If you guessed horse sausage, horse salami, pig bits in jelly and veal tongues in orange sauce, then you really know your meats. All are eastern Flanders specialities and were very interesting. However, we were a bit disappointed that the horse wasn't horsier.
Gent ended up being all about food and beer (for something different) so I'm just going to run through what we had.
Cuberdons
A Gent speciality that are a raspberry flavoured soft centred jelly. We went back for more after trying these the first time.
Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant
A cool old bar (an institution if you will) that sits right on the canal that provided us our first beers of Gent. As you can see it didn't take long for Matt to settle in.
The box on the wall with all the slots in it is a system for locals whereby they deposit, say, five euros a week and the bar deposits the money with a bank after each week. Then at the end of the year the bar puts on some kind of beer themed event that the interest earned over the year pays for and they each get their money back. Why don't we have this back in Oz??
Frites and Escargot at Frituur Bij Filip
We had the best frites of our trip (twice over) at a tiny unsuspecting place tucked behind the Groentenmarkt. So crunchy on the outside but pillowy soft on the inside. We also shared a pot of escargot in a briney sauce. Beautiful.
Waffles at Mokabon
These were the only waffles we had in Belgium because after these it was hard to see them being bettered. We had the classic with just sugar, one with chocolate sauce and another with fruit. All were great but the star of the show here is the amazing waffles themselves. Om nom nom.
Cheese and Mustard
We picked up three different cheeses from a regional producer and a pot of spicey mustard from Tierenteyn where you choose your pot size and they scoop your mustard from a big open vat. The cheeses were decent but the mustard, brilliant.
Chocolates from YUZU
When you choose ten chocolates that include flavours such as salt and pepper, rum and tobacco, and Szechuan pepper, you know you're in for a treat. The flavours maybe weren't as full on as we would've liked but still disappeared very quickly.
Vego Dinner at De Appelier
Thursdays in Gent are vego days so after a day of food that included frites cooked in vegetable fat (not good!), we headed to De Appelier for dinner. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised. The plate above is only a medium and was loaded with rice, different veggies and a veggie pattie, amongst other things. Not bad.
Beers from De Hopduvel
We picked up a nice little selection of beers from De Hopduvel, which included the highly sought after Rodenbach Caractère Rouge which is a sour red ale brewed with cranberries, cherries and rasberries. Nice.
Some Street Art
Cassowary Sightings - daily
The Beers
Gandavum Dry Hopping
Augustijn Blonde, Donker
Gulden Draak 9000
Koddestamper Tripel
Klokke Roeland
De Struise Tjeeses, Ypres
Rodenbach Caractère Rouge
Cuvee des Jacobins Rouge
Dupont Bio Saison
Gruut Wit, Bruin
