Bistro Belge

In Belgium, if you look hard enough, you can still find dozens of
restaurants where time seems to have stood still. These places
really deserve to be cherished, because they are witnesses of
the past,with an interior that hardly has been touched for decades.
And because they offer a taste of the cooking of olden
days: hearty and heartily food, with straightforward and pure
flavours.
In Bistro Belge, Toni De Coninck tells the story of these establishments,
and of the people who work there. He visited restaurants
all over Belgium, from West-Flanders ('t Hommelhof in Watou)
to Namur (Lesse Capade in Resteigne), and from Limburg
(Tante (‘Auntie') Julia in Stevoort) to Brussels (Vert de Gris). He
learned all there is to know about the history of these places
and the families who run them, and also gathered some recipes
of speciality dishes that for generations have been prepared in
the exact same way.
The photos in this book complement the texts; they immerge
the reader into the warmheartedness that is so typical of the
Belgian culinary heritage.

Toni De Coninck is a writer and journalist, and the editor-in-chief of the online travel and food magazine june. He writes about all kinds of pleasant things in life, specializing in travel and gastronomy.