W
L
THE BUTCHERS CUT
BY MUFFS OF BROMBOROUGH
BUTCHERS ON TOUR IN BELGIUM
BY JOHN MUFF
In 2018, I was invited on a trip to Holland by one of our suppliers,
Verstegen, a company which specialises in spices, marinades and
oils - we use a lot of their products in our recipes.
They provide a consistent and quality product that we can use in many
ways. Ten butchers including myself had the opportunity to go over
to Rotterdam and look around their factory and then travel around
looking at all the high-class butchers in the area. This was a revelation
for me. The shops were more like department stores with bright
colourful displays in a sleek modern environment. Needless to say,
I was totally inspired and couldn’t wait to get to work on all the new
ideas I had collected.
While over there I got chatting to the UK manager at Versegan, John
Childs, telling him how much I had enjoyed the trip. He mentioned, if
you liked this you would love Belgium!
So it's January 2019, a fresh start to the year and I’m hungry for
some inspiration. I believe travelling to different cultures can really
inspire you and give you a different way of looking at the word. This is
particularly beneficial in food as it’s such a creative industry. Not just
the butcher’s shops either - it’s the cafés, pizzeria, chocolatier whatever,
it's all good.
So on April 7th, my wife Vicky and I boarded the Eurostar to Brussels,
Belgium. On arriving, as is the same in any city, there is a lot of
hustle and bustle, and a lot of head scratching as to where to go. After
walking miles dragging luggage behind us and following some dodgy
directions, we arrive at the hotel near the train station, where we had
started! Not a great start to the trip but at least we had a good look
around. We dumped our bags and went to sample a much-needed local
beer where we could plan our adventures for the next day.
One of the Versegan reps Rob had been in contact with their Belgian
office on our behalf and provided a hit list of must-see shops. Some of
which were in Brussels and some in Antwerp about an hour away on
the train. The main difficulties we were going to encounter was getting
from A to B. Belgium has a very good public transport system but
getting to grips with an unfamiliar system took a bit of getting used to.
44 wirrallife.com
DAY 1
We had decided to focus our first day on Antwerp as this was the
furthest, figuring we could relax a bit more on the second day. We
arrived at Antwerp Central at around 10:00am on the Monday.
Antwerp Central is an amazing multi-storey station with trains visible
on many levels. As you move up into the main hall you are blown away
by the beautiful architecture, it really is impressive. After a bit of faffing
around we found the tram stop we needed and boarded towards our
first location, De Roma. We were looking for a Halal butchers called
Karims. Getting off the tram we fell straight into a high street full of
butchers, green grocers, fishmongers, florists - you name it they had it.
Obviously I was like a cat on a kipper jumping from one to the next.
We finally found the shop we were looking for. It was very busy, the
butchery counter was about thirty foot long. Not particularly well
presented but filled with stock. They had mounds of chicken portions
all sorts of flavoured mince beef, marinated chicken, beef and lamb.
The more unusual items were lambs heads and brains. They also had
calf trotters and tripe. Not my cup of tea to be honest but interesting
none the less. At the back of the shop they had a fabulous dry aging
fridge filled with beef and lambs that looked very good quality.
Walking back to the tram stop we came across a fantastic charcutier
called Beenhouwerij Salaam. This was a very modern looking shop
with a great selection of raw and cooked meats. They had some simple
marinated items but also lots of schnitzel, croquettes and lovely looking
burgers dipped in crumb. They were also doing a good trade from a
hatch on the side of the building where you can order your lunch to go.
The fishmongers in the area were superb, lots of really fresh looking
fish and shellfish. They also had a great selection of marinated and
breaded items ready for the customer to pop in the oven. In some they
even had small seating areas at the back where you can get the fish
prepared and cooked for you.
Our next destination was The Butchers Store in Hove. A bit of faffing
around got us on the correct tram, it was a twenty minute ride away.
Not quite as built up with not as much interest in the locality we made
the ten minute walk straight there.