FFF - Finally French Fries

We have been hearing since we arrived here about the marvelous french fries, which aren't actually french fries. They are Blegium Fries that are called French Fries, b/c when the Americans came to save Europe on WW 1 the Belgium army was French speaking so they called it French Fries. So the French Fries got the name French Fries instead of Belgium Fries. We heard that the best way to eat the national mussels dish is with French Fries; everywhere you go there are Frituur kiosks/shops which sell surprisingly, fried stuff, including...yes! how did you know! French Fries.Sorry, Belgium Fries.
In Brugge there is a French Fries museum and in Gent the travel guide advises to eat in the only remaining old French Fries kiosk (which was closed....not surprisingly).

But, true should be said. The French Fries we tasted till yesterday were 'stam' (in Hebrew means - 'very not special' or 'plain'). They were all industrial cut potatoes, too thin commonly and without any special traces of that amazing 'double frying' we were promised. On top of it you can add the industrial taste of the 'sauce'. Sauce is always mayonnaise + something and you always need to pay an additional 0.5 Euro for it.
The only positive part is that you can always get a freshly fried huge portion to fill your belly for 2 Euros also at night either in the local Frituur shops or in a Pita/Kebab shop.

Well, thanks to Luc (our private Dutch Man) our life and palate changed yesterday forever.

This week is the Fries Week in Belgium - Week van de Friet. During this week fries were offered each day for free in another city's main square.

Yesterday was Leuven's turn and in front of the very majestic central library we got THE BEST FRIES EVER!!!

Very Belgium though, the kiosk was open from 12:00 to 14:00 and there was a queue. They open for two hours only in every city :-) They were double fried, thick, crunchy from outside and soft inside. The mayonnaise was very good too.
The experience was complemented with a good couple of Tongerlo beers in a bar nearby.

Vive Le Frite Belgique! (we wonder how many mistakes we managed to do in this short sentence)

Now, our quest will be to find a local place where we can get similarly great fries.




Koninklijke ondersteuning from Week Van De Friet on Vimeo.