Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
serves the most flavorful mussels—fried, baked au gratin, steamed, even raw in
season—not to mention wonderfully crispy frites. Its closest rival is convivial wood-
paneled
Au Vieux Bruxelles
(Rue St-Boniface 35;
&
32/2/503-31-11;
www.
auvieuxbruxelles.com), dating from 1882, which presents a few more daring ways to
serve mussels—with curry sauce, for example, or with blue cheese. Both also serve
a range of other traditional Belgian dishes, such as
waterzooi
(a rustic stew) or eels
in green sauce.
Every visitor to Brussels should splurge on at least one evening at one of the city's
top fine-dining spots. The one reservation you should make well ahead of your arrival
is for dinner at
Comme chez Soi
(Place Rouppe 23;
&
32/2/512-29-21;
www.
commechezsoi.be). It's not only a showpiece of Art Nouveau design (one of Brus-
sels's architectural specialties), it also boasts one of Europe's most accomplished
classic French kitchens. The menu changes often, but grilled guinea fowl with rose-
mary, lobster medallions with risotto, or cardamom-crusted rabbit with sweetbreads
sausage are among the kind of inspired main courses to expect. Ask for a table in the
kitchen, where you can watch master chef Pierre Wynants at work. Another classic
French winner,
Le Maison du Cygne
(Grand-Place 9;
&
32/2/511-82-44;
www.
lamaisonducygne.be), has an unbeatable location right on the Grand-Place, a post-
card-perfect assemblage of gabled 16th-century guildhalls, Brussels's most famous
architectural view. With its polished walnut walls, bronze wall sconces, and green
velvet, Le Maison de Cygne has haute cuisine written all over it, and it more than lives
up to the image, with superbly executed classics like roast pheasant, beef tournedos
with duck liver, oysters in champagne, and salt-crusted sea bream.
While you're in the Grand-Place area, however, don't overlook the cozy brick-
arched cellar restaurant
't Kelderke
(Grand-Place 15;
&
32/2/513-73-44
). For
hearty, distinctly Belgian cuisine—
bloedpens
(blood sausage),
stoemp
(mashed
potato and vegetable) with
boudin
(sausage),
lapin à la gueuze
(rabbit in Brussels
beer), or robust
carbonnades à la flamande
(Flemish beef stew)—it can't be beat;
you'll see as many Bruxellois as tourists thronging its long wooden tables.
(
Brussels (14km/9 miles)
L
$$$
Le Dixseptième,
rue de la Madeleine/Magdalenastraat 25 (
&
32/2/502-57-44;
www.ledixseptieme.be). $$
Mozart,
rue du Marché-aux-Fromages 23 (
&
32/2/502-66-61;
www.hotel-mozart.be).
