The Belgians often claim that their cuisine is better than that of their near neighbours, the French, and they spend a lot of effort in imitating it. The attempts to out-do the French involve devices such as rich sauces and overworked presentation. At Azzurra we have the unseemly spectacle of Belgian cuisine imitating French cuisine imitating Italian cuisine (if you know what I mean).
Accordingly, pasta dishes are drowned in cream or passatta, and pizza (bought-in frozen bases) are laden with too many garnishes. Carte dishes masquerade as Italian in name only: for example, Belgians love croquettes; here, they were constructed partly of Parmesan cheese and topped off with a cream sauce, and entitled 'Crocchette al Parmigiano', an imaginary Italian dish that exists only in the minds of Belgian Chefs. Starters were around 10euro, mains 20euro, and neither were worth half the price.
I was as disappointed as I might have been, had I tuned into Poirot on the TV and found Hercule wearing a beret and hooped shirt whilst trying to sing Nessun Dorma. read more