Europe 2018 day 6: last lunch in Belgium

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It's our 6th day in Europe, and not only will we be sleeping in the 6th different bed tonight, we're also leaving Belgium and finally getting to France.  We started by taking a local train from Gent Sint-Pieters station to Gare de Bruxelles Midi.  Like Bruges, it's a shame that we hardly got a chance to see Ghent - which some people feel is just as pretty, if not prettier, than Bruges.

We have a few hours to spend in Brussels, so of course I scheduled lunch at a restaurant we wanted to hit.  I had heard about Restaurant Bozar from friends a couple of years ago, and it's inside the beautiful Art Deco-style Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles by Victor Horta.

The reason for visiting here?  Chef Karen Torosyan was declared the "world champion" at the pâtè-encroûte competition in 2015, and I loooooove pâtè-encroûte!

Europe 2018 day 5: the hellfires of Ghent

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After checking into Hotel Harmony, we decided to spend what little time we had before dinner strolling around the center of Ghent.  There were several historic churches and belfries that definitely deserved a look.

We started around the square in front of the Stadhuis and took a look at Sint-Niklaaskerk, which was a fairly big church.

Then we passed by the Belfort which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Belfries of Belgium and France.  Like many other historical sites we have visited in Belgium over the last few days, there seemed to be restoration work being done.

A few steps away was Sint-Baafskathedraal, which is also quite large and impressive with its tall tower.

Before long, it was time for our dinner appointment at Chambre Séparée.  I had received several recommendations from friends to visit this restaurant, and it seemed that this place from Chef Kobe Desramaults is a rising star.

As impossible as it would seem, THIS was the place where I ran into my old friend Little Meg.  What are the chances of running into one of your friends - who is also coming from the other side of the world - at the same restaurant with a booking at the same time?  Simply surreal.

Although I wasn't very hungry - and Hello Kitty was still full from lunch - we braced ourselves for the onslaught of 20 courses coming our way.  But first we had to take a seat outdoors as the restaurant wasn't ready for us yet.

Cucumber water - with verbena and asparagus.  It was scorching outside and this was what they served us.  I was thirsty as hell, and wondered why it was that restaurants in Belgium only give you just 2 sips of these herb-infused water when it was obvious that you could have downed 2 bottles of liquids to re-hydrate yourself from the heat.  I felt the same way at L'Air du Temps a few days ago...

When we were finally asked to move inside, we found ourselves seated at a C-shaped counter facing the open kitchen.

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What caught my eye immediately was the presence of the open charcoal grills - plus a wood-fired oven.  Throughout the evening we would watch the fires burn as various ingredients were cooked over the flames.