Fernand Obb Delicatessen is Brussels' Best Shrimp Croquette of 2019
For the second year in a row, Cédric Mosbeux of the Fernand Obb Delicatessen restaurant in the Brussels municipality of Saint-Gilles came away with the honour of Brussels' Best Shrimp Croquette, a staple of Belgian gastronomic heritage. The jury chose him as the undisputed number 1 out of 18 fellow restaurant owners.
The competition is an initiative from the tourism agency visit.brussels as part of the culinary festival eat! BRUSSELS drink! BORDEAUX. This was its eighth year, running from 5 to 8 September in Brussels Park. Several conditions need to be met in order to take part. These include running your own restaurant, canteen, breakfast bar or food truck within the region's territory. The candidates, who are allowed to bring along an assistant chef, are also responsible for their own ingredients. The jury was chaired by the chef Lionel Rigolet of the well-known Brussels 2-star restaurant Comme Chez Soi. Ten culinary journalists judged the dishes prepared by this year's 18 participants on their shape/size, doneness, serving temperature, breadcrumb coating, frying of parsley, presentation, mixture, number of prawns and taste. Members of the public were allowed to taste and award an extra point for their favourite, which was then added to the professional jury's points.
Curious about the origin of the restaurant's name? Well, Saint-Gilles used to be known as ‘Obb Brussel', which meant 'Upper Brussels'. From there, you only have to add the name of Cédric's cat: Fernand.