Restaurants

In the gastronomic and commercial desert around the South Station of Brussels, a bright and tasty oasis has recently opened to satisfy the needs of commuters, travellers and local office workers. The new ‘mammouth’ is actually a cosy place, which has been decorated in the concrete and pale wood palette we associate with Scandinavia. 

This place was set up by two sisters after a crowdfunding campaign and caters mainly to the city’s lunch crowd. It offers a changing menu of soups, salads, quiches and baked goods that reflect the best and freshest ingredients of each season. The food is homemade, interesting and very reasonably priced. 

If you’re not able to pop in for lunch, or just not that hungry, you can always sit for a coffee or tea and one of their delicious cakes and muffins. Last time I went in I had an excellent Tarte aux Noix that I hope to find again. 

Award winning pizza chef Roberto Casula put all his savings, a microcredit and his soul into a dream, his own pizzeria. The result is well worth the effort, although the place is quite new he’s already won a prize for the best pizzaiolo in Belgium, the place is always full (making a reservation is highly recommended) and customer ratings are sky high.

The pizzas are written on a big blackboard, which adds a lot of character, but it’s not always that easy for a first time visitor to understand everything on the menu. Luckily the staff is often very helpful explaining everything you don’t understand, and there are also some pizza dictionaries lying around with translations of most of the ingredients.

La Bottega della Pizza isn’t located in the center, but it’s well connected by public transport. Lines 3,4 and 51 (tram station Horta) should get you close from the center, lines 81 and 83 (tram station Barriere or Janson) from the midi station.

Another one of those typical places which are always pretty packed because the food they serve is very very good!!

The list of quiches is never-ending (and with a choice of vegetarian dishes) and they are always served with salad and bread. If you can’t decide which one to eat, just go by the counter and check them out. Just be careful, if you pass in front of the cakes fridge you will not be able to avoid ordering a big piece of one of them. The strawberry one it’s just fantastic. If you can’t live without them, you can also order them take away!

There’s a good choice of beers (Hoegaarden served with lemon slice, just the way I like it) and tasty freshly squeezed orange juice.

The staff is always rushing and sometimes a bit “hard” but they will always find you a place! Sit at the ground floor or the terrace: service is definitely better there!

In Brussels you can easily find all kinds of food, but what’s missing in many places is the atmosphere. What attracted me to La Kasbah in the first place was its window full of oranges.

As soon as I entered I felt I had been instantaneously transported to Morocco. Dark light, low tables, lanterns and a good smell of food. Yes, this is the place for me I thought.

I always start with mezze, a small Moroccan tapas including aubergines, Moroccan salad and spinach. I then continue with tajine, the lemon chicken and the prunes ones are fabulous. Be careful, they are burning hot when they are served!

To finish the dinner, I usually go for fresh mint tea served Arabic style, very very sweet and poured from high up. The service is very good, waiters are friendly and they will remember you if you return.

In case you’ve been left behind by the Japanese noodle craze sweeping Europe, ramen are thin wheat noodles that originate in China. They are served in big hot bowls of broth and come with a variety of toppings. Luckily, Brussels now has a great place to enjoy these delicious noodles.

Umamido was once a stall at Flagey market and has now upgraded to a small place just next to the square. It’s a small, minimalist place, tastefully decorated in wood and white – think Japan or Denmark. The menu is small means that they can concentrate on the quality of each dish and their ramen really are delicious.

The prices are reasonable by Brussels standards and you will definitely leave feeling full. What’s more, they quite like to experiment so you might come across some unusual flavours and innovative dishes.