On a cold January afternoon, with temperatures well below freezing, we found ourselves in the center of Antwerp. Antwerp's just across the border from us, less than an hour's drive and yet all these days, it had just been this town that you pass by on the way to Brussels.
After a little stroll around the charming city square and the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe Katheedraal (Cathedral of Our Lady), we chanced upon, as luck would have it, an obscure, quaint little tavern behind the imposing walls of the Cathedral. Located in three historic houses from the 16th century, it was adorned with old statues of angels, royalty and all sorts of biblical characters....and to top it all, they served traditional Flemish cuisine and lots of Belgian / Trappist beers, which are my favorite!
I urged Laxmi to try a Trappist Rochefort 6 while I settled(!!) for a St. Bernardus Prior 8. The Prior 8 is a dark (ruby purple) beer: malty, fruity and tastes exactly like what you would expect from a nice dark Belgian ale. We followed that up with a second round: Laxmi likes white beers, so she opted for the St. Bernardus Wit while I chose the St. Bernardus Abt 12. The Abt 12 is their best beer, very rich, smooth and fruity and full of flavour. We loved it!
Even though Belgium is right next door and makes the best beers in the world, its a pity that so many of them are not commonly available at local restaurants in Dutch cities. St Bernardus is an Abbey beer, made in a town called Watou. The water they use is super-pure, dug from 150m below the ground and (according to scientific evidence) originates from a rainfall from the time of Joan of Arc! The brewing, as with all abbey beers, is done by monks living in the abbey and follows the best standards. St Bernardus beers are also additionally bottle fermented which means that the bottle is conditioned with yeast and sugar so that the beer continues fermenting in the bottle resulting in the perfect flavours!
The beer was accompanied by an awesome lunch: Laxmi had a Charolais fillet of Beef with Peppercorn Cream Sauce and I had Pork tenderloin in a creamy mushroom sauce. The food was straight out of heaven, and we enjoyed it so much that we forgot to take any food pictures!
The afternoon couldn't have been better and we vowed to return back again and try to see a little more of the city, that is if the beers will let us!
So, did you drive home drunken ;-) guess, not so uncommon in Belgium and by the time you crossed in to NL your liver would have done a good job.
ReplyDeleteThe discription of the main course is mouth-watering. Humbling to know that there is so much variety of beer- more so, that one has a special test for them.