An artisanal bakery which boasts quality breads and cakes almost too beautiful to eat. There are various different breads to try, from traditional baguettes to olive, walnut, apricot and hazelnut; but I’m told that once they’ve found one they like customers tend to stick with it. Even the Neptune restaurant I’ve featured before buys its own particular type of loaf from here. The bread is made upstairs and allowed to rise 24 hours before baking. It’s a process that takes time and space, but here production is limited by the premises rather than number of personnel. So after 26 years with the shop and atelier in the same building, the Saint-Aulaye has just moved to a new building which has the same surface area, but will no longer require its 12 pâtissiers to traispse up and down four flights of stairs.

www.saintaulaye.be/
Rue Vanderkindere, 377, 1180 Uccle
Google map: bit.ly/Qr1Sex

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“Photo? Of course, je vous en prie!” He says, as he hands me my box of strawberry and raspberry tarts. “Everyone in Brussels knows about this atelier”, he adds. “Oh?” I say. I hadn’t known, and I only wish I’d been told about this place earlier – it has been here for 60 years, after all. Now there’s no need for that sinking feeling as you plod home after a late night at the office and remember that the fridge is bare, or wonder what to eat after an impromptu gathering leaves you unexpectedly drunk and ravenous!
Here’s what I suggest: head down the long corridor that opens out into the cavernous atelier, weigh yourselves on the huge and antique scales. So that’s 20 bags of flour…. Re-emerge from there. Enjoy some beers and frites in the bars around Place Jourdan. Return several hours later for bread, rolls, croissants or tarts. Weigh yourselves again. From Midnight the cocoa-buttery smell of fresh pain au chocolat will waft down the corridor to entice you in – for this is the hour of the first fresh pastries of the day. What a great idea in a land where supermarkets generally close at 8pm! Open every day from 19:00 to 7:00. From 7:00 the actual bakery on the square takes over, but that is not so much fun.

Rue Général Leman, 8 1040 Etterbeek
Google map: bit.ly/VjxshK

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Garcia’s tearoom is packed on a Sunday morning, but in the adjoining blue and white tiled bakery business is slower and you can call in and pick up your sweet Portuguese pastries at any time. On a quieter weekday morning I had my first sampling of savoury Portuguese treats in the tearoom – including mini shrimp croquettes, cod and chicken pastries. Now I’m hooked, but that’s okay
because I can still have one of everything available and it will still be as cheap as Belgian chips.
The owner is from Lavre in Southern Portugal, but left to see the world. To remind him of home, and us of sunnier Mediterranean climes, we sit next to a recreated façade of his house, happily caffeinating ourselves. Hearing Portuguese spoken on the terraces around Place Flagey, it seems like a large proportion of Brussels’ Portuguese community must have settled in this area, but no, they’re everywhere, says the guy serving my pastries. What a lovely language, and what lovely pastries!

Avenue de la Couronne, 75- 77, 1050 Ixelles
Google map: bit.ly/VjwfXv

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No need to walk far from the Sablon square to find an inexpensive place to eat: for a start there’s the Parrot just off the square – ideal for lunch or as a prelude to a night out. Here the speciality is pitta, 72 different types of pitta on my last count. These come in baskets cradled in the nook of the server’s arm, and are deceptively filling – if you disagree you can just order another. There’s scope to have vegetarian, salads and pittas with dried fruit and nuts - all proving that pittas don’t have to be unhealthy or predictable. You get four different sauces to dribble on your pitta, and insufficient
napkins, but never mind. Some of the contents are liable to escape, scattering themselves
mischievously, making mess! Enjoy in a graceful bar of art nouveau swirls, turquoisey walls and
unpolished marble table tops. For 10 euro for a pitta and freshly squeezed juice you can’t really go wrong. Well-known but still a nice mix of exchange students, local couples and groups. Everyone gets a lollipop with the bill: we wouldn’t want to disturb this genteel Sablon neighbourhood afterwards, would we? And just a short hop from the rum bar I mentioned earlier.

