Belgium has never been renowned for its culinary chic. Nor any chic at all for that matter; beer and chocolate are the country's stereotype motifs. But that bland image was shrugged off about a decade ago, when the trendy Belgo restaurant opened in London. People queued at the doors of the flash restaurant where staff donned monk's habits.
Walking into Belgos East, you would think it was one of the original's sister restaurants. Beyond the name, its decor is modern, and the menus are similar in style and substance. Belgos East, however, is no relation. And the restaurant is unlikely to have customers lining out into the street.
Belgos East's chief problem is its location. It's in the ground-floor foyer of an office block and is not shielded from its surroundings - making it handy for a work lunch, but less attractive for dinner, despite a wonderful Magritte-style mural behind the bar. Nevertheless, we tried it on a Wednesday evening and found it busy. Too busy, in fact. The inadequate number of staff were rushed off their feet, creating a second problem - unacceptable delays.
At least the food was generally worth the wait, if a little over-elaborate. A complimentary bread board, with chicken liver terrine and creamy spread, was also a good touch. For starters, the escargot with salmon ($95) came with spinach and was swimming in a rich Roquefort sauce. It was a strange combination, with the sauce overwhelming the subtler flavours. The gravlax ($80) was better, slices of raw, marinated salmon with toast and a delicious mustard sauce.
Mussells seemed the obvious choice (they have an entire section of the menu) and a pot of the molluscs in a creamy white wine sauce ($135) met our high expectations. It came with crunchy french fries and three small dishes of yes, you guessed it, sauce. There was chive, curry and spring onion. Great for the chips, although they were intended for the mussels. The veal fillet ($188) was a huge slab on rosti potatoes, swimming in a fruity sauce. The meat was topped with melted cheese which was unnecessary and made the dish too rich.
For dessert the Belgian waffle with ice-cream, and yes, more sauce, was good and the creme brulee was large, with a beautiful, crispy caramel topping, though the custard was too gloopy and not light enough. The wine list was arranged in price order. A middle-ranking Sancerre ($330) tasted great once the waitress had learned how to use the unwieldy and futuristic looking cork-screw. With a coffee each, the bill came to $1,141, a lot more than the original Belgo where you could dine like a Belgian king for a relative pittance. Now that is an idea worth borrowing.
