Category: Brussels (Page 2 of 4)

Café Bota is the restaurant in the same building as the popular music venue ‘Botanique’. The place has a beautiful terrace overlooking the gorgeous Botanical Garden of Brussels. Sadly when I went there for lunch with some colleagues, it was just way to hot to sit outside on the terrace in the sun. It was a pity that staff didn’t open more parasols to provide their customers some shade.

Luckily we found a table on the inside of the restaurant where it was nice and cool. When we wanted to order there were already lots of plates sold out. A bit of a shame, since it was only 12.30h. But no worries, we found a dish to suit everyone. The wait was kind of long for a quick lunch (more than half an hour), but the pasta really was excellent. My pasta was cooked perfectly al dente and the sauce with white truffles and cherry tomatoes was really perfect. The home made lemonade was also excellent.

Staff should work on their hospitality and friendliness though.

Cafe Bota, Rue Royale 236, Brussels 1210, Belgium
http://botanique.be/fr/cafe-bota-fr
+32 2 226 12 28

Visited June 2017. You can find my review about Cafe Bota also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 4/5, service 2/5, food 4/5.

We stopped at the pub À La Bécasse during a guided tour through Brussels with as topic Belgian beers. So it is easy to guess, what the main reason for our visit was. We had some ‘Lambic’ and ‘Kriek’ beer, accompanied by some traditional Belgian ‘blood’ sausages and cheese. If you want to soak up the atmosphere of traditional Belgian pubs, this place is ideal. You’ll feel like you got transported back into time when visiting this pub with its wooden interior and a very classic vibe. If you’re visiting with a group, you can pour your own beer from large pitchers.

Be warned: the entrance is easy to miss, since it’s only a small door leading to the pub.

a la becasse, Rue de Tabora 11, Brussels 1000, Belgium
http://www.alabecasse.com/en/info.html
+32 2 511 00 06

Visited June 2017. You can find my review about a la becasse also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 4/5, service 4/5, food 4/5.

Yukinii is a chain that recently opened a new restaurant in Leuven. The restaurant lies in the Brusselsestraat, a five minutes walk away from the touristic heart of Leuven. This all you can eat concept is simple but effective: you order by tablet en minutes later your order appears on your table.

The restaurant really did a great job renovating the interior. From the outside, you would never guess that such a spacious and modern restaurant is hidden behind the facade of the building. I really like the entrance with the small water fountain and the name of the restaurant in neon lights. Lovely.

Food was good, very decent for an all you can eat restaurant. My only complaint is that the sushi rolls en the nigiri sushi were a bit too big: too much rice in comparison to the filling and toppings. Due to the amount of rice you got filled up more quickly, so I understand why the cook prepares the sushi like that.

Yukinii, Brusselsestraat 118A, Leuven 3000, Belgium
https://facebook.com/yukiniirestaurantleuven/
+32 16 20 37 89

Visited April 2017. You can find my review about Yukinii also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 5/5, service 4/5, food 3/5.

We made a reservation for a group of eight people and were offered two possibilities for seating. We preferred sitting nearby the large counter. The vibe this restaurant gives off is authentic Italian, but the service could be more attentive. For instance they forgot to fill our glasses. Since the wine bottle stood on the counter one of my table mates got up to fetch it. While she was pouring us the wine, the waiter came by and yanked the bottle out of her hands. Quite rude.

My spaghetti alle vongole was not bad, but by no means impressive. I counted only eleven clams and since those clams the reason to order this dish I was disappointed. Food was not expensive though. Drinks included we paid about 22 euro per person.

Easy Tempo, Rue Haute 146, Brussels 1000, Belgium
http://easytempo.be/?lang=nl
+32 2 513 54 40

Visited September 2016. You can find my review about Easy Tempo also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 4/5, service 3/5, food 3/5.

Trainworld is a brand new museum in Schaarbeek, only a short train ride away from the center of Brussels. The museum is located in and right next to the old train station of Schaarbeek.

I have to say visiting this place was a true delight. Train lovers will have to visit more than once, because there is just so much to take in. But honestly, this museum is for everyone: children, adults, everyone will have a lovely time visiting this museum. Of course the beautiful trains are the master pieces of this museum, but much attention is paid to telling the story of how the railroads developed in Belgium. You’ll learn more about the train mechanisms, the tracks, the signaling and much more

Since the museum is new, it seems to me there can be made some small improvements. The tickets are just a white piece of paper. Why not print a photo of one of the gorgeous trains on it, so people can keep the ticket as a souvenir? The wait for the train simulator was also too long. Of course every kid would want to drive a train. Just invest in two more stimulators and the waiting lines will decrease. And lastly, it would be nice if more operating cabins of the locomotives would be open to visit. All those instruments are really impressive to look at.

But really, those are just suggestions. I really enjoyed my visit and will make sure to visit again in the future.

