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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Tucked away on a side street behind Place Flagey you could easily walk past this wine seller and bar because from the outside it resembles a lock-up garage, whose shutters only rise Thursday to Saturday. Perhaps this is a ruse to deter noisy crowds in other bars nearby: I for one wouldn’t want to see this place lose its intimacy! A small group of people know to come on Friday and Saturday nights for ringside seats at concerts of gypsy music. “We never know quite who’s going to turn up; I don’t think even the Patron knows” says a double bassist cum guitarist. Most of the musicians are Hungarians who have been living in Belgium for many years, playing violin, guitar and cimbalom.
When he is not on tour, they are joined by whiskered virtuoso violinist Roby Lakatos , who keeps us all transfixed with his nimble bow work and finger plucking frenzy, while my poor tapping feet can barely keep up. In Lakatos’ hands the violin is variously a percussion instrument, a guitar and mandolin, and he weaves traditional gypsy tunes and then surprises us all with a variation of “La vie en rose”. A good selection of wines is available by the glass or bottle, and there are tapas and desserts so you won’t go hungry. You can be sure that everyone: staff, players, customers, folk dancer, will be having a good time.
If you’re too early for the concert soak up a beer – and witness Brussels’ Bohemian, alternative side at bar Le Murmure, no.18.

www.dapvins.be/index.php
Open Thursday to Saturday from 17:00

14, rue du Belvédère/ Belvédèrestraat, 1050, Brussels
+32(0)2 640 56 10
Google map: bit.ly/H56Pox

* 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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I was looking for authentic cowboy boots; I didn’t expect to find so many of them quite so close to home. But then I hadn’t counted on finding a Western Man in Brussels, either.
François Chladiuk’s Western Shop grew out of a life’s passion for the Wild West.
This collector of the “real McCoy” started with antique Winchesters 40 years ago, adding
statues and saddles before a chance opportunity led to him acquiring 150 pieces that had languished in a basement for decades, including vibrant Indian headdresses, tunics, moccasins and jewellery. He suspected they were old, and placed adverts in magazines and tried to track down photos of the period. One day, while looking at a postcard, he realised he had a match. “I was shaking, I ran upstairs and compared it. And there it was!” From the few surviving photographs of the period, he discovered he owned clothing and artefacts that had belonged to the Little Elk and Little Moon families who had performed in the Wild West Shows for the Brussels World Fair in 1935. Since then Francois’s whole collection has been displayed at Belgium’s Royal Museum for Art and History, and pieces have been loaned to The Buffalo Bill museum in Golden, Colorado. A few pieces are currently ondisplay in that same Brussels museum.
22 years ago François started his shop, still with his collection in mind, selling the “real hats, the real boots and the real shirts.” The brands featured are 120 or 130 years old, including Tony Lama, which last year celebrated its 100th anniversary. This place is about as far removed from a western superstore as you can imagine. Wooden floors, country music in the background and the inescapable smell of leather. Among the Stetsons, jewellery and shirts I ask him what he is most proud of. Unsurprisingly it is the inventory of 2500 pairs of cowboy boots, including the traditional or the colourful, amongst exotic skins such as shark, lizard, python, hippo or stingray. To keep the shop well-stocked, Francois flies to the States five times a year, taking in the Denver show in January and September, which has “everything”, and twice visiting Tulse, Oklohoma, for collectables from the “biggest gun show on earth”. Then it’s either the Cody show or the High Noon show in Phoenix for antiques. Distances and unloading aside, there is no “work” involved in running this shop. “At 38 I opened, and at 38 I stopped working!
“Every ten or 12 years there is like a Western fashion wave coming all over the world.
My friends say; ‘You must be lucky now, you must be happy! Now you’re making a lot
of money.’ But it’s just not true”, he says. Those are the times of cheap imitations and dreamcatchers, not the “real McCoy”.
“Is it because my father was liberated by Americans that I became interested in the Wild
West?” Perhaps there’s something to that, but after a childhood of playing Cowboys and
Indians and his recent discovery of a Little Moon descendant in Wounded Knee, Francois’ enthusiasm shows no sign of waning. He has amassed memorabilia relating to the Wild West shows that took place in Belgium, and to the founder of those shows, Buffalo Bill. Can he bring himself to sell anything from his treasured collection? Once, he sold a 7ft by 6ft portrait of Buffalo Bill. “That’s enormous”, I say. It took six men to lift it, but that was not the main reason it had to go: François had moved to a house with lower ceilings, and, as he put it, “I didn’t want Buffalo Bill’s head – down there!”
Every Buffalo Bill and Wild West enthusiast should pay Brussels’ Western Man a visit. And I’ll be back for his boots.

www.westernshop.be
79, Boulevard Adolphe Max, 1000 Brussels
+32 (0)2 219 55 17
Google map: bit.ly/wsPVWL

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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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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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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Place du Jeu de Balle in the Marolles district is the venue for a daily flea market, where all manner of things are laid out, only some of which might be useful. That doesn’t matter. It’s just fun to wander around and you’ll enjoy the contrast if you’re fresh from perusing antiques and chocolate shops in the moneyed, if dull, Place du Grand Sablon. Just remember that if you do buy something, you should expect to negotiate!
In the streets surrounding the square old men play cards, and everyone else walks without purpose or lingers on terraces. Have a look inside some of the retro emporiums on rue Haute or rue Blaes, groaning under the weight of the furniture, paintings and pistols piled on top of one another, and flinch at some of the prices. There’s a similar feel in Modes, stuffed claustrophobically full with vintage clothes. Then have a drink at La Brocante, on the corner of the square, before heading up to browse in the bead and silver jewellery shops (Atchoum and Dominique Polain) on the rue des renards, and finally finish off the promenade with your choice of a beery Belgian stew at Restobières – or a wholesome brunch at Het Warm Water, across the road.

