Relax, “the girls” will take care of your evening meal

Healthy and good dishes! © The Girls

There are days like that, when we get tired just at the thought of having to spend an hour in the kitchen. On those evenings, we would really need a friend or loved one who tells us: 'sit down, I'll take care of everything', getting rid of the drudgery of shopping and preparing the evening meal. This is exactly the effect of the girls and their deliveries of healthy, local dishes to your home that you just need to reheat. 

For ten years, the girls has been feasting foodies in various places in Brussels such as the BELvue museum, the Vieux Marché aux Grains, the European Parliament or even recently at Wolf. They were 1,200 lunch or dinner at the girls every week until a few months ago. The reason for their success? Small dishes simmered with love. 

But when the Covid-19 crisis was invited to the table, the girls had to reinvent itself. So why not extend the experience to the homes of their regulars with a home delivery service? 

the girls  are dishes cooked according to the market and the season, based on fresh quality, organic, artisanal and local products, as often as possible direct from our producers and delivered to the 19 municipalities of Brussels. 

Concretely, two formulas are proposed: a vegetarian and an omnivore. It is then possible to select a single dish or a complete menu (soup-dish-dessert). The menu is a surprise menu, you don't know in advance what you are going to receive. And this, since they are composed according to market availability. This also has the consequence that orders must be placed before Wednesday midnight to be delivered the following week on Tuesday and / or Thursday. 

What did we think of it? 

Curious, we opted for both options (veggie and omnivorous). We had mouth water when reading the menu slipped into the two bags that contained our meals: 

- Vegetarian menu: leek soup + lentil steak / mashed potatoes / grilled eggplant / parmesan-cashew-arugula pesto + pear clafoutis

- Omnivorous menu: leek soup + pak choi / roasted butternut / poultry / quinoa + pear clafoutis 

Both menus arrived in small, oven-safe cardboard containers. Instructions for reheating the dishes are also provided. 

Although the dishes were well presented in their small ecological dishes, we transferred them to pretty plates. The only effort you can make to have a hot, homemade meal in seconds. 

Place for tasting. First observation: the portions are generous. We know that we will no longer be hungry at the end of the meal. What reassure our stomachs of ogres. 

We start with the leek soup which turns out to be smooth and delicious. A perfect appetizer at the start of autumn. Then comes the discovery of the main course. For my part, I had the opportunity to taste the vegetarian menu. The mashed potatoes, neither too smooth nor too dry, awakened in me childhood memories, those of the meals prepared by my mother that we enjoyed after school. The grilled eggplant and lentil steak delighted my plant-loving taste buds. Not a fan of meat, I was won over by these preparations which are similar to what I am used to cooking. Vegetables, yes, but full of flavors (which increase tenfold thanks to the arugula pesto). 

For his part, my husband devoured his omnivorous meal, without taking his eyes off his plate, visibly focused on the flavors of his dish. Only “um, it's super good” escaped his mouth. Sated and satisfied, he took a long time to taste his clafoutis. Unlike me, the gourmet of the family: I literally threw myself on this small light dessert which allows to end the meal in style. 

Beyond the satisfaction of eating a healthy but tasty meal, it is the pleasure of saying to yourself “tonight, I'm doing nothing” that has filled the young mother that I am. There is nothing more expensive to make time to be with your loved ones. Especially since we found the prices relatively fair: count from 12 to 16.5 euros per meal depending on the chosen combination. All good!