tel, returns thanks and does not go prospecting elsewhere.

N.N.-D.

CHAPTER III

BELGIAN TOWNS

The food of the country--Antwerp--Spa--Bruges--Ostende.

I, the Editor, cannot do better in commencing this chapter than to
introduce you to H.L., a _litterateur_ and a "fin gourmet," living in
Belgium, who has written the notes on "the food of the country" on
Antwerp and Spa, and to whom I am indebted for the entire succeeding
chapter on the Brussels' restaurants.

The Food of the Country

The Belgian is a big eater and a bird-eater. As a rule, in Belgium the
restaurant that can put forth the longest menu will attract the most
customers. There are people in Brussels who regularly travel out to
Tirlemont, a little Flemish town nearly twenty miles away, to partake of
a famous _table-d'hote_ dinner to which the guests sit down at one
o'clock, and from which they seldom rise before five. The following is a
specimen _carte_ of one of these Gargantuan gorges served in December.

Huitres de Burnham.
Potage Oxtail.
Saumon de Hollande a la Russe.
Bouchees a la Reine.
Chevreuil Diane Chasseresse.
Becasses bardees sur Canape.
Tete de veau en Tortue.
Surprises Grazilla (a Sorbet).
Pluviers dores poire au vin.
Jambonneau au Madere.
Petites feves de Marais a la Creme.
Salmis de Caneton Sauvage.
Faisan de Boheme.
Salade de Saison.
Dinde truffee Mayonnaise.
Glace Vanillee.
Fruits. Gateaux. Dessert.

All this for five francs! with a bottle of Burgundy to wash it down, at
any price from a crown to a pound. One thing that can safely be said
about the Belgian restaurants is that a good bottle of Burgundy can
nearly always be bought in both town and country. It is often told that
the best Burgundy in the world is to be found in Belgian cellars.
Whether this is a reputation maintained in honour of the Dukes of
Burgundy who once ruled the land, or whether the good quality of the
wine is due to the peculiar sandy soil, which permits of an unvarying
temperature in the cellars, I will leave others to determine, but the
fact remains that from a Beaujolais at 2 francs 50 centimes to a
Richebourg at 20 francs, the Burgundy offered to the traveller in
Belgium is generally unimpeachable. Ghent is another town famous for its
big feasts. The market dinner on Friday at th