Restobières
Rue des Renards/Vossenstraat 32, 1000, Bruxelles
+32(0)2 502 72 51
www.restobieres.eu/
Google map: bit.ly/jh6RTY

Het Warm Water
25, Rue des Renards, 1000 Bruxelles
+32(0)2 513 91 59
www.hetwarmwater.be/
Google map: bit.ly/mmPTtq

Atchoum
Rue des Renards, 20, 1000 Bruxelles
+32(0)2 514 3811
www.atchoum.be/
Google map: bit.ly/jZFEYS

Bijoux Dominique Polain
Rue des renards/Vossenstraat 26, 1000 Bruxelles
+32(0)25 13 53 74
Google map: bit.ly/ltmmJN

Café La Brocante
170 rue Blaes/Blaesstraat 170, 1000 Bruxelles
cafelabrocante.skyrock.com/
Google map: bit.ly/jSzZCX

Modes
Rue Blaes/Blaesstraat 164, 1000 Bruxelles
+32(0)2 512 49 07
www.modes-antique-textiles.com/index.php
Google map: bit.ly/jHalsv

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For the festive period, there’s a great Christmas market at Place Sainte Catherine in the Old Town, complete with a Ferris wheel and ice-skating rink. This is a great place to while away an hour or two and pick up some stocking fillers while you’re there.

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A visit to the African quarter in Brussels near Porte de Namur metro station makes an interesting change to the rest of the city.

Stroll down Chausee d'Ixelles and back via Chausee de Wavre, investigating the shops and bars along the way. The contrast with the rest of the city is heightened by the fact that the area is not out in the suburbs but close to the city centre.

Just the other side of the metro station are the antique shops and grand buildings of the Upper Town.

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DVD devotees should ascend to the top floor of the Inno department store on the pedestrianised Rue Neuve, for the Media Markt store.

This major European chain sells general electronic devices plus a fair selection of CDs but excels with its choice of DVDs at competitive prices.

Art-house and world cinema titles which would be hard or impossible to find in the UK are well represented though remember to check that foreign language films have English sub-titles!

(There is also a branch of Media Markt in Antwerp on De Keyserlei close to the Central Station.)

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Practice your French and hone your ability to out-barter even the most masterly merchant in Europe, at the flea market on Place du Jeu de Balle.

Pick up a priceless rarity you never knew you needed, meet the locals and exhaust your euros surrounded by classic Belgian architecture, the shouts of stallholders and a unique, animated atmosphere.

Of course, when you can haggle no more, you can collapse at a local café with a glass of red and some sumptuous Belgian food.

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Avoid the mass produced Belgian "tourist" chocolates and head for the Pierre Marcolini chocolate shop that opened last November on the Place du Grand Sablon.

Pierre Marcolini manufactures his grand cru chocolate himself, using cocoa beans that he selects personally.

He is among the last five craftsmen working this way in Europe. Truly amazing chocolates, pastries, ice creams and sorbets - look out for the chcoclate squares with Earl Grey or Assam tea ganache!

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After relaxing on your short, swift ride to Brussels, stay close to the sweeping Avenue Louisa, just a tram or metro ride from the Eurostar Terminus and a short walk from the busy heart of Brussels.

The area has many attractive shops and boutiques - they really know how to dress and window dress! Tucked off the side streets of the Elsene quarter are lively markets, galleries and tree lined squares for coffee and finding unique gifts.

At the far end of Avenue Louisa are grand villas and gardens, lush parks and gardens of Terkamerenbos.

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Day trip? You’ve time for architecture and shopping if you take tram 55 towards Bordet, to Beurs, walk past the roman remains and into Grand Place.

Ten minutes from here via the Place des Martyrs, have lunch and marvel at the Art Nouveau masterpiece by Victor Horta the Center of the Comic Strip on Zandstraat.

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You might expect something special on ‘The Sacred Isle’ (Ilot Sacré), the area around Brussels’ Central station.

Among the many bars and restaurants surrounding the Grand Place is The Toone Theatre, 66 rue du Marche-aux-Herbes, providing three unique Belgian delights under one roof.

You can sample a rare local speciality ‘Plattekeis’ (cream cheese with radishes) accompanied by a choice of over 20 beers, including ‘trappiste’ monastery brews.

But the real treat is enjoying these while sitting on raised wooden benches being entertained with a puppet show, in traditional dialect, from the famous Toone Marionettes, whose performances date back to 1830.

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DVD devotees should ascend to the top floor of the Inno department store on the pedestrianised Rue Neuve, for the Media Markt store.

This major European chain sells general electronic devices plus a fair selection of CDs but excels with its choice of DVDs at competitive prices. Art-house and world cinema titles which would be hard or impossible to find in the UK are well represented, though remember to check that foreign language films have English sub-titles!

There is also a branch of Media Markt in Antwerp on De Keyserlei close to the Central Station.

Rue Neuve

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Whenever I need a truly unique wedding present, I look for it in the lace shops in Brussels.

These shops keep me coming back for their cake platters, which are rimmed in silver or gold plate and have a lace insert in the centre. To the best of my knowledge, these platters cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

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Don't miss Pierre Marcolini at 39 Place du Grand Sablon - probably the best chocolates in the universe.

www.marcolini.be/

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