How to survive Brussels
Brilliant, observational and dry blog about Brussels. A series of tips, with photos, on simply surviving. This advice on moving to Ghent:
ghent isn’t only the city of good music like soulwax or isabelle adam, there is also a big population of pussies who didn’t survive in brussels. feel free to join them.
go see –> How to survive Brussels
A cut-out-and-keep Belgian Menu
Bored of waiting for service in your restaurant? Afraid of an interminable wait between getting your menu and ordering? Visiting Belgium for the first time? Don’t speak the language?
Never fear! The Kim Bah Lee cut-out-and-keep pocket-sized menu is here! Never be lost in a restaurant again!
Based on extensive research, the trusty dining companion can be used in ANY Belgian restaurant! Just point to what you feel like eating, be it prawns OR beef, and your waiter will bring you the freshest prawns or beef available!
It’s in French and English, good for dining in any Brussels-based establishment! And what’s more, it’s FREE! You’ll never need to look at another menu again*!
*not for use in bars that *also* serve food. In such cases, please memorise “spaghetti bolognaise” or “croque monsieur”
Kokob: Ethiopian
Kokob, Ethiopian restaurant downtown. On the basis of rave reviews, I booked a table for four on a Saturday night without hassle.
Free rum-based aperitif. There wasn’t much rum in it, but it was appreciated.
It’s a concept restaurant. The concept is that you eat with your hands, off a shared, edible plate. Which makes for less washing up. And is, thus, green. Eat at Kokob and save the Ethiopian Panda!
There is also an awesome Dyson hand-drier that alone is worth a trip to the bathroom.
The menu was complex, and interpreting it required cross-referencing the transliterated Amharic with the index, and a degree. Without any further education between the four us, we went for the McEthiopia Bumper Meal Deal: three meats, three veg and half a bottle of wine and water per person, for 30 euros a head.
The chef chose the food, which was satisfactory, if lacking in texture. The tables next door, presumably clever enough to interpret the menu, had big lumps of flesh in gravy and the occasional hard-boiled egg. We had large dollops of minced meat, spicy, and not so easy to eat with bits of flat bread.
Apparently it was lamb and beef. Which was fine, but it could have been anything. The bread-cutlery was filling and there was more of it when we asked.
The coffee came with great ceremony, was home-brewed, ground and smoked. It was served in tiny cups from broken pot with a lump of tin-foil in place of a lid. It was weak and pissy. Which is fine, if you’re an American. Or, presumably, Ethiopian.
The overwhelming feeling was one of distinct apathy. The service was good, the food was ok, the prices very reasonable. Can’t not recommend it, but won’t be rushing back. Try it. Or don’t. You be the judge.
Brussels and dogdirt – a user’s guide
Media:
- The brown crayon of Belgium – from the Telegraph
- “You have to look down to avoid the dog mess on its famously besmirched streets” – The Financial Times
Legal:
- Brussels tackles dog dirt – Expatica.com
- The use of municipal administrative sanctions by the municipalities of Brussels – from The E-Journal for Academic Research on Brussels
Political
- “Brussels is also a dirty town: illegal dumping, dog dirt everywhere, public areas used as toilets” – from Jutta Buyse
- “Something around dog shit in Brussels seems sort of appropriate” – from Beeth.com
Observational
- “Brussels is the dogdirt capital of Europe” – from Eurojism
- “Rain, dog-dirt and undisciplined drivers” – from Virtual Tourist
- “If there’s one thing Brussels has no shortage of, it’s gotta be dog shit” – from Belgium Studs
- “Belgium – gorgeous buildings, good food, too much dog shit” – from Gerant
The Surreal
My Boyfriend is a Twat – the book
Zoe, Brussels doyenne of the bloggers and Princess of the Written Word, has turned her wonderfully successful and much-loved blog into a book – My Boyfriend is a Twat (the book).
According to one review on Amazon, it is “finally or at last or something likely in english … yep yep yep … wonderful beautiful so marvelous sproing sproing sproing juchhu …”. This did it for me. I bought a copy.
Then swing by to see Zoe and say thank you.
Belgian drivers and Paul Theroux
I am now married.
I am also still alive, despite the best efforts of a large man in a large car, who cut me up on Montgomery roundabout and sent me flying off my scooter. I have a sore thumb. The scooter is written off.
I was actually quite upset. But now I’m okay. Thanks for asking.
I have just read My Secret History by Paul Theroux and it was loathsome and brilliant.
I will now stop start sentences with “I”. Or shoot me.
-
-
-
Recent Comments
- Bill: If I were the gull I’d be inclined to get out of Malta pretty damn quick – they have the worst...
- malteser: im a maltese guy i’m 6′5” i dont call dat short i call that tall, not many people are my...
- eleonor: We’re short it’s a fact but i can assure you not the fattest. Take a look around many maltese...
- N: Start learning Dutch
? - sue: What talent is Ludwig (2004) intending to display on the X-Factor? Will he sing or will he scratch his testicles...
