Exploring the world one bite at a time

Category: Belgium (country) (Page 4 of 8)

The Country Belgium in Europe

Train World: “Brand new train museum”

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.

Wok Up: “Asian wok and noodle bar”

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.

Hana: “Great Korean Food Experience”

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.

Petrus: “Fresh pancakes”

We went here with friends for some coffee, tea and pancakes. The two boys really enjoyed their pancakes, which were freshly made. My tea was also very nice, accompagnied by a little chocolate easter egg.

Staff was very friendly. It was a bit chilly inside though because of the staff passing through the door to the terrace a lot to serve the people outside.

Just a nice place to take a break from visiting Wipers.

Petrus, Grote Markt 20, Ieper (Ypres) 8900, Belgium
+32 57 21 60 15

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

Ibis Gent Centrum Opera: “Very small room”

I stayed one night in this hotel to attend a conference. The room was super tiny and clearly showed some cracks here and there. The room was clean though and the shower was excellent. The airco was very noisy, so we had to shut it off and open the window to get some fresh air. Not a good idea, because there was a lot of noise outside. The bed wasn’t that great either and the duvet was way too short.

Breakfast was self service, but I didn’t mind. The food was good, plenty and I really enjoyed the scrambled eggs.

The parking garage under the building is convenient, but parking itself is a nightmare. We had to manoeuvre a lot to get our car into the tiny parking spaces.

Ibis Gent Centrum Opera, Nederkouter 24, Ghent 9000, Belgium

Stayed February 2016. You can find my review about Ibis Gent Centrum Opera also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 4/5, rooms 2/5, service 4/5.

Publico: “Excellent lunch menu”

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.

Grand Place: “Prachtig historisch stadscentrum”

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.

Chez Kimchi: “A nice lunch, but slow service”

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.

Saint Martin’s Cathedral: “A place for silent reflection”

Beautiful cathedral, a must see when you are staying in Ypres. The church was rebuilt after World War I. Saint Martin’s Catheral actually is no longer a cathedral, but it still feels like one.

Saint Martin’s Cathedral, Vandenpeerboomplein, Ieper (Ypres), Belgium
http://www.toerisme-ieper.be/item.php?itemno=485_465_142_145_229_226_191&lang=EN

Visited October 2014. You can find my review about Saint Martin’s Cathedral also on TripAdvisor.

Umamido: “Great ramen!”

A new ramen restaurant, quite close to my work place. I really love me some ramen, so I decided to try out Umamido on a hot summer day. I got there early so I could secure a place on the small, yet cosy terrace.

Of course I ordered the weekday lunch menu special: 3 gyozas and a ramen of choice for 14 euros. It is possible to add extra toppings, but I decided to go with the standard option: vegetables, slices of slow cooked pork neck and a half soft boiled egg.

The menu mentions the broth is made from pork meat from the village of Malmedy in the Belgian Ardennes. Sounded nice, I wondered if the taste would be good also.

Turned out I wasn’t diappointed. The ramen was perfect. The broth was very tasty and in my case also a little spicy (I went for the kara miso ramen). The egg was perfectly boiled.The gyoza was also excellent.

Definitely will go back there and perhaps next time I’ll try the kimchi appetizer!

Umamido is a chain with restaurants in four locations in Belgium. I’ve never visited the other locations, but if the ramen is of the samen quality, you can’t go wrong there.

Umamido, Place Sainte-Catherine 1, Brussels 1000, Belgium
http://www.umamido.be/
0032 29116221

Visited August 2015. You can find my review about Umamido also on TripAdvisor. My scores: value 5/5, service 3/5, food 4/5.

« Older posts Newer posts »