At that time, scholars and writers gave lectures in Ostend, painters and sculptors showed the latest developments. The revue theaters were running at full capacity, there were sports events, flower parades, fireworks and parades. Auguste Escoffier created the ‘Sole Ostendaise’ in the kitchen of the ‘Royal Palace’, the most luxurious hotel on the Atlantic coast.
“The French chef came to train the kitchen team. He then trained the brigade for a whole month. That was more than fifty people working in the kitchen. He had just come from the Ritz in Paris where he had done the same thing. He came here to repeat that.”
Ostend in the Belle Epoque is a book full of surprises. More about this tomorrow and the day after.