it would be ... with the exception of our waiter. He was a cross between John Goodman and the guitarist / singer (aka, the 'Austrian Larry Bird') who can be found pleasing crowds at Chicago Brauhaus. He didn't really give us a warm fuzzy right off the bat. Actually, it was almost as if the manager and the waiter were giving us the good cop / bad cop routine. Weird. And kind of a buzz kill.



Once he did warm up to us, though, we had a mostly enjoyable time. The wine was good, but the quality of the food we ordered was inconsistent.



We got off to a great start with the 'croquettes au fromage' (which sounds a lot nicer than the English translation of 'cheese fritters' on the multi-lingual menu).



The Chateaubriand was pretty solid, but the fries were disappointingly bland.



And the creme brulee was a joke. Looked like creme brulee, tasted like low grade pudding.



Net - nice space, but if for some reason I ever find myself in Brugge again, I won't be making another reservation at Maximiliaan von Oostenrijk.

UPDATE 2/21/09
Finally got some clips up on YouTube so I can embed them here. This is from the area near Maximiliaan von Oostenrijk. Honestly I'm not sure if the restaurant Judy is in front of is Maximiliaan's or a neighboring place. But it's definitely in the general area of where we had dinner, so you get the gist of the vibe where we were. Relatively quiet.



Gluhwein & potato salad



The next day we had to try the gluhwein. It was everywhere (actually saw it a decent amount on the streets of Paris, too). (FYI, as of this writing there are more than 600 YouTube results for gluhwein, if you're interested.)

We see its Nordic cousin, glogg promoted heavily in Andersonville every holiday season, but haven't tried it since a DIY attempt at home went horribly wrong a few years ago.

But when in Brugge, drink like the Bruggians, no?



So we ponied up our 2 euros for a styrofoam cup of gluhwein and gave it a shot. Really wasn't much different than what I remember pulling off the stove during our disappointing at-home attempt in 2001. Next time I'll be content to just take the photos and maybe not try the product.



Next, the potato salad.



Have to admit that there is something oddly compelling about a big pile of potato salad.



And this particular pile was overseen with some flair, which added to the allure.



But the verdict from Judy was "okay". And "okay" on Judy's scale is akin to "really wish I didn't order it" on most people's scales.



Go figure. Potato salad made in 20 kilo batches at an open air market catering to tourists isn't that great.

Redemption: one final Belgian hot chocolate before the train



But we closed out Brugge on a high note, with a hot chocolate in the lounge of the Hotel Kempinski. Very nice.