: Belgium, the butt of many jokes, is, however, renowned for its food.

AFTER returning from a weekend in Wales I just had time to put aftersun on before heading off to Brussels, taking advantage of the new cheap flights on offer.

Belgium, the butt of many jokes, is, however, renowned for its food throughout Europe. Many rank its cuisine alongside French cookery and it is certainly as rich and as full of creamy sauces. The restaurant chain Belgo brought a taste of Belgium to these shores with their fantastically successful combination of mussels, chips and beer. Of course, the Belgians are mostly famous for their chocolates - which are sublime - but there is much more than that to their cuisine and no, there was not a single sprout in sight.

Thanks to the beautiful weather we were able to eat out and indulge in some great lobster soup and moules in a Brussels street famous for its seafood displays - a bit of a tourist trap but still atmospheric.

The local food really came into its own when we found a Belgian restaurant at the in't Spinnekopke, a former coaching inn. I dined on Ardennes ham and the traditional Belgian dish of Waterzooi, a stew of chicken or fish boiled in their stock with cream and white wine, and also swimming in my broth were crunchy vegetables.

Stew does not really do the Waterzooi justice, as stew is something I would avoid, fearing stringy meat and over-cooked, over-tired vegetables. But this was a delight, the taste is still on my tastebuds nearly a week later, causing me to buy a Belgian cookbook in a bid to recreate it.

It was a rich dish so we followed it up with a sorbet to freshen the palate but even this had a Belgian twist as they were made with traditional fruit lambic beers.

Beer was major part of this trip as we tried a different one every time. There are hundreds available so, sadly, it was possible to get only a small taste of what was on offer. By the early 19th century Belgium had more than 3,000 breweries but numbers dwindled during World War I and now there are between 400 and 800 different types.

The most famous (and most expensive) are the Trappist beers, gold or dark in colour, smooth and usually strong. Only brews made in one of Belgium's six monasteries can call itself Trappist. I tried Chimay - it was dark and warming and would make a good drink on a winter's day. My favourite though was Hoegaarden, a white, thirst-quenching beer which is widely available in Britain. The fruit beer Kriek, a lambic beer made using yeasts naturally present in the air to ferment it, was like drinking cherryade.

In a short time we could only taste a tiny fraction of the food this small country has to offer and I look forward to experimenting and discovering more.

Most supermarkets and good off licences will stock some Belgian beers. Seek out specialist shops for more variety.

The best-known chocolate stores are Godiva, Leonidas and we bought from Neuhaus - www.neuhaus.be Look for good quality Ardennes ham or pate at delicatessens.