Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

Indulge

Text Matt Barker, Gwladys Fouche

Favourite restaurants and foodie titbits from Brussels Airlines’ short-haul network

Pane e Acqua ITALY
14 Via Matteo Bandello, Milan,
tel. 

Just around the corner from the chichi Corso Magenta, this small but perfectly formed restaurant/bar is a recent offshoot of swanky design showroom Rossana Orlandi.

The interior nattily merges vintage pieces with modish minimalism. The menu is simple (although not as basic as the restaurant’s name – ‘Bread and Water’ – suggests) and big on sunny Mediterranean flavours. Three young chefs keep busy in the kitchens preparing unfussy dishes, including spaghettoni with cubes of smoked pork, fillet of sea bream in a tomato and herb marinade with a light pesto, cuts of beef with puréed celery potato, and loin of lamb with reduction of Merlot.

It’s an ideal lunch pit-stop and just as enjoyable come evening in an area where most top-end restaurants tend towards the fuddyduddy. A menù degustazione is available for €40; otherwise expect to pay around €50 including wine. MB

Ekeberg Restauranten
NORWAY
15 Kongsveien, Oslo, tel.  www.ekebergrestauranten.com

Situated in a beautiful art deco building that could be the set of an Hercule Poirot mystery, Ekeberg is one of the few restaurants in Oslo offering breathtaking views of the city, its fjord and the surrounding hills. Guests can enjoy a drink on the terrace before heading in to eat in the wonderfully spacious and airy dining room.

The food is excellent. Grilled stockfish with potato purée and bouillabaisse sauce is a particular highlight, as is pan-fried halibut with shiitake mushrooms and apple-andhorseradish consommé. The more adventurous (or less conservation-aware) could try the restaurant’s whale carpaccio.

Service in Oslo generally can be hit-and-miss, but here the waiters are notably attentive and prompt. Given its high standards, Ekeberg is reasonably priced – expect to pay about €100 for a three-course meal for two with wine. If you’re on a tighter budget you could opt for the terrace and its cheaper menu, which includes mussels cooked in white wine, shrimp open sandwiches and the day’s grilled fish. GF

Foodie corner

A Year In My Kitchen

Winter can be a difficult time of year for the committed home cook – there’s only so much you can do with curly kale. Thankfully, next month sees Skye Gyngell’s award-winning paean to seasonality A Year In My Kitchen (Quadrille, €21) published in paperback. Packed with gorgeous cold-weather recipes like sweet potato and ginger soup, and spicy meatballs with coriander, chillies and sour cherries, the book also offers lots of invaluable advice on how to tweak staple dishes to make them suitable for every season.

www.quadrille.co.uk

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