Au Stekerlapatte
Olives
Warm Bread and Butter
Roasted Pig’s Trotter with Croquettes, Petite Salad, Tartare Sauce
Carbonnades et Frites
Housemade Tart Tatin with Vanilla Ice Cream and tableside flambee of Calvados
Speculoos Mousse with Whipped Cream
Slightly off the beaten path, a large façade on Rue des Pretres the only business within eyeshot, Au Sterkerlapatte seemed a perfect spot to experience Belgian Classics without being treated as the typical tourist and arriving just past 19h00 for Sunday dinner it would be difficult to imagine anything better from such a restaurant, the service literally one-on-one for the first hour while the food and decoration fully realized in the style of an old Brasserie.
No doubt a locals only sort of place, though English menus are available as new ownership clearly has an interest in expanding the restaurant’s appeal with a surprisingly active social media page, Au Sterkerlapatte features a menu decorated in regional specialties while a blackboard embraces seasonality amongst daily specials and although both beer and wine are well represented amongst the restaurant’s beverage options the decision to not imbibe was no problem at all, a bottle of tap water provided with ice on request along with a small bowl of olives and freshly made rolls with packets of chilled butter.
Sizable in its options, but well-focused in scope, the menu at Au Sterkerlapatte suggests several appetizers along with soups, salads as well as entrees and deciding that the best option would be to invest in two mains with sides, plus two desserts suffice it to say that the €47 tab provided more than enough food for sharing, or just a bit too much for solo dining.
Requesting one plate to start and the other to follow, “not a problem at all” considering the empty room, it was listening to classic rock including AC/DC and Pink Floyd that I waited perhaps twenty minutes to get started, course one featuring a whole bone-in Pig’s foot roasted until crisp beneath breadcrumbs, the interior full of rich meat and melted collagen while the potato croquettes and house tartare helped to offset at least a part of the fat and richness.
Unwilling to leave Belgium without tasting Carbonnades, the Beef stew a hallmark of the region that is interpreted differently from region to region depending on beer, Au Sterkerlapatte’s version is made with a local blonde ale whose name was unfamiliar, but lending light sours to the stewed meat with hops dissipating in the gravy the aroma greets diners from well over a meter’s distance, the flavor equally robust and well paired to fried potatoes that easily outpace those from several well-regarded local Friteries.
Making stocks, sauces, and even desserts in house – the latter something that most tourist spots outsource along with bread – there was no doubt that the Tart Tatin caught this diner’s eye even before he was seated, a weekend special of delicate Speculoos Mousse ordered in addition delicious in its own right but nonetheless lost in the spotlight of stewed apples and puffed pastry flamed tableside with Calvados beneath a slowly melting quenelle of Vanilla Ice Cream.
http://www.austekerlapatte.be/