31, rue Watteau, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
+32(0)2 512 99 22
Google map: bit.ly/NkyhTF

* Bec is our Been there local for Brussels. You can view her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/brussels-local-rebecca.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/Becinbrussels

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With its sparkling lights, 24 carat gilding and huge wall mirror at the back it seems like Le Greenwich goes on forever. And now, freshly reopened and gleaming after a costly renovation, it just might.
For too long this historic bar had wallowed in its own smoky grime, trading on its reputation of years of epic chess matches, rumours of original tiled bathrooms, and its most famous customer, René Magritte. Coming back I’m astonished at the transformation: it’s almost too new, and so shiny that Magritte would probably not recognise it. It’s certainly no longer a place where I can imagine any scruffy artist at the window trying to sell paintings. I haven’t yet spotted any chess players, either.
It took a private Dutch investor and some regional subsidies to finally save this listed building from leaks and bring it up to modern standards. Sitting in here you feel like a drinker in the first class lounge on the Titanic. I’m told by one of the waiters that Magritte used to sit in the right hand window viewed from outside - in any case, that table is always occupied! Drink one - drink three - but I think the food is better elsewhere - best to head next door for that (or try one of the many other restaurants nearby).

Rue des Chartreux 7, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
+32 2 511 41 67
Google map: bit.ly/Ksb0N5

* Bec is our Been there local for Brussels. You can view her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/brussels-local-rebecca.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/Becinbrussels

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You’ll need to arrive earlier than the Spanish to ensure a table and tapas in this thriving,
buzzy Asturian community centre, open Friday to Sunday evenings and staffed by volunteers for the last 20 years. Inside older community members prop up the bar, and tables of Spanish speakers alternate with other nationalities, all happily gorging on generous plates of gambas, ham, cheese, sardines and calamares – washed down with beer for 1 euro or Asturian cider, poured from a great height to get the air into it. Past the bar with its photos of landscapes and Asturians proudly wielding their prize-winning cabrales cheese, the centro gives way to a village hall atmosphere, complete with functional tables and plastic chairs. Last time I was convinced our table of seven had over-done it: we’d ordered nearly everything on the menu, twice! But we still managed to finish everything – and three bottles of rioja - for the princely sum of 20 euros per head.
Open Friday and Saturday evenings and for lunch on Sunday.

www.centrocabraliego.net
171 rue Haute/Hoogstraat, 1000 Brussels
+32 (0)2 511 05 59
Google map: bit.ly/ysbmVR

Bec is our Been there local for Brussels. You can view her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/brussels-local-rebecca.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/Becinbrussels

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From the outside, it has to be said, this grey- fronted bar with its forbidding doorman does not promise much. During the day people fill up on steak and carbonnades, soaking up beer with chips and just sit, placidly. But on Friday and Saturday nights groups start crowding in, and at a quarter to midnight, as if by some tacit agreement, everyone gets up on top of the tables to dance, to an infectious mix which could keep you going until 4am, providing you have the energy – and your wits – about you! Leave bulky bags and coats behind, and give up reaching the bar through the mass of bodies. It’s probably for the best anyway. A student favourite, and an exhilarating end to a day spent in chocolate, waffles and vin chaud.

www.lecorbeau.be/
18, rue St-Michel, 1000 Brussels
+32 2 219 52 46
Google map: bit.ly/AdUAUQ

* Bec is our Been there local for Brussels. You can view her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/brussels-local-rebecca.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/Becinbrussels

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Take refuge in Frederic’s shop, where you can revive flagging legs with a cup of rich hot chocolate. No instant stuff this; but basically just melted chocolate, including the speciality Fredericisime, with no sugar and just a little honey, that you might not like but will knock your socks off. Along with the large and imaginative chocolate selection there are hot chocolate spoons, chocolate spreads, and ice creams. I must try the “Belgian sunshine” - I like a chocolatier with a sense of humour!

www.frederic-blondeel.com/en/presentation/
Quai aux Briques/Baksteenkaai 24, 1000 Brussels
+32 2 502 21 31
Google map: bit.ly/x8SWpl

* Bec is our Been there local for Brussels. You can view her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/brussels-local-rebecca.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/Becinbrussels

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Founded in 1919 in Brussels, since 1942 Mary has been the chocolate supplier to the Belgian royal family. There are only three shops in the country, and the brand has
shunned expansion and stuck to its retro-style packing, discreet service and pralines named after Princesses past and present. This is about class, but there is nothing to be concerned about on price! Chocolates are still made by hand by around ten employees in a former armaments factory.
A browse through the brochure reveals that chocolates should be kept between 15 and 18 degrees, avoiding rapid changes in temperature. “In truth, however, our chocolates seem to disappear rather quickly.” You bet they do.

