I went back here on a Monday night as part of a group of 5 diners (including me) for the Festival de la Gastronomie Bruxelles which had a great deal with 50% off the a la carte menu prices, which is a great deal considering mains are euro 25+.
Our table had a great big bowl of warm spicy prawn crackers when we sat down, and the waiter soon bought out an amuse-boche for us, which consisted of a great sweet-sour tangy soup and a fried wonton, both of which were totally amazing and whetted our appetites. So with those awesome tastes tantalizing our palates, we decided to get the PERLES DU BLUE ELEPHANT for our shared starter. This consisted of 6 types of food items - veg spring roll, vermicelli salad, fish cake (so good!), shrimp dim sum, shrimp pastry, and chicken satay. We had 4 different kind of sipping sauce for these items - peanut sauce, soy sauce, sweet/sour sauce and rice wine vinegar sauce. We all loved these entree items - taste was excellent and fresh and for me, the fish cake and the vermicelli salad was the star. Another diner on our table loved the shrimp and satay + peanut sauce, so there was something in for everyone with differing tastes with this entree and you can't go wrong choosing this to start with.
Two diners decided to get the Tom Yum Khung soup, and this was really spicy, with one person being unable to finish the soup because of how unexpectedly high the level of spiciness was. But the taste was delicious and this soup will totally clear out your sinuses and leave your lips tingly.
For our mains, I got the grilled sea bass and found it perfectly cooked. Loved the lemongrass and banana leaf flavoring, but wouldn't have minded if the heat level had been turned up slightly. Another friend got the spare ribs, and boy these packed a wallop of five spice flavoring, so seemed more chinese than thai in taste for me. I also thought the ribs were a little dry for my taste, but the diner who ordered them polished the plate off in quick order. Two of our party got the green chicken curry and both of them thought it was delish, even if one of them found the peppercorns used in the curry to be a slightly unpleasant wake up call to the tastebuds. The last diner got the Plateau Royal, which was 4 small curries - shrimp, fish, chicken and beef. I tried the shrimp, and loved the sauce being used. This diner polished off the shrimp and fish curry, but didn't care that much for the chicken and beef curry.
We were quite full after this, but decide to get one dessert to share. I had had the mango & sticky rice last time, so this time decided to get the ginger creme brûlée. So not sure what to say about this dish, but it was the weakest item on the menu for me, and also why its 4 stars (or rather actually 4.5) rather than 5 stars. Firstly, it wasn't like a cream brûlée, as the bottom part went chilled and there was no sugar layer that was crisp, as is normal for this dish. With the dish being room temperature, I missed the normal contrast of the hot burnt sugar and the cold creme that I normally get with the dish. Secondly, it was candied ginger - I was expecting ginger root and so didn't get that hit of ginger I was expecting in the taste. Finally, there was a textural element - i think they had put in coconut and this came across as gritty for me, so this will totally be a dish that I would not recommend and not get again.
So overall apart from a disappointing dessert, food was really lovely, and wait staff service was swift albeit it could have been a little bit more warm and welcoming like with our maitre de, who took our coats and then at the end, the female diners got an orchid stem as a gift. The staff also didn't make a great fuss about packing the leftover green chicken curry in a doggy bag and to our great surprise, included a small container of rice too! Our bill too was great - down to around 165 euros for 5 of us from 285 euros, thanks to participating in the Gastronomie Bruxelles festival.
I would def recommend this place and be back again read more