Inside London #12: Flemish flair
Posted by Sarah on March 28th, 2011
Like food? Like art? Like all things Flemish? Get thee to the National Gallery, and its accompanying eatery, the National Café. An exhibition celebrating the work of Jan Gossaert, a renowned Renaissance painter from Flanders, is currently on display in the gallery’s Sainsbury Wing. To celebrate its arrival, renowned chef (and fellow Belgian) Matthieu Beudaert has crafted an enticing Flemish menu for the café.
Beudaert worked alongside the National Café’s head chef, Simon Duff, in designing the dishes, which riff on traditional Belgian recipes as well as the country’s recent culinary trends. Items on the Flanders menu include: potato and buttermilk cream, skate with beurre noisette, and French toast with caramelised apple and salted caramel ice-cream.
Of course, there’s no way we would feel happy issuing a blind recommendation (anonymous reviews are our thing, doncha know?), so we popped in to the National Café one night to try the treats for ourselves.
Following a thorough tasting (veal sweetbread croquette with crispy shallots; confit of veal cheek with pickled vegetables and fries; a devilishly good chocolate fondant with beer ice-cream) we can confirm that the food is as deftly executed as one of Gossaert’s atmospheric, sensual paintings.
If this post should whet your appetite for all things Belgian, let us remind you of our cultured and cosy Antwerp and Brussels finds: relaxed and refined Hotel Julien, sleekly svelte Be Manos, and the deliciously dark Odette en Ville…
Flanders menu is priced at £23.50 for two courses or £27 for three courses, and is available until the end of May. ‘Jan Gossaert’s Renaissance’ also runs until 30 May 2011; an adult ticket costs £10.
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