Brussels Bruxelles - Amsterdam Bruges and Brussels - page 435

Make the circuit, considering these very good yet very different
eating options.
Bij den Boer, a fun, noisy eatery popular with locals and
tourists, feels like a traditional and very successful brasserie. The
specialty: fish (€30 four-course fixed-price meal , Mon-Sat 12:00-
14:30 & 18:00-22:30, closed Sun, Quai aux Briques 60, tel. 02-512-
6122). Its neighbor, Restaurant Jacques (at #44, tel. [phone]),
also has a good reputation. You'll start things off with a free bowl
of little gray shrimp as an appetizer.
La Marie Joseph, stylish and modern—both the food and
the clientele—serves fancy fish and fries and earns raves from the
natives (€25 plates, Tue-Sun 12:00-15:00 & 18:30-23:00, closed
Mon, no reservations, Quai au Bois à Brûler 47, tel. [phone]).
Restaurant La Marée is a classic local scene a couple of blocks
away from the trendy canalside places. A non-touristy bistro with
an open kitchen and an inviting menu, it specializes in mussels
and seafood (closed Sun-Mon, near Rue du Marché aux Porcs at
Rue de Flandre 99, tel. [phone]).
Restaurant Le Pré Salé is noisy, high-energy, and family-
friendly. A Brussels fixture for its traditional local cuisine, it fills
a former butcher shop with happy eaters and a busy open kitchen
(big, shareable €21 pots of mussels come with a salad, €15 meals,
Wed-Sun 12:00-14:30 & 18:30-22:30, closed Mon-Tue, a block
off the fish market at Rue de Flandre 20, tel. [phone]).
La Villette Restaurant is a romantic, low-energy, seafood-
free alternative, serving traditional Belgian cuisine: heavy, meaty
stews and dishes with beer. It has a charming red-and-white-table-
cloth interior and good outdoor seating facing a small square (€14
two-course fixed-price lunch, €15-18 meals, Mon-Fri 12:00-14:30
& 18:30-22:30, Sat 18:30-22:30 only, closed Sun, Rue du Vieux
Marché-aux-Grains 3, tel. [phone], Agata).
Sampling Belgian Beer with Food and
Ambience
Looking for a good spot to enjoy that famous Belgian beer?
Brussels is full of atmospheric cafés to savor the local brew. The
eateries lining the Grand Place are touristy, but the setting—plush
old medieval guild halls fronting all that cobbled wonder—is hard
to beat. I've listed three places a few minutes' walk off the square,
all with a magical, old-time feel. If you'd like something to wash
down with your beer, you can generally get a cold-meat plate, an
open-face sandwich, or a salad.
All varieties of Belgian beer are available, but Brussels' most
distinctive beers are lambic- based. Look for lambic doux, lambic
blanche, gueuze (pronounced “kurrs”), and faro , as well as fruit-
flavored lambics , such as kriek (cherry) and framboise (raspberry—