With a photo like this, it won't be hard to get the juices flowing for licking a stamp
The IFC bistro Grand Place may not be very well known even in Hong Kong but one of its dishes is now recognisable to most Belgians with a mailbox. The little eatery had the honour of having its tomates aux crevettes Belges dish featured on a Belgian postage stamp.
A restaurant representative said it all began in late 2005 when they received an e-mail from the post office requesting one of their images from a restaurant poster. It seemed the country decided to feature some of its traditional dishes for a series of 2007 stamps.
'We felt honoured and so we said yes,' Grand Place's representative said. 'Towards the end of 2006, they confirmed that the image of our dish would be printed along with other Belgian specialities in the collection and we received a set of the stamp.'
What? Are there no Antwerp eateries with a camera? 'I think they picked our picture because we impressed them by the brilliantly done photography as well as the fact that we are serving genuine Belgian cuisine in Hong Kong.'
Other gourmet stamps for licking include offerings like moules frites (mussels and fries), anguille au vert (eel in spinach stew) and witloof (baked Belgian endive). As for the tomates aux crevettes Belges, it is a popular appetiser using fresh grey shrimp collected from the North Sea and stuffed inside a delicately cut tomato topped with mayonnaise. It's HK$75 at the IFC restaurant. Bon appetit.
