Brussels for foodies

I was in Brussels last weekend, visiting my also foodie brother-in-law. This was my first time & I just wanted to explore the place. We spent the entire weekend walking around different parts of town & eating good food...other than the obvious ones which are drinking beer & eating waffles, here are a few things to not miss when you're visiting:

Comme Chez Soi - albeit my most expensive lunch ever (you just don't want to know how much this cost) but certainly one of the most perfect foodie experiences. Pierre Wynants & his son-in-law certainly deserve the 3 Michelin stars for this establishment (though this was the first time i ate at a Michelin star restaurant ;-) as the food and the experience was one of the best. the stuffed pigeon with fresh truffles is still mouthwatering when i think of it. the chocolate souffle that you had to order with dinner was better than any other i've had. like at many truly great dining places, the greatness comes with a humbleness, a realization that your food is great only if your diners find it to be 'great'. so the chef's son-in-law, Lionel Rigolet came out after lunch to greet all the diners and ask very humbly if 'all was okay'!

Vincent's - for those looking for a more 'reasonable' meal than Comme Chez Soi but not the touristy junk on Rue de Brouchers, I hear (alas! there was not enough time so this one will have to wait for my next trip to Bruxelles) Vincent's has great food & charm! I made a short trip to the restaurant to cancel our dinner reservation - its the first restaurant i've ever been to where you enter through the kitchen...certainly makes for a very interesting ambience!

Escargot - snails are street food in Brussels & very hard to find in restaurants. Bruxellois look for escargot carts at busy street junctions. also, they 'do' escargot very differently in Belgium, unlike what you typically eat at French restaurants in the US - they're boiled in a garlic/onion/herb broth and are chewier but very flavorful. Also, much cheaper than their American counterpart - we paid 5Euros for a serving for two (about a bowlful). They're served with this broth, you take a toothpick to pick out the escargot & plunge them in your mouth.

Vin Chaud - i'm guessing this is a winter thing only but for those of you that can decipher french, yes, this is 'hot' wine. its essentially mulled wine, & very similar to our winter favorite, hot apple cider in the US. look out for 'Vin Chaud' signs outside bars & restaurants on a blackboard...i found it to be very delicious, to rejuvenate you on a cold winter afternoon, but be careful of how much you guzzle or you will be tipsy the rest of the afternooon...

Maison Antoine - so you thought fries, excuse me 'frites', are french? they're actually Belgian...so don't leave without having the authentic Belge version. Maison Antoine's is THE local frites institution but you can find them anywhere. Though the Belge eat it with mayonnaise, not ketchup, most places serve a plethora of sauces including mayonnaise, tartare and their own concoctions of sauces with spanish, american, italian influences. you can get them in spicy versions too - in fact, one place we walked by even had harissa as an accompaniment.

Waffles - i'm not a 'waffles' fan per se but it really tough to resist the burnt caramel smell that wafts the streets of Brussels as you walk by a van or storefront that sells waffles. they're again, different from their American counterpart - crunchy on the outside but very soft & doughy inside. they're typically eaten as is, with the outside caramelized but you can also get the chocoloate/strawberry/banana topped versions

Pierre Marcolini - they make the best 'dark' chocolate. you can find their store on Place Sablon which is a delight by itself. most days there will be a serpentine line just trying to get a 'dekho' at the chocolotes...a great place to try different 'dark' chocolate made from cocoa beans from different parts of the world, much like you have with 'global' coffees now.

Bar hopping - Bruxelles is a great place to get wasted & hop bars with a bunch of friends...i found Brussels to be really humming with energy and people even on a cold, wintery weekend. the beer bars in town rock, not only coz they serve great big selection of beers but mostly coz they're alive with people and music. if you're a wine drinker, beware as most typical bars will only serve 'house wine' which is a little above average but certainly not 'great'. My fav's were L'Ultime Atome (though food is very average) for atmosphere and A la Mort Subite for an old world feel in one of the oldest bars with tons of character. Also, don't miss out on just strolling into any of the plethora of bars in St. Gery for their liveliness on any given night.

Bruxelles is a great place to find both antiques & tribal arts from Africa. though shopping was not really on my itinerary, i found most of Brussels, especially Lower Town (Marolles neighborhood) with its collection of funky stores to be a great place for window shopping! We started off the 1/2 day walk discovering this area with a hearty breakfast at Het Warm Water & after tucking in a typical Dutch/Belge 'house' omelet & good coffee (avoid the cheese & meat platter unless you like to venture into smelly, stinking cheeses/meats). Then we browsed the Marolles flea market & kept walking & discovering the eclectic shops in Lower Town which was originally the 'poor man's district. Couple noteworthy places/things of interest: great modern furniture stores if you're into that kind of thing, predominantly French olive oil (more rare & thus lots more expensive than Italian & Spanish olive oils) tasting at L'Oliviers & a tribal art gallery that also publishes a magazine called Tribal Arts which had some authentic Indian tribal art (this i can vouch for due to my Indian background & close familiarity with it) as well as Africal tribal art.

We kept seeing 'antiques' that looked like treasures unearthed from the old worlds of Mohenjodaro & Harappa everywhere. One vendor at the Marolles flea market had an intriguing terracotta animal head that was broken off around the chin - i asked for the price...5- EUROS! naturally the prices were even higher in the stores in Lower Town. We walked into a store that was owned by an Afghan who started chatting with us in his broken Hindi (they usually speak Urdu but understand Hindi due to all the Bollywood movies they watch) & i asked where his antiquey wares were from - he 'claimed' they were from the Indus Valley civilization! i'm not an antique expert or enthusiast by any means so no clue if any of this is authentic or not but it was surely worth reporting on my Brussels trip blog as i've never seen archeological discoveries being sold everywhere on the streetsides any other part of the world i've been fortunate enough to visit thus far...

Little undiscovered corner of Brussels: we discovered the most interesting little street off of Place Sablon by happenstance. If you're walking on Place Sablon, going up from Pierre Marcolini towards the wine store Nicolas & the bar le Grain de Sablon, take the little lane just before the le Grain de Sablon. it first meanders a bit with some interesting African art stores & then suddenly you land on a quiet little courtyard with some of the prettiest gable architecture! it was one of the prettiest sites in all of Brussels, so much so that i had to walk there again the next day...

Honestly, i thought my foodie bro-in-law is a little demeaning with his blog on Brussels so read it with a grain of salt: http://www.suspendedamitation.blogspot.com/, i have to admit thoug that if you have 'typical touristy' expectations of Brussels you maybe disappointed! but if you're looking for a happening place, with lots of local character & want a couple peaceful days just walking the streets, discovering the place, you will be pleasantly surprised!