30 Best Restaurants in Brussels, Belgium

Another example of a restaurant making the most of its appeal: charming Art Nouveau decoration, recycled tables, and a sustainable ethos. A pair of sisters are behind this admirable neighborhood eatery, where menus are short but sweet and limited by what is fresh and local that season (and day).  

What was once just a friendly fishmongers has evolved into one of the city's best, and most unexpected, street-food stops. It's set on place Ste-Catherine, which has been revitalized as the home of all things seafood, and visitors queue up at the counter outside, place an order, then grab it from the window when called. You eat at tables standing in the square, prodding with your fingers at sumptuous salt 'n' pepper calamari, scampi drenched in garlic butter, and fresh North Sea crab. A true gem rightly lorded by those in the know. It closes at 6:30 pm, though, so get there early. 

The city isn't short of good street food markets, not since Wolf opened in the center, but out in Laeken, where the options are not nearly as interesting, this new addition was a godsend when it opened in the Tour & Taxis center in 2021. The choice here is a mix of slightly more upmarket and downright crowd-pleasing, ranging from the frites of "140" (the perfect temperature for cooking fries) to the Ayurvedic veggies of Xgreen. The space is huge and you're not short of options. 

True Flemish cooking flourishes in this reliable old favorite. The low ceilings and benches around the walls remain from its days as a coaching inn during the 18th century, and little has changed since---including the menu. Choose from among 100 artisanal beers. The specialty here is the distinctively sour lambic variety of beers, which are also used in the cooking, such as lapin à gueuze (rabbit stewed in fruit beer). Go with an appetite, because portions are huge. The knowledgeable waiters can recommend beers to go with your food but can be on the brusque side.

This tiny, modest, well-executed Flemish restaurant with a superb beer menu was quite the hit when it opened. The brasserie is named after the Dutch phrase for those who "can't get enough," and the city voted with its feet. Back then, diners lined up dutifully alongside its Art Nouveau facade, clutching beers from the bar for warmth; now there's finally online booking (one crumb of comfort from COVID). The food leans into the best of Belgian comfort food: stews slow-cooked in fruity beers, meat flaking off in gravy-soaked, hop-flavored chunks onto crisp frites and chicory. It's simple food executed well, and its selection of local lambic beers is a connoisseur's dream.

There's plenty of debate as to Brussels's best ramen. This cozy little joint on rue St. Boniface is undoubtedly in with a claim. Diners cluster around the countertop as chefs boil up their stock, chop up the meat, and prepare each dish. The scents and aromas are reward enough, though the gyoza aren't bad either. That's your only choice really—the menu is tiny—but you don't come for anything more. No booking, just walk in and pray there's space. There's also a street terrace on warmer days. 

Head down into this 17th-century vaulted cellar restaurant (watch out for the low door frame) for traditional Belgian cuisine served at plain wooden tables. Mussels are the house specialty, but the stoemp et saucisses (mashed potatoes and sausages) are equally tasty. It's a popular place with locals and tourists, as it's open noon to midnight—but anything on the Grand Place is always going to be heaving with people. Like many restaurants in the center, Covid forced them to adopt a reservation system, so it's easier to grab a table than it used to be on busy nights. 

In a city of students, it's no surprise that something so simple as a "chicken and bread" restaurant would take off. But it is also a thing of beauty. It has been going since the 1960s but closed for several years, reopening to much nostalgia and a hipper new look (think cocktails and decent beer) among the boutiques of Mechelsestraat. At its heart, it's just a hunk of delicious marinated roast chicken with a selection of sides (salads, veggies, apple sauce, hummus), but to locals, it's so much more than that. 

Matonge's St. Boniface area is a great spot to grab some food, and this Brussels institution (open since 1882) is as lively as any and a favorite among locals. The cuisine is decidedly Belgian, with anguilles au vert (freshwater eels in a green sauce) and hearty Flemish carbonnades on the menu, best accompanied by a draft beer. Naturally, everything is served with frites, and be sure to ask for the homemade mayonnaise. If you're too full to tackle a whole dessert, you can order a half portion.

