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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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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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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It’s a little bit odd looking into a giant aquarium, only to see – not tuna or sharks – but strange limbed beings in masks and flippers.
For once I haven’t come to gawp at fish. Did you know that Nemo 33 in Brussels is the deepest indoor swimming pool in the world? I didn’t, but recently I took my first ever scuba diving session here in the warm water, under the careful supervision of Filippo, one of the diving coaches. He patiently shepherded me as I practised sinking, hand signals, breathing, mask-clearing and trying to advance without rolling in circles according to the whims of my waistcoat. By the end of the lesson I was finally making progress, and we descended the rope down to the five meter bottom and peered through the glass windows trying to catch sight of the diners in the restaurant.

The Nemo pool is divided into various different compartments. Filippo beckoned us over to see down into the 10 metre area, and then I nervously sneaked a look into the abyss of the 33 metre pit. I could not see the bottom and was very glad not to be going down there!

My one hour introduction to scuba diving cost 45 euro per person, with a maximum of two people sharing the instructor. However there are different levels of courses available, not just in French and Flemish, but in English and other languages. All equipment (fins, masks, waistcoats and oxygen tanks) is supplied, and for hygiene reasons the only personal dive equipment you can use are your fins and dive mask. Divers not accompanied by an instructor must have a buddy and a dive computer. Certified divers pay 22 euro a session. Non-certified or those with less than a PADI Open Water certificate pay 30 euro. 15 minutes before your allotted time a bell rings to summon you to the changing rooms, and shortly before time’s up a bell will ring in the depths to tell you to begin your ascent….

Afterwards you could try your luck and have a drink or dinner in the Thai restaurant, with a view of the divers. However after 25 minutes of bubble watching without acknowledgement I was getting annoyed and hungry – so I gave up and went home!
I’d advise you to book well in advance and read the Dive briefing and other information available online.

Rue de Stalle 333 (Rond-point des Menhirs)
1180 Uccle (Brussels), Belgium
+32 (0)2 332 33 34
www.nemo33.com/en
Google map: bit.ly/nGICQJ

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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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I can’t stop coming back for its delicious and copious food, but also because for me it seems to encapsulate what Brussels is about. There’s no name outside, no menus, no music and no website - and you may have to queue! Food choices are listed on a blackboard, the prices are strange and someone has chalked up “no visa”. You sit elbow to elbow at the bare tables, trying to catch what your companions are saying against the background noise, but instead find yourself listening to the conversation your neighbours are having, in some other language. Luckily you don’t have to keep this up very long for soon your food arrives; and it’s piping hot, meaty, tender and substantial. I’m a
particular fan of the carbonnades here, but in fact everything on the menu I’ve ever tasted has been excellent.

Rue des Chartreux 9, 1000 City of Brussels, Belgium
+32(0)2 512 51 23
Google map: bit.ly/jCJCV9

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Aux Armes De Bruxelles is a long-established restaurant near the Grand Place with an excellent menu and good beer and wine list. The moules are to die for. I ate there every evening on my last trip.

Address: 13, Rue des Bouchers - 1000 Bruxelles; Phone: +32 2 511.55.50; Website: www.armebrux.be/

Google map: tinyurl.com/mhoh6p

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La Quincaillerie (if you can pronounce it) is the place to go for upmarket Belgian dining in the atmospheric, bustling setting of an old ironmonger's store. It's a really memorable experience for visitors to Brussels and has fantastic seafood.

45 rue du Page, Brussels
www.quincaillerie.be
+32 2 533 9833

Google map: tinyurl.com/myn6vs

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Thanks indeed to the Two Hairy Bikers for their suggestion to try this fantastic restaurant. The food was gorgeous and the staff were obviously selected for their efficiency as much as their looks. We dined like kings and yet the meal came to about 100 euros, a bargain. I'd love to go back and try the steak & chips and some more wonderful Belgian beer. Try it, you will not be disappointed.

Belga Queen Brussels
Rue Fossé aux Loups 32
1000 BRUSSELS

Phone:+32 2.217.21.87
www.belgaqueen.be/

Google map: tinyurl.com/l3ev64

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Restobières - In amongst the eclectic shops of Les Marolles, this restaurant is madly Belgian (eg biscuit tins of the royal family).

The food is utterly Belgian especially when the owner, Alain Fayt, matches the menu to his personally sourced Belgian beer.

A different glass with each course is accompanied with his unique commentary. The dessert even comes with its own floor-show.

www.restobieres.be
32, rue des renards, Bruxelles 1000

Google map: tinyurl.com/lfud9n

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Have a meal in the streets behind the Grand Place in Brussels, the selection of seafood dishes is superb.

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Try the Scheltema Brasserie on Rue des Dominicains (Tel: 02 512 20 84). Do not be fooled by its location at the end of Rue des Bouchers, close to the Grand Place, which is home to dozens of tourist restaurants with quick-eyed maitre'ds hustling for custom on the pavement.

To enter Scheltema is to step into a place where food is to be savoured, not rushed. Serious-looking, but kindly and knowledgeable waiters (all male and of a certain age), add to the experience. Truly wonderful.

www.scheltema.be/frames/nl/home_nl_center.htm

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For a relaxed meal and/or drink on a summer's evening, try Place St Boniface, close to Porte de Namur metro station. There are many good restaurants in the square and the surrounding streets.

Try Au Vieux Bruxelles for traditional Belgian cuisine in (sometimes very!) cosy surroundings or Mano a Mano for simple, high-quality Italian food. L'Ultime Atome is a great choice for a drink, with a good range of beers and outside tables; it also does decent, brasserie-style food if you're peckish.

www.auvieuxbruxelles.com/

www.ultime-atome.com/

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Have a meal at Restaurant Vincent, Rue des Dominicains. Fine food and a great atmosphere.

www.restaurantvincent.com/

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Just off the Grand Place you'll find many excellent restaurants. Go for one where the staff don't try to drag you in off the street. Even better, head straight for Restaurant Vincent, undoubtedly one of the best in town. For details go to www.restaurantvincent.com.

www.restaurantvincent.com/

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Try eating at La Quincaillerie, a typically fine restuarant in the city, but with a novel twist: it's a converted hardware store. The food is of high quality and, unusually for me, I can recall the unique interior in surprising detail.

www.quincaillerie.be/showPage.php?page=home

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For the best night out in Brussels, try an aperitif at super-cool L'Archiduc bar followed by a slap-up dinner at Bonsoir Clara along the road.

www.archiduc.net/home.html

www.bonsoirclara.be/

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