Goose – Beauperi Investments

Posted on August 5, 2017August 5, 2017 by beauperi · 1 Comment

Bus Tour of Brussels

Thursday, 3 August, 2017 – weather: rain and then slow improvement to a very good day

We had decided yesterday that we would take, belatedly, the bus tour around Brussels. When we get up it is raining hard and lowers the energy or will to go out. As the rain slows and stops, we decide to get up and go. We actually did not get wet at all. We walk all the way to Central Station which is about 30 minutes but the good thing is that it is mostly a down hill walk.

This plaza is virtually 100% road, spooking Julie a bit

We get to Central Station and there is a bus there picking up passengers. It is absolute chaos but we are OK as everyone that has gotten on has gone to the top deck so there are lots of seats available in the bottom area. We eventually get on and get a seat and the bus finally takes off. As per the other bus site seeing tours, there are no photos taken from the bus, except this one.

An impressive structure seen from the bus is the Atomium

Unlike our bus tours in Edinburgh, we hop off part way through, not at the Atomium but at an area near markets and a restaurant area recommended by our Airbnb Host. I was glad that we did.

An old market, not so interesting inside

There is frequently an outdoor market here but not today

At this stage my camera ran out of battery so I used the phone camera for the rest of the afternoon.

St Catherine’s and a major plaza in front of it

There are a number of nice looking takeaways and various crowded seating areas

We decide that we will take a look at some of the restaurants.

But we selected the next one along on the basis of its menu. Who would have guessed looking at this shop front

That there would be a magnificent garden setting out the back

Inside was pretty impressive too. The weather is improving all the time and we seem to have ended up in a real winner, including the menu which has so many things I could order. A few small extracts:

Carbonnade of Beef? No, I elect the Saddle of Rabbit with Flemish Sauce

There was also Eels in green sauce but I passed on that too.

We order a starter of shrimp croquettes to share. Tiny, baby shrimp within a potato mix, I think

Julie ordered smoked salmon with a salad as a main course

My saddle of Rabbit. A most interesting, piquant sauce

Our full mains with our Cotes du Rhone, delivered correctly today

We departed Restaurant Van Gogh feeling very satisfied, among the best meals of the whole trip. I wish we had discovered St Catherine’s Square much earlier in our stay in Brussels. No more photos from me today.

We walk back to the bus stop and after a long wait hop back on the next bus to complete the first tour of the day. Julie would like me to point out this interesting bit of recorded commentary regarding a statue of one of Brussels heroes and martyrs:

“He was decapitated and died shortly afterwards”.

We finish the tour at Central Station and cross the street to where there is another bus with a crowd around it. Julie finds out that it is indeed the one that goes on the other tour. Eventually the driver shows up and the usual chaos occurs but we get on the bus and it takes off.

This tour covers a lot of the area where we are staying. We hop off before it is finished at Luxemburg Square, not the country Luxemburg. This is a new area for Julie but with the help of / in spite of Google maps we make it back to the apartment.

A detailed description of our bus tours

I don’t need any more food for today after the big lunch. Julie goes out and grabs some more smoked salmon and on return makes another fried bread with salmon. Early to bed as we need to get up early tomorrow to leave town.

Posted on November 29, 2013April 15, 2014 by beauperi · 1 Comment

The Duck Crawl

Wednesday, 6 November, 2013

Well, tonight is the Duck Crawl. There are no organised activities during the day so JV and I head out mid-morning to get something to eat. We settle on another place where we are the only white faces in it.

JV orders a Wonton Noodle Soup and a Duck leg, what else? I order a serve of Wontons and a Goose leg.

All in all I thought JV’s choice of the soup was better but at least we got to have more Fowl, why else the trip?

That afternoon JV prances around HK. I go again down to the swimming pool for some leisurely reading.

To start the Duck Crawl, we meet in the Lobby Bar at the Renaissance, an isolated area at the end. The idea is a few drinks which turn out to be Whispering Angel Rose – arguably the most expensive Rose in the world. No photos sadly. This Duck Crawl has only two restaurants instead of the usual three, never mind we do OK.