Train World, Place Princesse Elisabeth 5 1030 Schaarbeek, Schaerbeek, Brussels 1030, Belgium
http://www.trainworld.be/en
+32 2 224 74 98

Visited April 2016. You can find my review about Train World also on TripAdvisor.

Wokup is a Asian fast food joint where you can eat different kinds of wok dishes and noodle soups at very low prices. Specialty of the house is the noodle bowl: with the fried noodles you can choose your sauce and the main ingredient (salmon, chicken of vegetables). The interior is like a typical fast food joint: hard light and not cosy at all. This place just screams: eat your lunch or dinner quickly.

I have to say though that I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of my noodle bowl. The piece of salmon was big and tasty and the sichuan sauce was really nice. Not bad at all for only 8,50 euro!

They do have to fix the ventilation system though, the place was full of smoke from the cooking process.

Wok Up, 64 petite Rue au Beurre 14 Rue Gretry, Brussels 1000, Belgium
http://www.wokup.be/
+32 2 223 33 07

Visited March 2016. You can find my review about Wok Up also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 5/5, service 3/5, food 3/5.

If you’re looking for an authentic Korean food experience, I can definitely recommend Hana.

Hana is situated somewhat away from the touristic center of Brussels, but the food is worth the walk or the bus ride.

Since we were with a group of 12 people the restaurant asked us to order beforehand. This turned out to be very convenient, because our food was served quickly after we arrived.

I ordered my favorite Korean dish: bulgogi. Served very, very hot (be careful not to get burned) and accompagnied bij side dishes (kimchi, soy sprouts and miso soup) and rice. It was very delicious! Do yourself a favour and try the Chapssaltteok (Korean-style mochi) as a dessert. Really good!

Hana does not only serve Korean food, you can also enjoy Japanese style sushi here. I didn’t try the sushi, but it looked good. But why would you go to a Korean restaurant and not enjoy their great cuisine?

Be sure to make reservations, because the restaurant can get crowded!

Hana, Rue Saint-Boniface 21 1050 Brussels, Brussels 1050, Belgium
http://www.hana-resto.be/
+32 2 502 52 41

Visited March 2016. You can find my review about Hana also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 4/5, service 4/5, food 4/5.

This is a great place for lunch. A lunch menu (soup, a main course and coffee) costs only 11,90. Quality of the food is good and the atmosphere is really nice with big works of art on the walls.

I made reservations for a group of eight persons and our table was ready for us when we entered. Some friends had to leave earlier so they asked to get the main course at the same time when the rest of our tabel got their soups. This was no problem at all.

The salads were nice and the ravioli I ordered was lovely. I like the fact the we were not restricted to only three main courses. Everybody could order what they liked. Only my friends who ordered the saltimbocca were less enthousiastic about their food.

Publico, Rue des Chartreux 32 Rue des Chartreux, Brussels 1000, Belgium
http://www.publicobxl.be/
+32 485 54 60 95

Visited January 2016. You can find my review about Publico also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 5/5, service 3/5, food 4/5.

Een must see voor elke toerist die Brussel bezoekt. De moeite in elk jaargetijde. Tijdens de kerstperiode kan je genieten van de prachtige klank- en lichtshow. De prachtige panden zijn een ware lust voor het oog (en voor elke amateurfotograaf).

Grand Place, Brussels, Brussels 1000, Belgium
http://www.brussels.info/grand-place/
00 32 (0)2 279 43 65

Visited December 2015. You can find my review about Grand Place also on TripAdvisor.

I went here for a quick lunch with colleagues. We were actually looking for a Japanese restaurant, but since that restaurant turned out to be closed, we ended up Chez Kimchi. We had seen outside that ther were lunch menu’s available, but when offered the menu we couldn’t find the lunch menu’s anywhere. We had to ask the waitress and she reluctantly gave us the lunch menu.

All of my colleages went for the lunch box, whereas I preferred the bulgogi bibimbap. After ordering we got some kimchi side dishes and our miso soup quite fast. The kimchi was ok, not the best I have ever eaten, but not terrible either.

After we had finished the miso soup we had to wait a very long time (more than 20 minutes) for our main course. We weren’t expecting that, since we had ordered the lunch menu.

The menu in itself was fine. It was a pity though that our waitress had the audacity to stirr my bibimbap for me. Really not done! The bibimbap was not spectacular, more meat and vegetables would have been nice. I liked the fact that the bibimbap was served in a hot stone bowl. All in all, the lunch menu is a cheap option, so no complaining here.

The lunch box my colleagues ordered actually looked nicer than the bibimbap, so perhaps I’ll try this next time. I do hope the service will improve though.

Chez Kimchi, Rue de la Fourche 6, Brussels 1000, Belgium
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chez-Kimchi/150121801816308
+32 2 203 92 80

Visited October 2015. You can find my review about Chez Kimchi also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 4/5, service 2/5, food 3/5.