8 Best Restaurants in Upper Town, Brussels

There are a cluster of bars and restaurants around the Cirque Royal. This "brassonomie" experiment is a cut above the rest, taking the usual brasserie fare and elevating it to a fine-dining bistro experience, and throwing in its own brewery for good measure. A beef-cheek carbonnade arrives drizzled in a silken gravy made from its house Santana beer. The small menu rotates frequently.

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. Its filet Americain—a popular local take on steak tartare (packed with pickles and capers) —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, located in Ixelles.

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.

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.   

In and among the pricey antiques and jewelry shops of the Sablon, you'll find a fair amount of stylish dining. Among these establishments comfortably snuggles Lola, an undeniably charming brasserie of black-leather booths and a bar counter for those grabbing a quick lunch. The menu is rotundly French but with a small exclave of Belgian and house dishes, such as cod and peeled gray shrimp or Holstein carpaccio. 

Umā's "bistronomic" approach is geared around food without borders. In reality, this often boils down to chef Aurélie Kluyskens's own spin on Nikkei, the Peruvian-Japanese fusion cuisine. The open kitchen lets you see her working out its angles in a sublime space amid the high-end boutiques of Boulevard de Waterloo. The €100 tasting menu is a symphony of subtle flavors, though the a la carte is every bit as enticing, seducing diners through hamachi ceviche or red tuna udon taki finished with black truffle. 

Woodpecker cafés are strewn across the city, including a few kiosks (like this). But it's the setting, in Parc Royal, that wins the day here. Sure, it does decent coffees, ice cream, and the odd burger, but you come to sit beneath the trees and watch locals shuffle by in one of Brussels' leafier parks. In the evening, the neighboring Radio Kiosk sees DJs and drinks flow.