Saturday 27 July 2013

Career coaching feedback



As you may remember, some time ago I offered one of my readers the possibility of winning a free career coaching experience with OrientaEuro.eu. Well, the lucky winner was Alexandra, also a trainee in the European Commission like me and in this video you can watch her talking about how enriching the experience was. Thank you, OrientaEuro.eu, for allowing someone to benefit from your services in this defining moment of our career (the end of the traineeship) and thank you, Alexandra, for having shared your experience with us!

Wednesday 24 July 2013

Bistro du Canal




In one of last week's hot evenings, I went to Bistro du Canal: a very nice restaurant located, as the name indicates, near the canal. The atmosphere was great: everyone outside, enjoying the summer, having drinks and eating their marvellous food.



The menu comes to each table in this blackboard!


This is what we had:

Onglet de boeuf, réduction d'echalot à la Renée, pommes rôtis au four

Boeuf preparé à la japonaise, caviar d' aubergine et sésame grillé

Cheesecake
Fondant chocolat avec créme anglaise


The interior of the restaurant is very nice too!







So, if you're looking for good comfort food after a day of work in a relaxed environment in one of the priviliged areas of the city, this is the place! You will have to wait until the 21st of August, though, as the restaurant is now closed for vacations (the owner is actually spending them in Portugal!), but will reopen on that day.

Rue Antoine Dansaert 208
1000 Bruxelles
+322 02 511 03 60

Sunday 21 July 2013

Gentse Feesten
























The festival of Gent started yesterday and will be ongoing until the 29th. I was there yesterday, as Gent is one of my favourite cities in Belgium and wanted to see how it looked like with its biggest party. It was great! The streets were crowded with people and a lot was going on (for free!): concerts, theatre, parades, individual performances, the shops were all open, lots of places to eat and drink, boat trips... you can really spend there a great day. Try to pass by there if you can!

Thursday 18 July 2013

Lake Genval









In middle June, the cycling subcommittee organized a trip to Lake Genval. It is located around 25km away from Brussels, so a group of us brave trainees decided to endeavour the task of cycling 50km in one day, with city bikes, between woods and secondary lanes. It was tiring, but a lot of fun! We took our food to pic-nic at the lake and saw some amazing natural landscapes on our way there. It's a great idea for a day trip (with or without bikes) from Brussels. This was the way we took:

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Amadeo


  
Last week I have been to Amadeo, a restaurant that rightfully identifies itself as "the place for ribs". Indeed, located in central Brussels, between Bourse and De Brouckère, this is a place that cannot pass unseen, although mingled with all the Asian restaurants existing in the street where it is located. Once you see the entrance with this big cow, the light disclaimers and the whole rouge atmosphere, you will be prompted to get it. If you're a fan of food and like that your stomach leaves the restaurants you go to well stuffed, the concept of "à volonté" (which means “as much as you like”: extra spare ribs, potatoes, salad and accompanying sauces really can be ordered without any limit, for just 15,95€) will also appeal to your taste.

The house's red wine, present in every table and perfect to go along with all the meat you're about to eat. With the advantage that you don't have to order and pay for the whole bottle: in the end, the staff will see how much of it did you drink and calculate the price to pay based on that.
The first amount of ribs that you get! Then each supplement is about half the size of this. We were two and only were able to eat this first piece and one supplement (shared by the two)! But the staff told us the official record is a guy who ate 15 (!!!) supplements. You also have this potato jacket cooked with a very nice special herb butter sauce and salad. The ribs also have their own special barbecue sauce.








Not only the ribs are amazing (and you're allowed to eat with your hands for once!), but the space of the restaurant is magnificent, mixing Flemish and Oriental styles. It used to be an old theatre and now it's... Amadeo! The space is huge (there are many more rooms than the one you see when you enter), so it's also perfect for a group dinner. They also serve more plates than just the ribs, so lots of options to please all the visitors. The staff is really friendly and the food came super quickly. They also have restaurants in Ghent (two actually) and in Antwerp. Definitely a must-stop if you're in Belgium and want to eat well for a decent price (open for dinner only)!

Amadeo
Sint-Katelijnestraat 26 - 28
1000 Brussels
+32 (0)2-502 51 37