Belgium

Frites

Twice-fried golden fries, crispy outside, fluffy inside, served with creamy mayonnaise.

Moules-frites

Steamed mussels in wine and herbs, paired perfectly with crispy fries.

Carbonade flamande

Tender beef stewed slowly in dark beer, sweet onions, and spices.

Waterzooi

Creamy, comforting stew of chicken or fish in a rich vegetable broth.

Stoemp

Potato mashed with vegetables and cream, served beside a sausage in Brussels cafés.

Paling in 't groen

Eel poached in a green sauce of sorrel, chervil and parsley, eaten cold or hot.

Garnaalkroketten

Croquettes of grey North Sea shrimp, fried and served with parsley.

Filet américain

Seasoned raw beef spread on toast or eaten with fries, nothing American about it.

Vol-au-vent

Puff pastry case of chicken and mushroom in cream sauce, a brasserie fixture.

Gaufre de Liège

Dense brioche waffle studded with pearl sugar that caramelises on the iron.

Gaufre de Bruxelles

Golden, crisp-edged waffles dusted with sugar or drenched in cream and fruit.

Pralines

Velvety pralines crafted with rich cocoa, melting into pure decadent sweetness.

Speculoos

Crunchy, caramelized spiced cookies with warm notes of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Cuberdon

Cone-shaped raspberry sweet with a hard shell and a syrupy centre, sold in Ghent.

Trappist

Strong abbey ales still brewed inside monastery walls, six of them Belgian.

Lambic

Beer fermented by wild yeast from the Senne valley air, sour and still.

Gueuze

Young and old lambics blended and re-fermented in the bottle, bone dry.

Kriek

Sour lambic steeped with whole cherries, tart rather than sweet when done properly.

Jenever

Botanical juniper spirit, the malty ancestor of gin, sipped ice-cold.

Herve

Washed-rind cheese from the Pays de Herve, pungent enough to be sold wrapped twice.