Brussels Sprouts

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The moules a la Vin Blanc - mussels in white wine with butter, parsley, celery and onions, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

Oh, the joy of moules et frites! Mussels paired with fries are such a luscious snack! Plus beer! We caved in to temptation and joined the crowd at Brussels Sprouts even though we had dinner at Ichiban-Tei.

This is yet another eatery by celebrity "Chef in Black" Emmanuel Stroobant. He's Belgian, so the food here goes back to his childhood roots. This casual but chic bar and bistro is themed in yellow and black, with an energetic vibe. Staff are prompt and attentive.



The mussels (fleshwise) are small but fresh, tender and sweet, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

You can have your mussels done in 18 different styles (including Asian flavours like curry and tom yum). I chose the Vin Blanc (white wine). Since we already had dinner, we ordered just a starter portion of mussels - $18 for 300g, but you can also have 700g for $38 as a main.

These Norwegian mussels are not your large, meaty green lip types but they were succulent and sweet nonetheless. Fresh and very clean, not a bit of dirt in any of them. I dug in with relish, using my hands. The correct way to eat them is to use the empty shells as pincers. But I think it's easier to use one half-shell as eating utensil. Scrape the mussel off the shell with it, scoop up some of the delicious stock and enjoy!



The frites - thick cut planks, too bad some were a bit soggy, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

Free-flow fries come with the mussels. These are thick planks hand-cut and seasoned lightly with salt. The thinner ones were fried crisp on the outside but thicker ones ended up a bit soggy. Served with homemade mayonnaise but I preferred to dunk them in the mussels broth. Yummy! Unfortunately we were too full to go for seconds.



Biere du Boucanier - a potent fruity brew with 11% alcohol!, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

Hubby found his beer heaven here - 70 different varieties of Belgian beer! He wasn't going to go for the happy hour commercial brews, he was going to have the more exotic stuff. This Biere du Boucanier delighted him. Belgian beers are quite often fruity, and this was not an exception.



Chic but casual, originally uploaded by Camemberu.

Mmmh, I'm quite a late-comer to this joint but I know we'll be back.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS
80 Mohamed Sultan Road
01-12 The Pier @ Robertson
Tel: 6887-4344

Posted Thursday, October 25, 2007

4 comments:

  1. i beg to differ about belgian beer - there are some belgian beers that are fruity but not all.

    r
    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmm, I didn't say ALL Belgian beers are fruity. Just "quite often" - that surely does not mean "all", just that you might likely to find one that is.
    ReplyDelete
  3. I've only been once but it was just this past Tuesday and the mussels were not very fresh so I was disappointed. I could taste it in the broth even. My friend didn't seem to think until a few mussels later when she bit into one that was so unfresh she had to spit it out immediately.

    Tried the creamy pesto (which had ok mussels) and the white wine (which had the bad ones). Both broths I felt paled easily to my homemade mussels so..just buy a kg and cook them yourself!

    Fries are nice when hot, great with malt vinegar and salt and the aioli. Haha, instead of blogging I think my comment covers the experience.

    Service good, the pale fruity beer I had (ciney?) was easy-drinking and refreshing.
    ReplyDelete
  4. by any chance that u have come across a authentic portuguese eating place? have been looking for it quite a while :)
    ReplyDelete

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