Revision as of 16:39, 24 July 2009

Places to see

http://matadortrips.com/10-things-to-do-in-brussels-besides-drinking-beer/

edit: remark from dang3r Waffles are not in that list. See Belgian Waffles

http://wikitravel.org/en/Brussels

Looking for food

Food to try

• Frites
• Mussels
• Waffles
• Choclate and pralines
• ...

Places to eat

There are many many many good places to eat in Belgium. Almost on every corner of the street you can find a restaurant or brasserie where you can eat something. But what can you find and where? Check out the resto.be website: here you can look for specific restaurants all over Belgium.

http://www.resto.be/ware/index.jsp?lg=EN

Bellow we listed some of the restaurants we can recommend personally. We went and tried them for you ;-) If you know any other good restaurants in Belgium, feel free to add them to our list.

Brussels

• Restobieres

Little restaurant in the center of Brussels in the Marollen erea. They serve a wide range of traditional Belgian food and a lot of dishes include Belgian beer.

32, Rue des Renards / Vossenstraat 32 1000 Brussels

http://www.restobieres.eu/index.php/en/En-cuisine (website is only in French)

• Exki

This is a chain of restaurants who serve bio food. They have delicious food. This place is especially popular around lunch break, but you could go there for breakfast or afternoon tea or a cup of coffee as well. I really recommend their cheesecake, it's the best ever!! They also have a lot of veggie stuff. There are several places in Brussels where you can find these restaurants, check their website

http://www.exki.be/default/en-be/restaurants/belgium/bruxelles.aspx

• Le touareg

Since we have a large Marocan community living in Belgium we also have some very good Marocan restaurants as well. One we can personally recommand in Brussels is 'Le touareg'. The atmosphere is as if you would be in the tale of 1001 Arabic nights. And the food is delicious.

80, Chaussée de Charleroi / Chalerloise steenweg 80 1060 Brussels

http://www.letouareg.be/photos.htm (website id only in French and Dutch)

Antwerp

• Den abbatoir

If you like a good piece of steak this is the place to go to. It's a little bit out of the center but it's totally worth making the effort to go there. It's located in the old meatpacking district hence their specialization on meat. They have also a small fish menu, but what the .... , if you come here please take some meat dish! You'll love it.

Lange Lobroekstraat 65, 2060 Antwerpen

http://www.abattoir.be/default.cfm?restoid=7220&source=photos&langue=nl (website is only in Dutch)

• Tokyo Sushi bar

This is one of my all time favorite place and the best sushi I tried so far in Belgium. It's very small here, so making a reservation might be a good idea. Nippu-san and his wife are very friendly and serve you some excellent sushi and other Japanese dishes. And they are very resonable in price too. The restaurant is located in one of the most beautiful old streets of Antwerp.

Wijngaardstraat 3, 2000 Antwerpen

Tel: +32 3 232 95 65

Hacking for beer

List of Belgian Breweries

There are a lot of breweries in Belgium, ranging from small home breweries to the large multinationals like inbev. They all have their own special beers. If you wanna see the magic happening, you can visit some of them. We made a list of places you can visit as an individual (at most breweries they only accept groups). If you know of any other, please feel free to add them here.

In Flanders

De halve maan 'De halve maan' family brewery has been active since 1856, and is today the only remaining brewery in the center of Bruges. On the brewery visit through the modern brewery and the authentic museum you are introduced into the interesting world of malt and hops, and you can enjoy a panoramic view of Bruges. After your visit they offer you a degustation of the 'Brugse zot'. The brewery tavern is a good place to have lunch or to take a rest with a good beer. http://www.halvemaan.be/e/default.htm

De dolle brouwers http://www.dedollebrouwers.be/en/bezoek.htm

Van steenberge http://www.vansteenberge.com/htm/2en/20000en.htm

Huyghe http://www.delirium.be/Anglais/Histoire/histoire.htm

De koninck Ask anyone from Antwerp to describe the city in a few words and you can guarantee the answer: 'the Schelde, the cathedral of our Lady and a Bolleke of De Koninck'. Few Antwerp companies have such an intimate connection with the city, or so rich a tradition as the Brewery De Coninck. You can visit the brewery every saturday at 3 p.m. http://www.dekoninck.be/visit.php?lan=EN

Duvel Moortgat http://www.duvel.be/pages/Main.aspx?culture=en&pageid=brouwerij/bezoeken/introductie

Hoegaarden http://www.hoegaarden.com/comingsoon/index-benl.php

Palm http://www.palm.be/benl/community/3bezoek/index.html

In Wallonia

Leffe http://www.leffe.com/en-be/visit.html

A Vapeur http://www.vapeur.com/vap07e.html

General info

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Beer_and_breweries_in_Belgium

Recommended beers

Top 25 of Belgian beers

List of all Belgian beers

• Trappist Westvleteren: very hard to get Trappist beer. It's only available from the monastery in West Flanders. So if you can get your hands on this one you should try it.
• Een bolleke De konick: Antwerp pride if it comes to beer. Just ask for a "bolleke".
• Trappist Westmalle
• Trappist Rochefort
• Trappist Orval
• Trappist Achel
• Trappist Chimey
• Duvel
• Hoegaarden
• kwak
• ...

Beer related events