Can comfort food be gourmet food? In Luxembourg, quite possibly.

Unfortunately, I have never been one of those delicate types that pushes away a half-eaten plate and sighs, "oh, that's just too rich to finish." Nor, to my regret, am I the type who can hardly make a dent in generous servings of hearty, stick-to-your-ribs fare. Such delicate eaters probably wouldn't have liked my weekend in Luxembourg and Germany.

I, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed the lashings of comfort food. Though I was glad I didn't stay for too long, and I did actually crave vegetables when I got home. A dangerous place for big appetites.

Fresh bread seemed to be giving off its fresh compelling aroma everywhere, and it was all of the same quality you associate with France. Christmas markets featured stalls groaning with chocolates, cakes and gingerbread, and upscale pastry shops showed off windows of fanciful creations. I managed to skip both of these ... the savoury fare was so substantial that even I didn't have room for sweets. A classic example: my lunch of veal stew in a cream sauce with home made spaetzle in the Ratskeller restaurant in Trier. I find these small German dumplings so tasty I'll order just about anything on a menu that comes with them. The veal was an excellent choice, and with a glass of red wine on the side you're set up to face an afternoon hiking through the cold. Or just about any other rigorous exercise. (What I really wanted was a nap, but I resisted that, along with the cakes.)

The finest meal of the trip was a special night out in Luxembourg city at a restaurant called Mansfeld. It's in the heart of the old town that lies in a deep crag along a river. An upper town, filled with bank headquarters and the Grand Duke's palace, sits on the promontory above. Mansfeld is in a historic house and has a lovely balance of design: A sleek modern entry and bar area, black with blue lighting, leads off into dining rooms in wooden paneled rooms that evoke the 17th century.

Clearly, the Luxembourgers must not eat like this every day, or they'd be the fattest people in Europe.

The menu is seasonal, and my meal was a classic winter warmer. We started out with the pan fried fois gras, recommended so highly by my friends I really couldn't say no. I can be a bit ambivalent about fois gras, but this was absolutely perfect. The meat lay on top of slices of mango, and was surrounded by a reduction of sharp, sweet balsamic vinegar. The fruit and sauce were a perfect complement to richness of the liver. Onward to venison stew in a rich red wine sauce, cooked so long that the meat fell apart under my fork. Strong flavours, but magnificent, especially with an extremely robust and fruity pomerol to wash it down. The stew came with a side of ... yes, more ... fois gras "lasagne". Slivers of fois gras and forest mushrooms laid atop of pasta sheets, covered with a bit of cream sauce. Again, a perfect balance of flavours going on, as the sharpness of the venison and red wine cut down the richness of the fois gras and cream. Of course, nothing could cut down how bad this combo was for the diet.

Cora and Didier both had the lamb, which looked good but they reported was overcooked.

On to dessert. And after all that warming, comforting food, why break the trend? Bring on the cheesecake. This was a quite exceptional version however, light and fluffy with a tang approaching sour cream and served with a lavender & citrus sorbet. Exactly what was needed to relegate all those strong tastes of the previous courses and settle everything down. I did have a taste of Cora's chocolate fondant, which was also a lovely choice ... though would have been too much on top of my flavoursome meal.

Clearly, the Luxembourgers must not eat like this every day, or they'd be the fattest people in Europe. But they ... or at least the chefs at Mansfeld ... know how to pull out all the stops for a special treat.