We go out for a short walk, 10 minutes or so to Suzuike:

We are joined by the owner of Suzuike, two local Chinese – who arrive late as usual and another Aussie there for the Wine Expo.

It looked like a private room but other casual diners moved in eventually. However, the owner of the restaurant joined us along with Ed Davis, two local Chinese and an Aussie.

Of course, I had to pass this one along. I doubted that I would end up starving at the end of the night.

So that was the end of Suzuike. We head back to the Renaissance and the Dynasty Restaurant where we had lunch on Sunday. They had set-up two large tables for us but we decided we could all fit on one.

This Peking Duck is served in the traditional way with only skin. JV prefers to have skin and meat. Love the plate.

Cold Shredded Duck and Chicken with Jellyfish and Fruit

Duck and Prawn Dumplings in Superior Broth

There were drinks afterwards at the Lounge but I am not sure that I made it. Still, a very good time for the last official function of the tour.

Posted on November 20, 2013April 15, 2014 by beauperi

Sunday Night

Sunday, 3 November, 2013 – Evening

We head out to Fu Tung Cantonese Restaurant which was to feature Duck dishes created by Chef Lam, very famous in Hong Kong who has a few restaurants. We went to this restaurant in the first of our Duck Crawls with the normal Duck Crew (Peter, Lois, Geoff, Donna and Marian).

We meet our other Crawlers – Maggie and Peter from Melbourne and Graeme who was a part of our second HK Duck Crawl.

The restaurant specialises in Abalone but just like last time this was too expensive so we did not have any. nor did we have any Duck. The following was the “second choice”.

We had this special dish created by Chef Lam when here in the first HK Duck Crawl. I tried it and did not like it at all so I did not go anywhere near it this time. JV did not like it much either but it all got eaten.

Roy brought along lots of nice wines. As per last time, Chef Lam actively participated in the wine drinking. Any way, we called it a night, quite good.

Posted on November 19, 2013April 15, 2014 by beauperi

Sunday in Hong Kong

Sunday, 3 November, 2013

There is no formal function scheduled until this evening, so JV and I decide to explore and get something to eat. We had been given a recommendation for a Noodle place by a Hotel staff so we headed out to find it. We did discover where it was and it appeared to be a Michelin rated restaurant. However, as you can see, it wasn’t ready for us.

Noodle Restaurant

So we selected another place, down the road a little bit, called Tung Yuen Banquet.

When we enter we find that it is a Yum Char type place. It is totally full, it is Sunday morning after all, and we share a table with a few other groups. We are the only white faces in this very large restaurant. Hardly any body spoke English. We did managed to get a Dimsum menu with English on it.

Julie found another flyer with some English featuring Hairy Crab which we found out was quite popular but a lot of work for not much crab meat.

After a conversation which it was clear that neither side understood the other, we finally order one of each of the first 4 Dimsum and the last one, Stewed Oxtongue.

The Chicken Soup in dumpling was the clear success of the order, shown here in its wooden container. JV loved it. Also shown was the Siu My which was advertised as containing Black Truffle sauce and I could taste some truffle flavour.

The Chicken soup, uncovered.

The Har Gau and the Supreme Scallop dumpling, which was very good. We waited for ages for the Oxtongue, which never came so eventually we left. Still, it was a really good choice of a restaurant.

Julie went prancing across Hong Kong while I returned to the room for a nap as I had not slept that well last night. While there, I get a call from Selena asking us to go to Yum Cha in the Hotel’s restaurant. It turned out to be a bit more than Yum Cha but was very good.

Goose - I had been looking forward to Goose on this trip — Goose – I had been looking forward to Goose on this trip

Notice the Rose with lunch as is a Roy Moorfield specialty.

A very nice lunch so I had back for another nap as we have our first function this evening.

Beauperi Investments – Wine Consulting

Tag: Goose

Bus Tour of Brussels

The Duck Crawl

Sunday Night

Sunday in Hong Kong