www.marychoc.com/
Rue Royal/Konigsstraat 73, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
+32 2 217 45 00
Google map: bit.ly/zyRZ1L

* Bec is our Been there local for Brussels. You can view her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/brussels-local-rebecca.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/Becinbrussels

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In my neighbourhood there is a bistro sheltering in a former umbrella shop: it’s called Le Neptune. Each week there is a five course set menu listed on a blackboard, which I ate accompanied by a bottle of Bourgogne picked, after some deliberation, from two lengthy chalked lists for the serious-sounding connoisseur. The combination of choice and no choice was intriguing. I waited. It became clear that for the diners in this 25 cover restaurant, this was to be an experience to last the whole evening. As each course arrived, it was described to us at table by one of the young staff. We listened intently, and then dutifully savoured every mouthful, identifying the flavours of all the ingredients we had been instructed were present. And it was only a few mouthfuls before our well-presented, delicate dishes were dispatched! But then we had only to wait again, nibbling on delicious bread, wondering what would come next. If we were curious, we could walk through the kitchen and see for ourselves.
When I return a few days later, chef Nicolas is in the process of gutting a tuna. He’s forgotten our appointment, so I ask my questions while he prepares his fish: this way I’m learning by watching and listening. I discover that there is no English translation for the Lake Geneva fish I ate on my visit; that Nicolas’ favourite ingredients are seasonal vegetables; we debate the colours (and English translations) of yellow courgette, marrow, pumpkin and squash; and I try to persuade him of the merits of swede. He looks at me quizzically. Even if he doesn’t know my favourite vegetable I cannot accuse him of being boring. After all I enjoyed his mystery Geneva fish (Féra) with sage, melon and dill; followed by ray poached in bergamot broth; beef cheek with root vegetables; a quince compote and a chocolate mousse. “Why five little plates?” I ask, “Surely that’s more work?” “No, it’s more fun”, he says. “And this isn’t work!”
Nicolas’ weekly changing menu is all about delicate flavours: nothing dominates. It’s about tempting your tastebuds rather than overpowering them: “I like to take my customers on a journey through several dishes”, he says. This means no butter, no cream, locally produced food and organic wines – “fins et légers”, to match his cooking. This former wine bar owner is inspired by childhood memories, markets and eating round his grandparents’ table in the Haute-Savoie. And he dislikes too much formality: customers see him at work, sneak a glance in his fridge and wander through his kitchen.

The five course tasting menu costs 39 euros a head, not including wine. A three course lunch menu costs 25 euros Book at least a week in advance.

Rue Lesbroussart 48
+32 489 303 350
Google map: bit.ly/otdZWl

* Bec is our Been there local for Brussels. You can view her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/brussels-local-rebecca.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/Becinbrussels

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Once upon a time in Brussels, two chefs decided they’d had enough of working for someone else and set out on their own. They began selling homemade tarts and quiches from a cart at Flagey market, using recipes from their respective grandmothers. I wasn’t in Brussels
then, but I know that I would have approved.
Over the last twelve years the tarts have moved inside from cart to shop and some recipes have evolved, but others have stayed exactly as they were, including the grandmothers’ Linzer raspberry tart and the frangipane. However it was the lure of lemon that first drew me into their shop, and I am happy to learn that the tangy, creamy lemon tart and the raspberry Linzer one are the bestsellers!
The main rue de la Paix site I featured before is now unfortunately closed, but creator Marc
carries on the tart tradition at one of the former franchise sites. The place has a new name,
but the tarts are the same! Expect an enticing window display of chocolate, raspberry, apple and brown sugar – in mini tarts and larger versions for you to take away - or enjoy
them here!

186, Chaussée de Vleurgat, 1000 Bruxelles
+32(0)2 649 01 19
Google map: bit.ly/Pubo1x

* Bec is our Been there local for Brussels. You can view her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/brussels-local-rebecca.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/Becinbrussels

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A great, traditional restaurant, just off the Grand Place. Classical food, great service and not touristy at all. Much better than the rip off joints in the Rue de Bouchers.

www.armandandko.be/
Rue des Chapeliers, 16, 1000 Bruxelles
+32 (0)2 514 17 63
Google map: bit.ly/qjMLak

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A mix of simple wooden tables, utilitarian steel shelves and brown floral seventies wallpaper.
Delecta is another of my favourite small Brussels bars, an intimate after-work venue both in summer and winter, where you can share bottles of wine and plates of antipasti or huddle round the stove when it’s cold. There is a good selection of beer and light meals: more interesting variations on the ubiquitous croque monsieur, quiches and lasagne. Thursday evenings host the popular “les apéros
du Delecta”, complete with DJ.

