Restaurants around Grand' Place, Brussels

Last week we, two persons, had a dinner in a restaurant on one of those famous gourmet lanes near Grand Place, Bryssels:

- Drinks 2 beers
- Starter 4 pcs of small size scampies on a big plate
- Main course stone hard, tasteless and rubberlike pepper stakes which was hard to work and chew
- Dessert a thin slice of dry prefabricated pastry

The total bill was eur 49,- for all that rubbish. On top of bad quality of food also service was a bit arrogant rather than friendly. This was never again experience for us.

Unique Suggestions: If you do not like to spoil your stay in Bryssels please save your money and only have a visual dinner on Grand Place "gourmet" lanes.

Last week we, two persons, had a dinner in a restaurant on one of those famous gourmet lanes near Grand Place, Bryssels:

- Drinks 2 beers
- Starter 4 pcs of small size scampies on a big plate
- Main course stone hard, tasteless and rubberlike pepper stakes which was hard to work and chew
- Dessert a thin slice of dry prefabricated pastry

The total bill was eur 49,- for all that rubbish. On top of bad quality of food also service was a bit arrogant rather than friendly. This was never again experience for us.

Unique Suggestions: If you do not like to spoil your stay in Bryssels please save your money and only have a visual dinner on Grand Place "gourmet" lanes.

We, thankfully, just ate in the Grand Place once, but the food was almost unpalatable (it was just croquette monsieur!) and the service was rude and it was horribly expensive. We later, on our trip around europe, ate at a 4 star restaurant in Barcelona that was great for less money than the gross sandwiches we got at the grand place.

Unique Suggestions: Order the cheapest thing on the menu and enjoy looking at the beautiful grand place!

Fun Alternatives: Instead, eat something at the Mannequin Pis bar, right across from Mannequin Pis. Their bar food was suprisingly good and not expensive.

Perhaps, it is so obvious that no one else has mentioned it. Perhaps it is so expected for a tourist oriented place that may depend on offering low street prices for a complete meal to attract customers and where the promise of quality may prove an exaggeration, that inflated prices for drinks are not even noticed. Just beware that you are likely to pay an extra euro or two or three for a beer or even more of a markup on wine when you go for the inexpensive complete meal
(or for the more expensive "gourmet alternative" or when going a la carte in any restaurant that gets a large portion of its business from the street).

Unique Suggestions: Knowing ahead of time can make this experience bearable. Especially if the venue is attractive and friendly. Personally I will have a single glass or beer or wine with dinner and tend to save the rest of my drinking money for a more interesting place on the street. To me paying extra for a beer outdoors on a great plaza is to be expected and often worth the expense. And places that are up front with high charges are not tourist traps; they are just places charging what the market will bear.

Fun Alternatives: Honestly, I enjoyed my meal in the Rue de Bouchers area. I found the service reasonable and the food good, but I can not be considered a good judge of Belgium food quality. I was not surprised by the beverage costs or by my bill. The a la carte prices did seem inflated, but this may just be the result of smaller portions being given in the "complete meal". Comparing the total of the a la carte prices to the total price of the complete meal, did make the complete meal seem like a good deal. On my first night I chose the spontaneity of just going into a place that seemed good rather than searching for a specific VT recommended restaurant.

Oddly or perhaps not so oddly, despite all the beautiful displays of fresh looking food, I never did see anyone taking any of this food back to the kitchen. Your best alternative might be to follow a VT recommendation.

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The tourist trap begins when walking in the street left from the Maison du Roi (Breadhouse).
Looking for a cheap restaurant? Then do it!
Very narrow, very cosy, very inviting, but also very similar. Almost all the restaurants offer the same food. Most of them have an inconvenient stand outside showing fish, meat, plastic and real fruit, wine and filled plates, showing the dishes you can choose. All these stands are similar, and they turn the street in a colorful spectacle.
Around noon waiters will come outside to draw your attention and to lead you inside.
The food is cheap and tastes cheap. Quick service. Your seat needs to be cleared for other customers.

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Ilot Sacré - the restaurant quarters near Grand Place are the worst tourist trap there is. Yes, it looks wonderfully charming with their Mediterranean atmosphere and gorgeous tables of oysters and lobsters, and the waiters stand in the doorways and tempt you with set meals that look a bargain. But beware! There is just as good food anywhere else in Brussels and this is a rip off. On top of that, almost all restaurants are mafia owned and in some people have been stuck with food they didn't want yet had to pay for before being let out of the restaurant and so on.

Unique Suggestions: Visit touristy but safe "Chez Leon" with its mussels dishes (but snotty service and terrible crowds) or the other exception, "Aux Arms de Bruxelles" opposite, with good and very Belgian food.

Fun Alternatives: Eat in the nice Belgian restaurants in nearby Place St Catherine.

The small streets around the Grand Place (rue du Bouchers and around) look very inviting with the tables outside the restaurants and the fabulous seafood displays - definitely have a wander along them but do not be tempted by the pushy waiters trying to get you inside. You will end up paying 3 or 4 times what you expect and being very disappointed. The only decent restaurants are 'Aux Armes de Bruxelles 'Chez Vincent' (both pricey but good) and 'Chez Leon', (cheap) the best for moules frites (mussels and chips).

Unique Suggestions: Wander and watch, but don't be tempted - and make sure your purse/wallet is secure - this area is rife with pickpockets!

Most restaurants, cafes and bars around the main city centre tend to charge relatively a lot of money for their drinks and food. They are frequently packed with tourists and the prices also reflect that. I have never eaten in the area myself, but I should imagine it's not the highest quality. To be brutally honest, if you are in town for more than one day and have time to go elsewhere, try to venture outside the city centre.

Fun Alternatives: Try the area around the church "Saint Boniface" in Ixelles/Elsene where you will find interesting small restaurants. My favourite is 'Le Deuxième (II) Element' (7, rue Saint Boniface, 1050 Bruxelles, tel: 02 502 0028, closed on Sat and Sun lunch time). It's a Thai place, but not a traditional Thai at all, but more like a fusion with a modern deco and non-oriental staff. A booking is highly recommended - even for a lunch, since it gets absolutely packed with people who work in the offices nearby. English is spoken. The prices are very cheap - around €10 / maincourse during lunch hours.

Other places include a very cosy non-smoking restaurant called 'Le Tartisan' (Rue de la Paix 27, 1050 Brussels, tel: 02 503 3600, Closed on Sundays) (just around the corner from the "II Element"). They've got very delicious warm quiches, salads and lovely looking sweet pastry.
http://users.skynet.be/fb357448/or http://www.resto.be/ware/details.jsp?businessid=4678
According to their website, this place is also gay-friendly.

You can get to the area by metro. The nearest station is "Porte de Naumer/Naamseport". It is useful to have a map with you, as the blocks and roads in Brussels are not as straightforward to find as for instance in New York.