Brussels' Kitchen

Bruxelles in the dark

Thursday 29/09 til Sunday 02/10
in several bars & restaurants in Brussels

You must have heard about it. It’s all over the news and it’s the one thing every single person talks about: winter is here, and the rise of energy costs won’t be easy on anyone.

After the covid, the multiple lockdowns, shortage of staff and the inflation, the restaurant business is suffering again. So to raise their voice – but most importantly, to do in a good spirit – the pair Pia (Petit Mercado) and Pierre (Liesse) thought of a rather creative event, and decided to bring a few of their friends on board with them.

For a long weekend, from the 29^th of September until the 2 of October, a few of our favorite restaurants will turn off both gas and electricity, and light their candles. Flame-cooked meals, candlelit tables, cocktails and wine in the dark – each restaurant participating will make the most out of the darkness to give you a fun and unforgettable experience. “Brussels in the Dark” is born.

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September 26, 2022 • No Comments

Le Variétés

belgian cuisine & rotisserie

Pl. Sainte-Croix 4, 1050 Ixelles
02 320 10 00
website – instagram
everyday from 12 to 2:30pm
and from 7pm to 10:30pm
Lunch (starter + main): 28€
mains: 20€ – 36€

Unlike probably many of you, I didn’t get to grow up around our national carbonade Flamande or the traditional Sunday Bolognese. I wish I had though. But the Belgian culinary culture remained a mystery to me until my early adult years, where I finally got to discover grey shrimp stuffed tomatoes, vol-au-vent and the famous américain-frite.

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September 20, 2022 • No Comments

Titulus

Wine bar & wine shop

167A CH. DE WAVRE, 1050 BRUXELLES
02 512 98 30 – SITE WEB
Cave de 12h à 23h, cuisine et bar de 17h à 23h
vin au verre : 5€-9€ / pour manger : 5€ – 17€

Open now for over a decade, Titulus is altogether a natural wine shop, importer and supplier. It’s a bar too, and a great one natural wine-wise, obviously, but it is now also a restaurant. And a great one too, that never compromises on quality, just like its founders, Baptiste, Vivien and Philippe.

On the shop side, you’ll find bottles ranging from 9,90€ for the Tètes series, the wine they’ve been making themselves since 2013, the year where they took over the vines from Domaine des Baigneux, in their original region in Touraine. But they’ve also got over 350 references, to take out or drink at the bar, for just 10 euros extra.

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September 9, 2022 • No Comments

Café Boudin

breakfast, lunch & specialty coffee

Rue Ravenstein 20, 1000 Bruxelles
02 881 22 12
instagram
Monday to Friday from 8 am till 5pm
Saturday & sunday from 9am till 6 pm
Breakfast: 3,5€ – 14€
Lunch: 6,5€ – 13,5€

We first came here for an oat-milk cappuccino and breakfast. Then again, for a flat white and some lunch. And then a third time, for a cup of Easy Rider from Wide Awake coffee roaster, to write about this strangely name café, two feet away from Bozar.

When chatting with Alice, the owner, we soon realized our common interest for the very first – almost sacred if I may say – coffee of the day. More than just coffee, it’s a rather precious moment, like a daily rendez-vous. It’s what drove Alice to open a place that’d be open in the mornings, rather than the evenings, and where locals from the neighborhood would meet every day. The idea of knowing the passers-by by their first name and remembering their orders is something we’re completely down with. It’s actually something we do almost daily as customers ourselves, being located quite close to Belga & Co in Ixelles, and we just love the idea.

Unlike what you may think when hearing the name – boudin roughly translates into a type of sausage, in French – the offer here is 100% vegetarian. Breakfast, lunch and brunch on weekends, and of course fresh pastries are served daily. In the kitchen, Alice teamed up with Chloé, who used to work at Mica, and who now only works with local and seasonal produce, very much like Ottolenghi. That day, we had falafel, muhammara and taboulé (12,50€), just as sunny as it was outside.

Completely vegetarian, we said that already. Why call it Café Boudin then? Well simply because it reflects Alice’s fun and joyful personality, and is also a reference to a place she loved in San Francisco, where the very idea of opening her own place started blooming.