Rue Lannoy/Lannoystraat 2, 1050 Ixelles
+32 (0)2 644 19 49
Google map: bit.ly/pkPES7

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Les Gens que J’aime is a short walk away from the Grand Place and an ideal place to pause sightseeing for refreshment. It used to be another naff chocolate shop, but luckily the owners are faithful to their 60s retro theme: believe me, you don’t hear The Doors too often in Brussels! I liked going upstairs to the low-ceilinged gallery, where I ate lasagne off a psychedelic circle tablecloth and drank ginger tea from a dribbling teapot. The food is reasonably priced and includes bagels, meatloaf and waffles, which should keep you going at least until evening.

Rue du Midi 15, 1000 Brussels
Google map: bit.ly/qGWyXm

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Tout Bon has occupied its corner of Place du Luxembourg since 1997. I like coming here for breakfast! There are various formulas to choose from: involving combinations of egg and bacon, bread, croissants and orange juice. Substitute tea or coffee for rich hot chocolate that coats your throat, and enjoy the French way dunking everything in it. They have a selection of delicious jams to smother your bread in: strawberry and blueberry, chocolate and hazlenut paste, Belgian honey and slow-cooked syrupy pears from the Ardennes. On weekdays in term-time you may find yourself in earshot of lobbyists, diplomats or Commission officials deep in conversation over some issue or other. Meanwhile on Friday evenings the square wakes up as young MEP assistants spill out here to relax after work.
The hulking monolith of the European Parliament dominates one end of the square. Wandering around it won’t reveal anything of what actually goes on in there, so I would recommend contacting your MEP some time in advance and requesting a guided visit.

www.toutbon.be/
Rue du Luxembourg, 68, B-1000 Bruxelles
+32(0)2.230 42 44
Google map: bit.ly/oJcXLV

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Do not be perturbed by the sight of people emerging with armfuls of boxes from this unassuming little atelier. For the busy staff keep restaurants and and dinner parties well supplied with speculoos cheesecake and other delicious sweet and savoury tarts. I’ve spotted them all over the place – your party hosts will welcome them with a gleam in their eyes, others may try to pass them off as their own and restaurants will stay tight-lipped about where their desserts come from!
I particularly like the fluffy, light, lemony fromage blanc speculoos, the tangy tarte citron meringuée, the pêches framboises, the sucre brun, the barbecue quiche, the gourmand au chocolat … I’d better stop there. Perhaps they won’t travel well, perhaps you’ll have no dinner party to go to, but you can still enjoy one in the gardens of the Abbaye de la Cambre, a short walk away. The residential area around the abbey, Ixelles ponds and Place Flagey area is a good place for a wander.
A New York outpost of Les Tartes de Françoise opened recently, the first outside Belgium. Surely the first of many …

http://91.121.96.65/tartes/fr/presentation.asp?lg=UK
Hippodroomlaan 75, 1050 Brussels
+32(0)2 640 88 41
Google map: bit.ly/risXqD

Rebecca is our Been there local for Brussels. You can read her page and tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/brussels-local-rebecca.jsp.
She has her own blog at: www.becinbrussels.blogspot.com

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It is a sensible approach for an ice cream shop to advertise separate opening hours for sunny or rainy weather. Even when the skies cloud over the ice cream served here is a worthy diversion from your shopping or bar sampling in the Châtelain district – and excellent value at three euro for the double scoop! It’s made the traditional way using egg yolk, whole milk, crème fraîche, vanilla pods and fresh fruit; and the sorbet using fruit juices and pulp – with absolutely nothing artificial used to colour, preserve or enhance it. There are around 200 flavours in the repertoire and you can expect to find up to 24 of these on offer on an average summer evening. This week I chose a double cone of old fashioned vanilla with candied mandarin, while my friend picked Périgord nuts and Speculoos.
Of course there are typical Belgian flavours to choose from, including Liège waffle, salted butter caramel, dark chocolate and speculoos. However for me it’s always vanilla that is the yardstick by which all other flavours are judged, and here the vanilla is very good indeed: not artificial or overbearing; while the mandarin sorbet is delicate and fruity. Once the ice cream has gone finishing the cone is normally a chore. Not here: the crisp, not over-sweet wafer is dispatched within seconds.