Even when neighboring restaurants on Grand Sablon are empty, this one is always full. It's run by the Niels family, who have been restaurateurs in Brussels since 1915, and its short menu emphasizes local specialties; portions are substantial. Its iconic filet Americain—a popular local take on steak tartare and frites—was even invented by grandfather Joseph Niels. Ownership has passed to the next generation, but standards remain high and it still serves unusually good wine (the family also has a wine import business) for the price, by the glass, or bottle. It also has a sister restaurant, Au Savoy, is located in Ixelles.

Meatballs (or ballekes) are Belgium's current fast-food obsession. This restaurant chain is everywhere now but began here in Saint-Gilles, even if it's looking its age these days. The meatballs are offered with a choice of sauces, from classic tomato to a range of beery takes, all served up in cast-iron dishes. To this you add a choice of sides, ranging from frites to chicory salad. There's a definite Ikea vibe to the decor, but it's quick, delicious, and Ballekes even has its own craft beer—you don't get that in McDonalds! There's another branch in the Grand Place as well.

Moules (mussels) and steaks, along with a small handful of the usual standbys, set the pace at this much-adored brasserie. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks—it's pretty much all things to the large contingent of expats who have made this a popular local spot. There are plenty of burgers to keep the kids happy, too. 

Café Belga, in an ocean-liner-like Art Deco building, is a favorite among Brussels's beautiful people. Sip a cocktail or mint tea at the zinc bar, or sit outside on a deck chair and gaze at the swans on the Ixelles ponds.

A much-revered Italian restaurant that has been remodeled in recent years to be more of a meal out. There's a nice garden terrace, the wine selection is proficient, and the cooking is never less than spot on. It's been a local favorite for years, and you can see why: a good choice of seafood (particularly lobster) accompanies pasta that reliably conjures the scents and tastes of Italy. 

This beautiful mid-18th-century town house was redone in the Art Nouveau style in 1904, adding an elegant bow window and balcony. It's been a brasserie since the early '80s, but remained empty for years after the previous owners went bankrupt. Mercifully, it's been resurrected and restored to its former glory. The menu is solidly Belgian, with not an ounce of desire to add anything to the classics. Well-made beer stews, moules, américains, and Liège-style meatballs accompany the one international caveat: an array of tagliatelle dishes. 

This sprawling brewpub-restaurant is pretty much the city's old standby for when you've run out of ideas. It's particularly good for families, it's always packed, the menu is littered with Flemish favorites (carbonnade, meatballs, vol-au-vent), and the service is impossibly quick no matter how full it is. A lot of the food is slathered in the house beer (typically Con Domus and Nostra Domus), which funnels directly from the neighboring brewery into the restaurant. You can even get guided tours and tastings for €11. If you're there for the food, stick to the Flemish classics for a solid meal. 

Despite its minimal signage, Fin de Siècle holds to that peculiarly obstinate breed of restaurant that flourishes despite itself. Its brown interior, big communal tables, and hearty cooking---stews smothered in beer-infused gravy, sausages atop heaving mountains of stoempe mash, and the odd North African influence---has ensured a healthy popularity and lively spirit. Covid might have finally forced them to get a reservation system, but in a city of old-school estaminets trying to out-tradition each other, Fin de Siècle is the eccentric granddaddy of them all.

While tours of the Grimbergen Abbey brewery aren't possible, you can taste the fruits of its labor at its brasserie in town, which is slightly more upmarket than you'd imagine. A pretty terrace overlooks the abbey, while the food served is unrepentantly Flemish: beery stews, gray-shrimp croquettes, Ostend-style fish stew. Everything on the menu, unsurprisingly, has a suggested beer pairing, as if you needed an excuse to try its trio of Grimbergen specials on draft: the pale ale, opus, and quadruple. The latter weighs in at a hefty 10% ABV, so it may be a sleepy bus journey back. 

