Lunch at De Grendel Restaurant

This post is as much about great food as it is about the power of Twitter. After mutual online stalking for a few months, Why I Am Not Skinny and I met when she was in Cape Town this past week. An ex-South Africa, living in Brussels, we enjoyed lunch at De Grendel - a delicious choice, and also her recent wedding venue.

Having dined at De Grendel once before, we were excited to see what it would be like during sunshine hours - the answer? Just as good.

After a little Viognier on the terrace, we headed downstairs to the restaurant. Menu options were quite easy, with 3/4 of our table choosing the same dishes. To start, our gracious host ordered a salad for the table - uninspiring in name, only. Speckled with sweet onion rings, feta, avocado and an assortment of herbs, this was no mere salad. Delicious, we polished off the bowl - with most of us admitting we would gladly have eaten only that for lunch.

A gift from the chef then arrived - an amuse bouche of salted, smoked beef. Again, uninspiring in name alone, it successfully combined smokey, sweet, salty and tangy in one dish. 

Heaven.

Onto mains - our host ordered the mushroom risotto, with the rest of the table happily devouring the pork belly. Both received praise - I can vouch for the pork. With crisp eat-with-your-hands crackling and a lovely sweet cabbage and fig pickle, it was the perfect dish for the grey skies outside.

Onto dessert - which was perhaps the only less-than-amazing dish - perhaps only due to the fact that it was called Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate - a certain expectation was created. I didn't actually ask what the dish was, so partly my fault too. A dual-layered fondant with chocolate ice cream and fancy bits, it was lovely, but just not what I expected.

Service, decor and setting - all absolutely lovely (I think I will lust after their bespoke under plates until the day I die) - the food? Yes, worth it. From the humblest of salads to a well-conceived relish for the pork belly - the food was properly delicious. What more could you want?

Note : Our meal was paid for in full. All images and thoughts are my own.