Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

Indulge

Guy Dittrich dines in style at two groovy restaurants on the Brussels Airlines network

Strofilia

BRUSSELS
11-13 Rue Marché aux Porcs, tel. , www.strofilia.be

Strofilia is a restaurant of two halves – or three thirds if you count its Byzantine, vaulted-brick basement space. The rear section of this Greek restaurant is also all old brick and timber beams, and protected by heritage regulations. So when Athenian owner Stefanos Svanias wanted to celebrate a decade in the trade with a change of scenery, he was able to alter the front of the building only. But it’s a dramatic change.

Local design talents Alain Friant and Valérie Delacroix have created a bright space, with giant Liquorice Allsorts shapes decorating the pillars, a wall covered with printed wooden panels from Greek wine boxes, and clinically white furniture. It all adds up to a ray of Greek sunshine, beamed into a cobble-stoned quarter of Brussels just north of Place St Catherine. And both the wine boxes and the name of the restaurant – which refers to a wine press – speak of the importance of wine to its owner.

While the restaurant’s décor is an intriguing combination of interior design genres, its menu is consistently traditional. Almost everything is homemade by Mikael and Katerina in the kitchens, including the true tarama, made with the white eggs of codfish, garlic and olive oil. Other mezethes include fava (purée of yellow peas) with caramelised onions and mint sauce, melitzanossalata (an aubergine salad) and the fried, salty kefalotiri cheese from Naxos.

Veal and tomato casserole is cooked to tender perfection, while grilled meatballs with mint and grilled octopus are simply prepared, and suggested in combinations that are made for sharing. From €60 for two including mixed meze, main course, desert and half a litre of house wine.

Fleischerei

BERLIN
8 Schönhauser Allee, tel. , www.fleischerei-berlin.com

The construction-site chic of Fleischerei, a former 1950s butchery in Berlin’s über-trendy Mitte district, is proving very popular. The glamourous-grunge crowd take the ripped-out interiors in their stride, sharing benches and refectory tables balanced on worn and chipped floor tiles. The heavy, drooping glass chandeliers are the only ornamentation in a space where ‘minimal’ refers to the budget and not the style.

If the plaster on the ceiling looks half-finished, that’s because it is, although manager Bernhard Hötzl is at pains to point out that what looks like mould in the corner is actually the smoke from where a curing oven once stood. The attraction of Fleischerei is, like the Hötzl brothers other Berlin venues (Rodeo Club and new Rodeo Resort), the package of interior, scene and, of course, food.

The staff are as cool as their guests, delivering a delicious one-pager of a menu that’s biased towards, but not exclusively for, carnivores. Soups and salads are joined by fish (trout with herbs baked and served in foil, for example), risottos and pasta dishes for vegetarians. The Argentinian fillets are as thick as your forearm (and the accompanying gratin potatoes are melt-in-the-mouth delicious), while the other meat options, which change regularly apart from a couple of staples, are locally sourced.

Try ‘Heaven & Earth’ for a manageable portion of coarse blood pudding with an apple compote and mash, ‘Butcher’s Schnitzel’ for the real Berlin experience, or the Butcher’s Sandwich for a more contemporary roast beef on ciabatta with rucola and orange truffle mayo. “It’s not haute cuisine,” explains Bernhard. “Rather, we take just three quality ingredients for each main course and prepare them in an honest and clear way.”

A developing wine list is balanced between reds and whites, the former looking towards Italy while the latter goes native, with options from Germany and Austria. From €80 for two including two courses and wine.

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