Blue Elephant Brussels - Thai buffet brunch

After our Thai brunch a few months back at Les Larmes du Tigre, we decided to try the brunch at Blue Elephant Brussels. These two restaurants are the only ones in Brussels offering Thai Sunday buffet lunches (as of November 2012 - newcomers welcome!).

Blue Elephant Brussels was opened in 1980 by Karl, a Belgian, and his Thai wife, Khun. Today it has expanded into a global group with more than a dozen locations, including Bangkok and Phuket that also have cooking schools attached. They even ventured into Indian restaurants - La Porte des Indes - in London and on Avenue Louise, which according to reviews do not offer the most authentic Indian cuisine... They also manufacture and distribute grocery products, sold among others in some GB supermarkets in Brussels at fairly high prices.

Blue Elephant is located on Chaussée de Waterloo in Uccle. The restaurtant is quite inconspicuous and can easily be missed when driving by.

The interior is decorated in a traditional Siam style, complete with wooden panels, plants and flowers.

The restaurant seats 100 persons over 2 floors. The seats were rather uncomfortable with the cushions in need of some new covers. The biggest problem, however, was that they had tried to cram way too many chairs and tables, such that one of us had to stand up several times to let a lady walk out of her chair.

I had a look at the 2nd floor. Try to avoid being seated here for the brunch, since one has to climb the dark narrow stairs several times with food plates from the buffet downstairs.

Let's look at the buffet, with a selection of appetizers, including prawns grilled at the table.

Lots of choices at the salad bar, with some beautifully carved fruits as decoration.

The main dishes: rice plus 5 curries, and a noodle dish. All were fine, especially the hot curry with chunks of red chillies. The watery Chicken red curry, however, was a notch below that of Les Larmes du Tigre, which uses better quality and fresher ingredients. Since they did not have any vegetarian mains in the buffet, a waiter offered to order a veggie stir-fry from the kitchen for any vegetarians.

The noodle bar:

For dessert, there was an extensive choice of fresh fruits...

Notice the macarons and tiramisu at the end - very Thai indeed!:)

In the drinks menu we spotted the young coconut, which we had to order. Refreshing, although it didn't taste very fresh.

Finally, as we were leaving, we saw various grocery ingredients for sale.

So what's our verdict ? In terms of food, Blue Elephant offers a much better Sunday buffet brunch both quantity and quality wise, albeit at a 25% higher price. Les Larmes du Tigre, on the other hand, had a more classy setting with enough space between the tables, and the waiting staff were friendlier and more efficient.

Blue Elephant Thai Restaurant
Uccle, Brussels
www.blueelephant.com/brussels

Restaurant Terborght in Huizingen

Looking for a gastronomical Sunday brunch? To welcome the spring, we decided to try Restaurant Terborght in Huizingen, which holds one Michelin star and received a score of 15 in the Gault & Millau Belux 2012 edition.

Located in the province of Flemish Brabant, about half an hour's drive from central Brussels and close to exit 20 of the E19 highway, the restaurant is set in a renovated building.

A small stream runs next to the kitchen.

The lady who owns and manages the restaurant welcomed us by the door with a smile. Our jackets were promptly taken away and we were led to our table.

The designers have decided to retain some of the old charm inside with the rough brick walls.

The mises en bouche were served. Here's a 'group picture'

And now one by one - starting with twists and dips 

Three delicious bouchées en dégustation

Mussels. The small green macaron accompanied the mussels brilliantly

Then came the breads (from left to right: seaweed, brioché, wholewheat, white) accompanied with olive oil and butter (which was a tad too cold and hard). Also, for a Michelin starred restaurant, I would have expected a waiter to ask later during the meal if we wanted to have some extra (or warm) bread.

Hot and cold eel. Here's the cold version:

and the hot version underneath

There was another appetizer: poached quail egg, écrevisses and spinach mousseline. It looked so good that I forgot to take a picture and just grabbed my spoon :-)

Entrée 1: Tuna carpaccio & tartare - langoustine – encre de seiche – avocat – radis – soja – sésame

Beautiful presentation which up close looks like this. Besides the presentation, the tuna was neither fresh nor of the best quality.

Entrée 2 served in a sphere: Potage de coquillages & crustacées, tomate,  parfum d'anis étoilé

and underneath the potage some king crab

The main dish: Jeune pigeon d' Anjou - topinambour – potiron – oignon – jus de curry rouge (unfortunately the jus was not a good match for the pigeon). On the side (outside the picture), they offered a spicy fried pigeon drumstick (cuisse & maïs – PX – piment).

Then began the surprise desserts en dégustation. We were expecting a couple of small portions to sample. Instead, we received a full desert: white chocolate ice cream & pina colada. Delicious!

To our surprise, a second dessert was brought: panna cotta, banana and chocolate.

And of course, some mignardises to finish off the meal.

Service was good. We were welcomed with a big smile by the lady owner/manager. The waiters were trying their best. However, some of the younger staff seemed a bit apprehensive of serving non-Flemish speaking customers.

Overall, a great Sunday lunch, which at € 44 for the 4-courses menu (and many extras) offered good value. Definitely recommended! 

Restaurant Terborght
Huizingen, Flemish Brabant
http://www.terborght.be