Restaurant Carillon at Sint-Amandsstraat, Brugge

I’ll be going back to Philippines soon and I wanted to treat my sister’s family even though my sister insisted that I should just save my money instead. Believe me, the cheapskate in me was tempted to do just that but since I bought a few groceries for my friend in Amsterdam who adopted me there for 2 nights, why couldn’t I do something for my own family too? So, I told fre, “I’m rich, lunch is on me”. Nyahaha.

The nice thing about my sister and Fre is they always ask me where I wanted to go and if I wanted to go with them.  In this case, where do I wanted to eat? I’ve read that one of Belgium’s national dishes is steak with fries and I wanted to try that so we ended up in Carillon located at Sint-Amandsstraat, Brugge.

They offer set menu for different prices and we decided on the 25-Euro meal while Raidon had a kiddy menu of chicken and fries. Isn’t my 3 year old nephew very cute? So what does a 25-Euro meal in Carillon consist of? First is the Mosselsoepje or Mussel soup. Fre said that only very rich people in Belgium could eat mussels all the time and after hearing this mom was like, “if Fre comes to Philippines, I’ll feed him with lots of mussels and other seafoods”.

Most of the people in Philippines doesn’t realize it but we are very rich people in some ways.

Next comes Garnaalkroketten or rissoles of shrimp. To be honest, I’m not sure what this is.  Breaded shrimp perhaps?  Finally the Steak Peperroomsaus or Steak Peppersauce.  I’ve heard of people getting parasites from eating medium / rare meat so I had to cut the center and check for blood first. My steak was a bit pinkish in the middle and although I’ve read that it means my steak is juicy but I’m not risking it.  I want my meat very much well done.

As it was my first steak ever so I’m not really an expert but I find it tasty enough and was able to finish it except the pinkish middle part of course.

After the steak, Ijsje or ice cream was served. I wasn’t able to take a picture of it because I started digging in as soon as it was placed on my table. Yay.

Total cost of the meal is about 98 Euro for 3 adults and 1 kid.  Wow! Did you know that 50 Euro is more than enough already to feed 12 people in most restaurants of Cebu, Philippines?  Thankfully, there’s no such thing as terminal fees in Brussels’ airport.

P.S. Bon Appetit is a famous French expression for enjoy your meal but in Dutch, we say Eet Smakelijk.

Belfry of Bruges

Ever since I’ve read that Belfry is accessible to the public, I knew that I wanted to get up there by hook or by crook. That means that I’ll brave the queues, entrance fee of 8 Euro and a bored sister who isn’t too happy to climb it’s 366 steep, partially wooden staircase with a 3 year old boy who kept asking for his papa, Fre.

I just dig overlooking views and I would have regretted being in Brugge and not experiencing the Belfry trip.

Isn’t the view breathtaking? There’s nothing like a view of Brugge from the leaning Belfry built since 1240.

Day Trip in Brugge

Fre and my sister have probably been to Brugge a million times but for the sake of me, they went there again with Raidon and me in tow. After the car was parked with subsequent parking fees of course, first stop was this fountain which was memorable for me. Why? There was iced coffee being distributed around for FREE. Fre and my sister didn’t like it much but Raidon and I dig it. It’s like a coffee flavored ice cream for me.

The thing about Brugge is that most of its architectures present today are from medieval times that’s why it’s one of UNESCO’s World Heritage sites. Fre said that if ever you buy any of its properties, you are NOT allowed to change it’s structures to preserve it’s rich historical beauty.

Houses in Belgium are like buildings really because most have 3rd / 4th floor. Notice the house below with doors at the top floor? According to Fre, people in Belgium long time ago will pulley their supplies up and store it above. I don’t understand why they can’t store it in the basement but that’s how they do things before.

Belgium is famous for beer, waffles, fries and CHOCOLATES! My sister showed me these chocolate boobies in one of the many chocolate stores in Brugge.

Guido Gezelle according to Fre is one of the most important poets and writers in Belgium and he was born in Brugge. I haven’t heard of him before and I doubt I would understand it anyway because his works will all be in Dutch of course.

Brugge is sometimes called “Venice of the North” because it has a few canals and it was a very nice place to walk around but I’m only interested with it because of one thing… the Belfry. WHY? Check out my next post.