There & Back Again – A Traveler's Tale

A friend of a friend gave me some recommendations for things to do in Brussels. Thanks Lino and Miller!

From: Lino Ruocco 
Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2013 1:54 PM
 To: Stefanie Miller

Restaurants

The general rule is that it’s very difficult to eat badly in Belgium. Belgium is an open secret for foodies and it’s reputation is exceeding that of Paris and London.

Karmin and I counted just 5 occasions in ten years where we were disappointed – and one of those was great food – just way too expensive (‘Comme Chez Soi’).

• ‘T’Kelderke’ (in the Grand Place) – traditional Belgian fare
• ‘Mirante’ – I lived round the corner to this place and I went there once or twice a week for TEN YEARS!! It’s run by two Italians and it is the best pizza EVER – and I am from Campania! Just ask for no egg to be added to the top. Both Nami and Marta concurred with my view after I sent them there.
• ‘Le Falstaff’ – a terrific restaurant housed in an art nouveau building.
• There’s a terrific tapas bar on Rue Marche au Charbon called ‘Tapas Loco’, too.
• Walk down ‘Rue des Bouchers’ at night – but avoid being ripped off by expensive house cocktails which are offered seemingly free, but are not.
• There are some great fish restaurants in the ‘St Catherine’ area, too. Check out the fantastic ‘Jaloa’.
• ‘La Kasbah’ on Rue Antoine Dansaert – North African fare. Great!

Other Foods

Make an effort to eat the following:

• Gauffres – true Belgian Waffles – they are utterly delicious. Karmin used to ask me to bring some to the US when we were living on different continents.
• ‘Fritland’ – Twice-fried Belgian fries (‘French Fries’ were actually invented in Belgium – not France). Get them in a cone so that the grease drips away from the fries. Absolutely delicious beyond belief. Add mayonnaise (or other condiment) to make it authentic! Actually very good!
• Crepes – sweet or savoury. There’s a great restaurant near the Grand Place that serves crepes – just can’t think of its name right now.
• ‘Moules avec Frites’ – only available in months with an ‘r’. You may get lucky. No-one does mussels like Brussels.

Chocolates.

The best, by a country mile is ‘Pierre Marcolini’ in the Sablon area of Brussels. They are also the most expensive. But they are so worth it.

Second choice – Wittamer – better value for money, excellent quality and slightly cheaper.

‘The Chocolate Box’ and ‘Leonidas’ are good ‘budget’ brands – so much better than Godiva – THAT’s how high the quality of chocolate is there.

You also have Neuhaus, Galler and Godiva as well as other more artisanal brands. All great chocolate. Whatever you pick, you won’t be disappointed.

Beer

Go to the ‘Grand Place’ and have a beer outside one of the many restaurants there. Great ambiance. At night they will have the music and laser show.

Close by is ‘St Gery’ which has lots of bars and a great atmosphere, too.

‘Café Metropole’ – art nouveau hotel – bit snobby, but interesting.

‘Le Cerceuil’ – a coffin bar – not fantastic quality, but interesting to go to for a single beer – then you can leave.

‘La Becasse’, an utter gem of a hidden Brussels bar near the Grand Place. Famous for its lambic beer, but has other stuff, too in case you don’t like lambic.

There are some good Irish bars too, ‘O’Reillys’, for instance, but try and venture into the more bruxelloise bars – they are much more interesting.

Sights

Grand Place

Mannequin Pis

Royal Buildings along with museums down avenue Royale

Atomium – I found this boring, but has apparently been revamped since I’ve been gone. Does have an interesting ‘Mini-Europe’ display, though.

Sablon – old part of Brussels which has the chocolate shops (including ‘Marcolini’) and old antique markets.

There are a ton of museums including a chocolate museum, beer museum, comic strip museum etc

By the way, everything I’ve written above is walkable from the Grand Place (which is close to the Ibis hotel)