A large, hip coffee shop with art and design books strewn around its cozy lounging area. There are bagels, salads, and the juices are particularly good. Wi-Fi is best nearer the counter, though. 

A new restaurant that elevates the more traditional brasserie fare, proving there is a life beyond carbonnades and meatballs (though they do a highly passable version of both). Chef Alex Cardoso, who made his name with the equally impressive Caves des Alex in Ixelles, embraces the kind of dishes that La Roue d'Or made its name on: here you'll find ox tongue in Madeira sauce and veal kidney in mustard sauce alongside the usual stewy Belgian hits. A fine selection of wines accompanies a reasonably small menu that knows what it does best.  

This Tunisian restaurant is newer to the Tervuren scene but has quickly established a loyal following among locals. The blackboard menu is never huge, but that's no bad thing; it just means they do a few things well, and that's better than most manage. A few Belgian beers and Tunisian wines accompany vast portions of tagines (fish, meat, and veggie) and buttery couscous. 

From Magritte to Hergé, this convent-turned-estaminet was once a regular meeting point for Brussels's art elite—photos and doodles (traded for booze) are found everywhere. It went out of business in 2006, only to be rescued by the community regulars that adore it, and little has changed. Its nicotine-yellow walls are still bedecked in all manner of clutter from ages gone by, with antiques (and junk) scattered on almost every surface. The food served is good, honest pub fare, with local favorites, such as ballekes in tomatensaus (meatballs in tomato sauce) and stoempe, pottekeis et bloempanch (cream cheese mash and blood sausage).

A really solid and reliable Belgian brasserie that rarely lets you down. One thing you are guaranteed: all food will be slathered in creamy, beery, or mustardy sauces and frites will fall from the air like raindrops on the battlefield this restaurant is named after. All the classic Belgian dishes are here, they're cheap, and they're well made. It might not be all that hip, but it's popular, and who needs a cellar of natural wines when you have squeezy sauce and friendly staff.

Salads packed with flavor, great hunks of quiches, and homemade lemonades are what keeps locals healthy at this popular lunch spot. 

The definition of on-trend Brussels dining. It's not flashy, it's not too expensive, but this Taiwanese-inspired, plant-based street food restaurant, run by a pair of sisters, has certainly captured a mood. It's always packed with mostly younger diners, huddled over their noodle soups, coconut curries, and rice bowls of crispy "chicken," bright lights bouncing off the plain white interior.   

This branch of a local minichain is one of several good-quality lunch spots on the pedestrianized rue Jean Stas, just off avenue Louise. With a vaguely beach-house decor and outdoor tables in warm weather, the restaurant's equally breezy menu includes Belgian staples like boudin noir (blood sausage) as well as quiches and salads; the latter are huge. It's also a great place to grab a morning or afternoon coffee and a slice of delicious cake.

This sturdy Belgian chain nestles on the pedestrianized Chaussée de Wavre, just opposite place Jourdan, where you'll find slightly better dining options than around the square. It's as reliable as its gravy-soaked meats are tasty, dishing up the classics (meatballs, beery beef stews, ham and mustard sauce) amid walls plastered with old advertising posters from the '50s and '60s. It's one of a half-dozen in the city, but still worth a go. 

Power food, in all its acai glory. Wild Lab is the kind of place you get chia jam on your chocolate-banana pancakes or can find a "Goodness Bowl" brimming with lentils, roasted parsnip, and za'atar. It's a great spot for brunch, and the juices and smoothies leave you glowing. 

Choice is the appeal here. Set in a 1940s bank building famed for its bronze doors, this dizzying food court brings together some of the better street food joints and former pop-ups in the city, ranging from the excellent Syrian restaurant My Tannour (all flatbreads, falafel, and veggies), to the healthy bowls of Hygge, and the Vietnamese-style noodle soups of Hanoi Station. Special mention goes to the mousses at Chocolate Station and the beers of microbrewery Flow. It's one giant canteen, so just grab an empty chair and pick what you like the look of. You pay upfront at the counter, whereupon most places will give you a buzzer for when the food is ready to pick up.