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2010-04-05
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This 2nd visit in hindsight occurred not even 1-2 months after my 1st review of Frites! Its just that I initially hesitated over whether others could find it offensive or artificially planned by me, to post a subsequent positive review too quickly, making me seem too desperate to promote a shop just because I really enjoy visiting it! Personally however if I like something enough, I tend to stick with it for a very long term.****************HOEGAARDEN MUSSELS -Frites is very Belgian in its fo
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HOEGAARDEN MUSSELS -
Frites is very Belgian in its food philosophy, therefore its fun enough to see that they use the famous Belgian beer for cooking one of their signature Mussels Pot dishes! The sauce consists of draught Hoegaarden, coriander, fennel and some lemon zest - all stirred into one big pot to boil the Australian Kinkawooka Blue Mussels, as distinct from the Belgian/Holland/French mussel offerings. The base cooking broth seems slightly thin and although it carried some wheaty sweetness, it ultimately lacked flavouring depth as could be expected. For some reason these Southern Australian mussels were also too flimpsily soft and lacking freshness and sweetness. I know these Southern Australian mussels are rated higher than the black mussels from Tasmanic or Victoria, but sometimes the latter also carry some plumbness and sweetish taste, so chasing after brand names might not be the best way to try getting this dish right. (Unfortunately, French mussels are very limited in season and has been very scarce for the last winter as well according to my importer friends, so I wouldn't expect them to be sold here on a consistent basis as well.) 2.5/5
FRIES AND RYE BREAD -
The dark rye bread is very good. The fries also very good. The mayonnaise for dipping the fries into, the most traditional French or Belgian way of eating fries was however, slightly too 'white'. Real Belgian mayo should have a very strong eggy taste rather than just an oily taste, I think they skimp too much on the eggs in this respect. 3.8/5
BEER: DELIRIUM TREMENS -
The Delirium Tremens is one of the most sought after & rare beers from Belgium, despite it being released on a commercial scale rather than as a boutique Belgian beer. I already know this is highly rated and even at Frites, the Delirium is not a permanent fixture as it is only sold as a special batch - it was very good indeed, but perhaps during this trip it had a bigger opponent which could potentially dethrone it from its highly held esteem....! 4/5
BEER: TRIPEL KARMELIET -
The Tripel is classified as a Belgian Abbey's beer! Made from top fermented beer of 3 types of grains from Wheat, Oat and Barley, that's where its Tripel description derives from! This, like the Hoegaarden Grand Cru I had here last time, is also a pretty rare beer in Hong Kong apart from the above Delirium Tremens, Anyway I've had this before since a few years back and have instantly rated it as one of my Top 3 beers tried (although in reality, I haven't really tried too many beers), and despite the fame of the Delirium above this still trumped that in a horizontal tasting, to my amazement, as its fragrant, florally sweetish aroma to the nose without the hop bitterness, and then that lightish but wel concentrated complexity developing upon the palate every sip. This seemed just so well balanced and overwhelmingly exciting, OMG how do Belgians make such good beers.... >.< 5/5
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I haven't really had a lot of food from here, that bit is obvious. However I did wished the mussels to be better executed or fresher, as I've had much better quality elsewhere! (Actually I wished the whole Frites/Tapeo/Mrs Jones group could be more consistently better arrgh - that's perhaps asking too much but its annoying sometimes.)
Their selections of beers however, are locally & relatively speaking truly awesome, and indeed if you saw it upfront close enough, you'll discover that FRITES still serves even better and more exclusive beers or other alcohol than what I coverd here - they'll just cost you a fortune! Some beers here such as the Deus Brut Des Flandres touches on the $600 per bottle mark, how extravagant for beer! Or the Saison Dupont which I've tried before but already forgotten its special brewed taste as I couldn't afford to drink it annually - which this hovers around the $200+ mark for barely a 750ml bottle. Talk about Artisanal beers.....! But surely, as a self-confessing alcoholic FRITES managed to satisfy me in more than one way before I check into rehab! Its a pity though, when it comes to the not so nice Mussels and its formulation. >_<
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