Belgo may have slipped off your radar, but the Chalk Farm moules, frites and bier joint was a trailblazer for popularising this quintessentially Belgian combo in London back in the 1990s.
And every summer, they go really big on lobster too. For 2016, that means a dead simple menu comprising of four special main dishes and four beer or schnapps-based cocktail creations.
Lobsterfest has a delicious touch of American gung-ho cookout bravado about it. The four dishes are hearty, the drinks boozy. It’s a celebration of the delights of eating meaty fresh-caught claw straight off the grill – but without actually having to any of the hard work.
Try the surf ‘n’ turf burger, where the flesh of half a garlic-baked lobby comes stacked atop a decent beef patty for a simple but effective take on this classic. Crisp double-cooked frites come as standard too.
Or if you hanker after a bowl of pasta, try the lobster linguine, with half a big boy nestling up to asparagus, plump baby plum tomatoes and a light champagne and brandy cream sauce. You can also opt for a simple, dressed lobster with béarnaise, or a Belgian lobster stew too.
Interestingly, they have decided to match cocktails with these dishes – created from Belgo’s core drinks theme: Belgian beers and schnapps. So you could go for a watermelon and gin-fuelled Belgian Garden, or what’s, er, charmingly termed the Slagarita – a balloon-shaped glass of margarita on ice with a full bottle of Slag Pils, from the Slaghmuylder brewery in Ninove, tipped bottom-up in the ice. With every few sips, a glug of the bottle releases more beer into the mix. A vaguely ridiculous – and therefore amusing – talking point.
