What’s the best way to make food deliveries efficiently in Manhattan? Why, by bicycle, of course – especially if you happen to be from the West Flanders region of Belgium, where cycling is a passion. Folks there are also passionate about Flemish shrimp croquettes, which is particularly pleasing to the palate when consumed with white wine or blonde beer.
Have bike, will travel! That makes for special, knapsack-on-back delivery of North Sea Shrimp Croquettes to the BXL Zoute restaurant on West 22nd Street in Manhattan by Herwig Dejonghe of BE Delicious – Antarctic Foodies.
So on the “fourth day” of the three-day June 28-30 Summer Fancy Food Show in New York, when a number of post-exhibition attendees were taking specialty food store tours, West Flanders natives Herwig and Mieke Dejonghe chose instead to pedal through the hustling and bustling streets of the city to peddle the attributes of delicious and nutritious artisanal North Sea Shrimp Croquettes.
Herwig Dejonghe presents samples of Mestdagh Shrimp Croquettes to Mrs. Beth Rogers of the popular Markt Belgian brasserie in the Chelsea/Flatiron district of New York.After meeting and greeting visitors at their BE Delicious – Antarctic Foodies stand in the busy Javits Center, Mr. and Mrs. Dejonghe looked forward to going mobile in targeting prospective customers. Rolling out product samples while getting a healthy cardiovascular workout in the bargain was the route to take.
“There are many appointments to keep, and we can make better time on a bicycle than by using taxi cabs that often sit idle in traffic,” said Herwig, whose goal was to sell restaurant operators and caterers on the value and practicality of adding top-quality frozen shrimp croquettes to their menus.
Mestdagh Shrimp Croquettes are available as petit 17-gram aperitifs as well as larger sizes up to 75-grams.With insulated knapsacks on their backs loaded with authentic-style shrimp croquettes of the Oostduinkerke seaside, where fishermen to this day continue to harvest prawns traditionally with a towed net while riding on horseback, the Dejonghes made their rounds in meeting with proprietors of popular Belgian brasseries. Their precious culinary cargo was no ordinary payload, but the grey shrimp croquette delicacy made by Mestdagh Artisan of Veurne.
The mission was to deliver the goods to restaurant kitchens, where chefs could deep-fry the samples to quickly see for themselves just how convenient the tasty product is to prepare and plate. This attribute is much appreciated among leading restaurateurs along the Belgian coast and throughout the country, as they have been stocking and serving the Mestdagh product line (which also includes lobster, mussel, butter-potato, and cheese and smoked ham-filled croquettes) for many years.
Chef Luc Mestdagh’s North Sea Shrimp Croquettes, perfected at the La Péniche boat hotel at Oostduinkerke in the 1960s, are regarded as the pièce de résistance of a long list of culinary achievements. That’s saying a lot, as his accomplished record of creatively adapting traditional recipes into successful frozen food products runs the gamut from fish stock and classic Belgian patisserie to meat dishes, lasagna, customized cakes and much more.
Mestdagh Artisan’s origin is similar to the fishermen of Oostduinkerke, who still haul in grey shrimp by towed net on horseback along Belgium’s southwestern coastline.Featuring an unctuous pâté filling containing 40% grey prawn meat, broth and churned butter, the Mestdagh Shrimp Croquette’s crust formulation consists of breadcrumbs made from wheat flour, egg white and butter. The light crust not only absorbs less oil, but also allows for a more robust flavor of the shrimp to be relished.
“What makes this product special is that the primary ingredient is grey shrimp, which culinary experts cherish as the caviar of the North Sea,” pointed out Dejonghe. “Having direct access to the catch and immediately sealing in its freshness by quick freezing after first adding value is the forte of Mestdagh. Recognition of this is why so many restaurants in Belgium, which are geographically close to the raw material, prefer to use this frozen product rather than go to the trouble and expense to make their own from scratch.
Dejonghe’s quest is to convince chefs in Belgian cuisine restaurants as well as other foodservice operators in New York and elsewhere in the USA, some of whom may be making shrimp croquettes in-house with previously frozen shrimp sourced from South America or East Asia, that serving their customers the “real deal” is the way to go that benefits all parties.
“Ours is a high-end product, distributed in 55- to 75-gram units that are menued at a premium price, either as an appetizer or perhaps as a component in a seafood platter. They are also available in 17-gram aperitif and 35-gram bite sizes,” said Dejonghe. “The profit margin appeals to operators and the flavorful eating experience fully satisfy diners.”
Ladies enjoying Belgian-style mussels at the BXL Zoute restaurant on West 22nd Street first asked the waiter for an order of North Sea Shrimp Croquettes as an appetizer. While it’s not on the menu yet, but perhaps next time it will be thanks to the efforts of BE Delicious – Antarctic Foodies.
About BE Delicious – Antarctic Foodies
Roeselare, Belgium-based BE Delicious – Antarctic Foodies, formed by entrepreneurs Dejonghe and Christof Malysse last year, is a joint venture enterprise that not only promotes Flemish shrimp croquettes, but also champions other traditional seafood dishes, waffles, cheese, chocolate, beer and more from West Flanders. Antarctic Foodies organizes the export for Mestdagh Artisan.
With roots in the frozen vegetable industry, Dejonghe is also the managing director of Antarctic Foodies in Belgium and the majority shareholder of Antarctic Foods Aquitaine in France, which previously was a frozen vegetable production site of Pinguin/Greenyard Foods.
Malysse, like Dejonghe, hails from a family well known in the Belgian food industry. Cutting his teeth in the hotel-restaurant De Marquette in Kortrijk run by his parents, he now heads up Lobster Fish. The company specializes in the distribution of shellfish as well as shrimp bisque and other seafood soups sold under the Délices Malysse label. – Reported by John Saulnier