Rue du Bailli 35/Baljuwstraat 35, Ixelles
+32(0) 647 51 44
Google map: bit.ly/p1xhdi

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Upon entering you might think you’ve arrived in a Bavarian hunting lodge – complete with yellowing walls, dim lighting, and a collection of antlers. Actually you’re in the former meeting point for Belgium’s surrealist scene. And yet despite the visits of Magritte, Alechinsky, Scutenaire and Breton, despite the 406 framed portraits and photos, the place does not have the kind of surrealist drawings, poems or doodling that you might have been expecting and certainly hoped for. That is because everything of value was sold, save a few exceptions; and what we have combines donations and founder and art dealer Geert van Bruaene's mix-match collection of objects, including a group of Virgin Marys. Luckily the café was rescued and spared the museum treatment: it is once again the venue for literary salons, poetry readings and much beer drinking. And what is on the walls is certainly worth perusing.
Try and sit at Magritte’s table: solid, wooden and smooth from years of elbow rubbing; although it too is like a school pupil’s desk with no strange etchings to be found. Sneak in here one afternoon to enjoy a strong beer – a spontaneously fermenting lambic, gueuze or kriek would seem an appropriate choice, accompanied by the special house pralines – and before long voices recede into the distance and you find yourself contemplating the mysterious phrases on the walls….. Hmm, perhaps this place is surreal after all!
“Nul ne m’est étranger comme moi-même.”

La Fleur is open every day from 11:00 until Midnight (until 19:00 on Sundays). It’s closed on Mondays, unless there’s some literary event going on.
www.goudblommekeinpapier.be/fr
Rue des Alexiens 55, 1000 Bruxelles
+32(0)2 511 16 59
Google map: bit.ly/kPvion

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Along with its fantastic beer and chocolate, Belgium is rightly famous for its frites and you can find little chip huts (baraques à frites or frietkots in Flemish) dotted all over Brussels. Tracking down the best friteries in the land seems to be a national pastime, at least in cyberspace. There’s even a new itunes application showing 49 top Brussels frietkots with their GPS positioning. I say you have to start somewhere, so why not first sample the offerings at Frit’ Flagey? Here they are fried twice (as they should be) and emerge golden with a crispy exterior - tastier than those of the famed Maison Antoine, in my opinion. Chips come either in small or large portions, but the choice of sauces can be bewildering, so spend your waiting time wisely deciding which to have. I recently strayed from my usual unimaginative ketchup and chose provençale. Frite-eating in Brussels is a pleasure shared by people of all ages, shapes and sizes and I often wonder at the orderliness of the queue – why is it never like this in the post office or waiting for the bus?

Place Flagey/Flageyplein, 1050 Ixelles
Google map: bit.ly/mydj7Z

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Students at the Brussels Free University have known for some time that a formidable eating challenge lurked in an unexceptional-looking friterie.
Then some rowers got to know about it, and before long TV cameras turned up and things started getting busy. Last time I heard the friterie had sold out of T-shirts and its newly famous creation, the “Texas King Burger”, had received copyright status.
It’s the perfect macho challenge: eat one giant burger and you win a T-shirt; eat a second and you will have earned a two week break in the owners’ apartment in Spain. Easy enough, you think, until the monstrous 1.2kg burger advances across the room and you feel your bravado – and hitherto voracious appetite- wilting away!
The challenge was dreamed up on a trip to New York, but you should know the owners and their creation are about as Brussels as Brussels can be: with stories, attitude, laughter and that accent indicating we shouldn’t take anything we hear too seriously. The dinner plate-sized homemade burger will be assembled in front of you and served encased in baps and encircled by frites - tasty, worthy rivals to other offerings in this chip-blessed city. Just remember, there’s absolutely no shame in failing to finish a Texas King, but the owners will never tire of watching you try!
A Texas King Burger will set you back 12 Euros, and can easily be shared. I’m told that only three people have managed to eat two.
To get there, take bus 95 in direction of Wiener and get off at stop Arcades.
The friterie is open every day from 18:00 until 22:00 and also for lunch 12:00 – 14:00 Monday to Friday.

2, avenue du Bois de la Cambre
Watermael-Boitsfort, 1170 Bruxelles
+32(0)2 675 02 58
Google map: bit.ly/mPnjPQ

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