During the colder month in Brussels, as you frequently get rained on, it’s comforting to eat a warm meal in a cozy environment. Here’s an excellent suggestion to do so: Yamato. It’s a Japanese restaurant, or more like a Japanese counter, where they serve excellent ramen noodle soup. We are fortunate to have a lot of good ramen noodle soups restaurants in Brussels, with places such as Umamido, but Yamato is special, not only because of their authentic ramen noodle soups, but mostly because of the look and feel of this tiny restaurant.

Yamato consists pretty much exclusively of an oval-shaped counter centered around a food-preparing place, where pretty much all patrons are seated. It’s woody and dark – making me feel like I’m in a strange alley hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Tokyo circa the early 1900s… without it being unhygienic or dangerous! Grab a seat at this famous cozy counter, order a sake or a matcha frappe, some gyozas, a warm Japanese meal, and enjoy the change of scene.