Menu next door. Meet your neighbours in Brussels and eat with them!

This is absolutely new: you don’t invite your neighbours in your house, they invite you to eat with them or take the food away. But in doing so you can exchange information and provide them with info especially if they have just arrived.

I had no idea of his new “sharing” system until I received a little note in my letterbox from Menu next door: Tamara and Michail were proposing a menu of borsch with sour cream and soft cheese bliny for  the following Sunday at a reasonable price.  The offer included a drink with the cook(s) and the food could also be consumed on their premises.

When I confirmed by mail my offer and paid electronically, I received the confirmation of the receipt and the address (close to my house, next door indeed!) where the food could be collected.

Collected? Wrong word! The welcome was great! The young couple had just moved there and the first thing they had arranged perfectly was the kitchen. The rest of the flat (you could see it when you entered) was far from being finished and furnished but the kitchen had a big wooden table which could accommodate 10 people alongside a marvellous big window facing a green court and garden below.   “We fell in love with this window and we thought the kitchen would be ideal here”. And the table? “We found it. In Brussels it is possible to find second hand old stuff  at little prices so that even a young couple who have plans to develop a little business can afford to buy”.

A couple of customers were already sitting down and sipping their “apero” ready to start eating with the hosts when the borsch was ready. And they were talking with them as if they had lnown them for some time. On the contrary, they were new customers, just like me.  Tamara prepared my lunch to take away and offered me a drink with them. She included in the bag even the bread: ”It is a special brown be=read and we made it” she said with a touch of pride. While I was sipping the apero she explained, answering my question about where they had found the sour cream, that they had made a special agreement with a small farm in the Belgian countryside rearing cows and goats. They made the cream suitable to accompany borsch for them. “Did you explain to them how to do it?” I asked, knowing how difficult it is to find sour cream in supermarkets in Belgium. “They knew all along” was tha answer. So sour cream can also be found in Belgium, not only in the north of the European continent! And with bread ans sour cream I also got in my parcel disposable cutlery and paper towels. I could have gone to consume my lunch in the park, weather permitting!

The food was delicious, I am waiting for the next invitation from one of my neighbours to sample some of their local cuisine and “meet” them in such a friendly and informal way.

Thanks for the idea, Menu next door!