Brusselicious Tram Experience

The Brusselicious Tram Experience is a three-course meal by a Michelin-starred chef on board a tram. The experience lasts for two hours while the tram travels around Brussels. The menu/chef changes every two weeks.

We tried the Tram Experience dinner on Saturday 14 July and the menu was designed by Bart de Pooter. The chef of De Pastorale Restaurant was named "Belgian Chef of 2012" by the Gault Millau guide, so our expectations were quite high.

As instructed on the tickets, we arrived at the tram stop before 21:15 for a scheduled departure at 21:30. We waited with all other guests until 21:35 when a waiter came to check if our names were on his list and advised us to take our "precautions" since the on-board toilet had some problems. We finally boarded the tram at 21:45.

The setting of the tram was cool, with an all-white interior and rows of two and four seat tables. Needless to say, all the other diners were quite excited about the Tram Experience. Across the aisle from us there were four friendly Japanese expats with whom we shared some good laughs. They were very pleased to learn that we were in Japan two months earlier.

Here's our table with the amuses-bouche

Shrimp doughnuts & lemon cake

Entrée: Carpaccio of mature and lightly smoked sirloin steak with vegetable piccalilli - nice

Those who do not like beef were offered a quinoa & shrimps appetizer.

After the first course was served, the tram stopped at Montgomery Square for about 10 minutes while the cooks prepared the second course. They have two ovens in the 'kitchen' to heat up the food.

Main course: skate, red-green Swiss chard simmered in lightly browned butter, chopped spinach, preserved lemon, grilled almonds and cream of almonds - the greens and the cream of almonds were delicious, but the fish was not enjoyable since half of it was just bones.

 

By now (still hungry) I wanted to have some more bread, but unfortunately they had already run out of the tiny buns.

Dessert: tarte au chocolat with a scoop of  chocolate ice-cream - a rather disappointing dessert, a similar slice of chocolate tart can be bought from Pain Quotidien for around €3.

Overall, the food was a let-down. I was expecting so much more from Bart De Pooter, the  double Michelin-starred "Belgian Chef of 2012". True, the actual cooking was done by a caterer (we saw the food being unloaded from the van of "Traiteur Les Garrigues"). But then, Chef De Pooter could have been more inspired when designing the menu. After this meal, it is unlikely that I be tempted by his De Pastorale Restaurant.

The Tram Experience, however, was totally worth it. It is a once-in-a-lifetime event with some significant 'wow' factor. We enjoyed chatting with our dining neighbors and had some good fun waving at the pedestrians staring at us as we passed by. The shortcomings of the food aside, the young waiters were enthusiastic and efficient, keeping in mind that they were working in a narrow aisle in a moving tram.

Brusselicious Tram Experience
http://visitbrussels.be/bitc/BE_en/brusselicious.do