Place d’Armes. This is an old-fashioned place, with no appearance of a restaurant outside, and a stranger would easily pass it by. Here one dines both a la carte Belgian "Towns 135 and at table d'hote ; the table d'hote is well worth trying, though some of the dishes can be safely passed over. The wines at Mottez’s are very good, and some special old Flemish beer in bottles should be asked for. A great local dish is Hochepot Gantois , a mixture of pork, sausages, and vegetables which only the very hungry or the very daring should experiment upon at a strange place. Flemish cooking as a rule is fat and porky, and there is a dish often seen on the carte called Choesels a la Bruxelloise , which is considered a delicacy by the natives, and it is supposed to be a hash cooked in sherry or marsala ; it is, however, a dish of mystery. A plat always to be found in Belgium (especially in the Flanders district) is Waterzoei de Poulet , a chicken broth served with the fowl. This is usually very safe, and any one going to Mottez’s at Ghent should try it there. The Rocher de Cancale is also a restaurant at Ghent that can be recommended. It is' at the corner of the street leading to the Place d’Armes, on the way from the station. Carbonades Flamandes is another Flemish dish, which, if well prepared at a reputable establishment, can be eaten without fear. This is beef-steak stewed in “ faro,” an acid Flemish beer, and served with a rich brown sauce. Salade de Princesses Liegeoises is a salad made with scarlet runners mixed with little pieces of fried bacon. The bacon takes the place of oil, while the vinegar should be used with rather a heavy hand. When other salads are scarce, this makes an excellent dish. Of all the Belgian plats, however, the Belgians place foremost Grives a la Namuroise , which of course are only to be obtained in the autumn. I have said that the Belgian is a bird-eater, and throughout the country all kinds of birds — even, I regret to say, song-birds — are pressed into service for the table. A stranger visiting the Ardennes will be struck by the sad silence of the 136 The Gourmet's Guide to Bur ope woods, which is caused by the wholesale destruction of the birds. How the supply is kept up it is difficult to say, but no Belgian dinner is considered complete without a bird of some sort, and when grives are in season, thousands must be served daily. A grive proper is a thrush, but blackbirds and starlings often find their way to the casserole under the name of a grive . They are cooked with the trail, in which mountain-ash berries are often found. These give the bird a peculiar and rather bitter flavour, but the berry mostly used in the cooking is that of the juni- per plant, which grows very plentifully in Belgium. When grives go out of season, we have woodcock and snipe ; and there are several houses which make a specialty of Becasses a la fine Champagne . At Mons and at Liege, and I think at Charleroi also, there is every year a woodcock feast, just as there is an oyster feast at Colchester. At these festivities a little wax candle is placed on the table beside each guest, so that he can take the head of his becasse and frizzle it in the flame before he attacks its brains. Then we have plovers and larks in any quantity, but I would not like to vouch for what are often served as alouettes and mauviettes.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Place d’Armes. This is an old-fashioned place, with no appearance of a restaurant outside, and a stranger would easily pass it by. Here one dines both a la carte Belgian Towns 135 and at table d'hote ; the table d'hote is well worth trying, though some of the dishes can be safely passed over. The wines at Mottez’s are very good, and some special old Flemish beer in bottles should be asked for. A great local dish is Hochepot Gantois , a mixture of pork, sausages, and vegetables which only the very hungry or the very daring should experiment upon at a strange place. Flemish cooking as a rule is fat and porky, and there is a dish often seen on the carte called Choesels a la Bruxelloise , which is considered a delicacy by the natives, and it is supposed to be a hash cooked in sherry or marsala ; it is, however, a dish of mystery. A plat always to be found in Belgium (especially in the Flanders district) is Waterzoei de Poulet , a chicken broth served with the fowl. This is usually very safe, and any one going to Mottez’s at Ghent should try it there. The Rocher de Cancale is also a restaurant at Ghent that can be recommended. It is' at the corner of the street leading to the Place d’Armes, on the way from the station. Carbonades Flamandes is another Flemish dish, which, if well prepared at a reputable establishment, can be eaten without fear. This is beef-steak stewed in “ faro,” an acid Flemish beer, and served with a rich brown sauce. Salade de Princesses Liegeoises is a salad made with scarlet runners mixed with little pieces of fried bacon. The bacon takes the place of oil, while the vinegar should be used with rather a heavy hand. When other salads are scarce, this makes an excellent dish. Of all the Belgian plats, however, the Belgians place foremost Grives a la Namuroise , which of course are only to be obtained in the autumn. I have said that the Belgian is a bird-eater, and throughout the country all kinds of birds — even, I regret to say, song-birds — are pressed into service for the table. A stranger visiting the Ardennes will be struck by the sad silence of the 136 The Gourmet's Guide to Europe woods, which is caused by the wholesale destruction of the birds. How the supply is kept up it is difficult to say, but no Belgian dinner is considered complete without a bird of some sort, and when grives are in season, thousands must be served daily. A grive proper is a thrush, but blackbirds and starlings often find their way to the casserole under the name of a grive . They are cooked with the trail, in which mountain-ash berries are often found. These give the bird a peculiar and rather bitter flavour, but the berry mostly used in the cooking is that of the juniper plant, which grows very plentifully in Belgium. When grives go out of season, we have woodcock and snipe ; and there are several houses which make a specialty of Becasses a la fine Champagne . At Mons and at Liege, and I think at Charleroi also, there is every year a woodcock feast, just as there is an oyster feast at Colchester. At these festivities a little wax candle is placed on the table beside each guest, so that he can take the head of his becasse and frizzle it in the flame before he attacks its brains. Then we have plovers and larks in any quantity, but I would not like to vouch for what are often served as alouettes and mauviettes.

The gourmet's guide to Europe