Berti and Global Knives – The Cooking Supply Store and The Cheese Shop

Berti Chef's Knife - Anchored Tang, Forged, Ox Horn Handle

We went to a cooking supply store in Antwerp today.

“De Kookwinkel Soly” Kasteelpleinstraat 64 in Antwerpen.    They first started as a kitchen supply shop for ships (Antwerp is a harbor), together with iron hardware for ships.  In the fifth generation, they focused only on kitchen supplies.

Last year they celebrated their 150th anniversary being in business!

They sell Global Chef Knives so we thought we’d take a look at what they had.  When we arrived, we saw a few other brands of knives.  Tom had found Berti knives on amazon.com yesterday but I hadn’t heard of them before. (See Berti Chef Knife Small) The store had a knife set of handmade knives but the name was different…until I looked closer and saw they WERE Berti knives!  They only had the red lucite handle knives but it felt REALLY good in my hand.  Much better than the Global knives.  The Global knives seemed to slip out of my hand.  I could not get a good grip on them.  The Berti knives felt just like an extension of my arm: rightly balanced, light and easy to maneuver across the cutting board.

Work Horse

The most important things about a knife are that:

• It feels good in your hand.
• It’s sharp!

I’m not going to buy the Berti Chef Knife with the Ox Horn Handle.  I will buy the less expensive Berti Chef Knives with Lucite Handles. The Italian oxen are all happy now!

Since knives are a major investment, we are going to shop around for them. I will take my time looking for knives. There’s no rush.  I want a few basic knives from Berti that will be my work horses. As my Grand Father used to say, “They won’t walk away from me.”

The Cheese Shop

The Cheese Shop
My mom and I went to a really neat cheese shop today!

It’s one of the best!   It’s “Meester van Tricht en zoon: Maitre Fromagerie“.

They have such a huge collection of cheeses.  From Belgium, France, Italy, Spain,…  today he was in the US for his cheese business.  Mr. Van Tricht travels all around the world, to taste and buy the cheeses.  The store has its own ripening room.  I’m sure he has many of those.

Ripening Room in the store

There are so many delicious food stores in Antwerp and around Antwerp.

The day after tomorrow we’ll be heading home to Haupstuhl, Germany.  What a culinary difference!  But before we leave, we’ll buy some good food supplies as a survival kit for at least two days in Germany.

We are sure we’re not going to live in Haupstuhl, Germany after Paris.  Of course, we probably have to spend a couple of months there to sell our house and then we can move on to bigger and better things!

Gaby and Tom

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