2 Best Restaurants in Lower Town, Brussels

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 Sainte-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 (be careful of pickpockets), 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 bottom of Rue Antoine Dansaert, where the street greets the canal, has become a hot spot in recent years for ambitious restaurateurs and bar owners. Aster is one of the latest to catch the eye, with its fish- and veg-heavy five- and seven-course tasting menus that change with the days. The exposed-brick interior—converted from an old pizzeria—offers glimpses of the chefs busied over a charcoal fire pit while you delve into a menu that often threads single ingredients through multiple dishes in myriad creative ways. A restaurant at the forefront of a new wave of eateries in the city.