The Official French Fries Pages:
French Belgian Fry Reviews
After more than a decade of angry mails emanating from a very small European country to the northeast of France claiming that French fries aren't French but, in fact, Belgian, we finally took a trip to the Lowlands to see for ourselves why the Belgians get themselves so worked up about deep-fried potato-y goodness.
Belgians do like their fries no matter what they're called, but they're easily upset by what you call them. Even Belgians, inside Belgium, can get into trouble by calling them by the wrong name. There are two basic regions in the country, the Flemish-speaking Flanders (Vlaanderen) and the Waloonish-speeking Wallonia (Wallonië). Flemish is more or less Dutch and Waloonish is more or less French, and the two groups aren't on the best of terms. This animosity is at least part of the reason that, at the time of this writing, they've gone six months without being able to form a government.
In Flanders one finds Frietjes at a Frietkot while in Wallonia it's best to order Pommes or Pommes frites at a Fritterie. If that's not troublesome enough there's a small German-speaking section of the country to the east which no doubt increases the complexity by adding a third linguistic slant.
Even in summer Belgium is a cold and rainy place which explains why the incredibly excellent food is generally very hearty. Most dishes are stews or feature thick sauces, and almost every main course in a restaurant is served with a side of Belgian Fries. Yes, even fancy restuarants, although to be fair such places serve their fries on fancier dishes.
In order to avoid becoming a general food review site (even though the Internet desperately needs a good one), we've avoided such establishments and have focused on the Friteshops. This, in turn, helped stretch our budget drastically since it's hard to spend more than €10 in a Friteshop but considerably harder to spend less than €30 in a proper restaurant.
Here now are our reviews of proper Belgian Fry shops, places which Belgian Fries are the center of attention and everything else is a condiment or a side dish. Only in Belgium could beef stew be a side dish and we have no problem with that.
Andy & Gina's Frituur de Nachtuil
Not just for night owls though the opening times sort of demand it
Note: due to forseen and unforseen circumstances our trip ended early and we weren't able to review more shops. We will return to Belgium at least once in 2008 and will review additional Belgian Fries shops. Including yours, Michel.
Page written 23 DEC 07. Updated 24 DEC 07.
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