Life in the city

Luxembourg National Day in Beijing

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Many memories

On 27 June 2024 I had the pleasure to attend the Luxembourg National Day in Beijing, in the garden of the ambassador’s residence. Always special for me as I have many souvenirs of the early eighties when I was a close friend of the first Luxembourg ambassador, Carlo Ketter, and his lovely wife. We were both living in the Beijing Hotel and we met many times. I also helped a bit with advice when he was dealing with the challenges to fix the old building, said to be the former Pakistan embassy. It is located in a hutong, the only diplomatic building to be in the old city as far as I know. The small buildings at the entrance served as the embassy in the eighties, later the embassy moved to a modern office building on gongti bei lu.
The building is old but charming and has a beautiful garden.
I was also close to the first secretary of the embassy, Dory Schmitz. Many memories of the eighties in Beijing…

A sumptuous buffet

Schindler’s did the catering and offered a wide choice of goodies to the far over 300 invited guests. This time the weather was not that hot and bearable…

Nice to meet some fellow Rotarians as well as our Belgian ambassador. Also met again our Belgian friend from Arcelor Mittal.
A Chinese Vice Minister attended the reception.

The food

You can watch here a short video showing the event with a view on some of the dishes. There were also stands with ice cream and of course drinks. (Need VPN in China)
I have been several times to Schindler’s Tankstelle in Beijing, recommended!

This is the Sanlitun restaurant. Schindler has another new and big location at the south gate of Ritan Park. They do a lot of catering.

Old China Hands lunch 7 June 2024

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Good attendance

Despite the heavy rain the Old China Hands lunch 7 June 2024 scored a total of 34 attendants, old friends and new faces. As usual lively chat over good food.

See here the impressive menu, see most of the dishes in the pictures:

  • Russian egg salad OR salad Niçoise OR fresh daily soup
  • pork piccata Provencal style served with grilled tomato and pan fried potatoes OR thin sliced beef tenderloin with wine merchant sauce served with market vegetables and Belgian frites OR pan fried snapper with mustard sauce served with daily vegetables and mashed potatoes
  • daily dessert

Included: one drink and coffee or tea.

Focus of the month

The focus is this time the incredible performance of the Morel team during the Official Opening of the New Belgian Embassy on 1 June.
The team: Renaat, me, Gordon, Miriam, Corinne and Sophie.

From 1 pm till late night we served Belgian fries in the afternoon to some 2,000 people and Belgian fries with Belgian Beef Stew and Pork Meat Balls in the evening to some 500 people.
We served 2,500 people using 252 Kg of fries, many liters of ketchup, mayonnaise and sauce andalouse. That makes like 100 g of fries per portion.
Sauce andalouse is a Belgian condiment commonly served with Belgian fries. The sauce is also popular and widely used throughout France and Luxembourg. It consists of mayonnaise, tomato paste, and peppers, such as pimientos or roasted bell peppers.

We were exhausted but it was a great and successful experience. Our team while small was extremely efficient!

Belgian Beer in Beijing is updated

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Updated list and pics

My Page of Belgian Beer in Beijing is updated, more pics and the list now counts 220 different beer bottles.

Morel’s Restaurant and Café

We can say that Morel’s is our “stamcafé” in Beijing. Besides having great food it is also the place for friends to meet, chat and drink.
“Stamcafé” can be translated as “favorite bar or pub / habitual hound” and “Stammtisch” in German.
“Elke Vlaming zou verplicht een stamcafé moeten hebben”: “Each Flemish person should forcibly have a stamcafé”

An interesting article about our beer culture: “5 September 2018 – Beer-mad Belgium moves to save historic drinking dens” – China Daily.
“Belgians are famous for taking their beer seriously, but authorities are now moving to preserve some of the historic cafes where drinkers have been quaffing since the early 20th century.
In the heart of the village of Alsemberg, in the Dutch-speaking Flemish Brabant region, south of Brussels, the PastaCafe is one of those that has best kept its 1920s and 1930s decor.”

With my friend Renaat Morel we have been trying out Orval, Gouden Carolus and Westvleteren. And many more.

Old China Hands lunch 3 May 2024

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Holidays

Once again our Old China Hands lunch 3 May 2024 was right in the middle of a holiday week, for Labor Day. Many people on travel or busy with family. Anyway we still had a grand total of 26 and a very lively lunch.

Food was great as usual, see the menu for our group by Morel’s Restaurant:

  • sliced smoked salmon stuffed with seafood and garden greens OR Morel’s chef salad (ham, blue cheese, and pan-fried chicken on lettuce) OR poached eggs with wine merchant sauce OR Flemish tomato vegetable soup
  • thin sliced tenderloin with black pepper sauce served with vegetable and new potatoes OR fricandeau of beef served with hot cherry and mashed potatoes OR red snapper Mediterranean style served with daily vegetable and mashed potatoes
  • daily dessert (île flottante)
  • coffee or tea

I had the poached eggs, soooo delicious!

Birthday

Our Dutch friend Khee Liang celebrated his birthday with his extended family at another table but came over to receive the best wishes of all of us. According to Dutch traditions he distributed the famous sweet Rademakers Hopjes to us.

Hopjes are a type of Dutch sweets with a slight coffee and caramel flavor that originated in the 18th century. The hopje is named after Baron Hendrik Hop. The link tells the whole story.
The following lunch is planned for Friday 7 June 2024.

Tamil New Year in Beijing celebration

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Tamil community

On 14 April 2024 my friend Raja invited me to join the Tamil New Year in Beijing celebration.
Location was Hotel Mercure close to Ritan Park.
There are currently estimated to be at least one-hundred million Tamil people spread across distant seas, living in more than 70 different countries and islands. Among these are many thousands living in various parts of the world as refugees and asylum seekers.
More about the Tamil diaspora here.
See here the Tamil population by nation.
There are about 300,000 Tamils in the UK, of whom 200,000 are Sri Lankan while the rest are from India, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius and other countries.

Discovering Tamil culture

The Tamil community showed an love for their culture by performing dance, singing, video clips, and praying. And of course Indian food. If the performances were not so “professional”, all showed unbridled enthusiasm.
When abroad it is interesting to observe how different expat communities respect and celebrate their country’s culture. My take on Belgians abroad: we mostly shine by being very low key…

Happy to meet some of my friends of our Old China Hands Lunch.