47 Best Restaurants in Brussels, Belgium

Paella is the prime reason to come here. It dominates the menu and holds to the old-school Valencian style, with rabbit and snails added to the usual chicken, pork, and fruits of the sea. Certainly, classics like the arroz negro (cuttlefish and blackened squid-ink rice) more than live up to their East-coast Spanish roots. A little piece of Spain in Schaerbeek.

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 tiny menu focuses on local favorites such as ballekes in tomatensaus (meatballs in tomato sauce) and stoempe, pottekeis et bloempanch (cream cheese mash and blood sausage).

While COVID-19 forced a lot of Brussels restaurants to embrace reservation policies, 203 has gone for the first-come, first-served approach, and recommends turning up at 7 (we'd argue 10 minutes beforehand) to guarantee a spot at dinner. It's certainly worth the effort. Set menus at this charming bistro change every week, according to the whims of the season, and there's a fine selection of natural wines, which are, by now, almost mandatory in all modern Brussels restaurants.

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.

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. 

This organic Neapolitan-style pizzeria has a couple of branches now (Sainte-Catherine, Flagey, Rue de Bailli), but this branch next to the Merode subway has one advantage over the others: its location. In summer, it's not unusual to see locals queuing for a takeaway to sit and eat their wood-fired pizzas on the grass of Parc du Cinquantenaire, which lies just across the road. But it's no hardship to sit inside, either, and the quality is always good.

This modest, well-executed Flemish restaurant comes with a superb beer menu and is named after the Dutch phrase for those who "can't get enough." Diners clearly share that sentiment, and queue dutifully alongside its Art Nouveau facade, clutching beers from the bar for warmth—the restaurant's brief dalliance with a booking system has ended. The food leans into the best of Belgian comfort food: stews slow-cooked in fruity beers and 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.

This family-run restaurant on shopping mecca has won admirers aplenty for its blend of Belgian favorites filtered through a Vietnamese lens. Sticky rice and pork croquettes, beef tai chanh (the Vietnamese take on tartare), and curried mussels hint as to why it's been so successful. The mix of winning sharing plates and a sleek, minimalist interior in one of the hipper parts of the city point to a rising star.

Some brewery restaurants tend to be slightly chaotic affairs, relying on their draft brews to pick up where the food falls short. Not so this dining offshoot from the local 3 Fonteinen lambic brewery. The menu and cooking here are spot on and embrace more than the usual carbonnades, with a good selection of mussels in various sauces accompanying some interesting game options. Afterwards, visit its nearby Lambik-O-Droom brewpub, which has a tasting room and garden terrace. Brewery tours are on Friday and Saturday at  3 pm, and on Sunday at 2 pm, with no reservation required.

Only a 10-minute walk from the castle, in the village of Gaasbeek, lies this pleasant country restaurant with a pretty courtyard. Its building dates back to the late 18th century, and it has been a brewery, a tavern, and a farm in its day. Expect dishes such as horse steaks, venison tornados, and goose-liver pie with fig jam, all of which offer a more rustic take on the usual brasserie fare. A few dishes even make ample use of the local lambic beer made in these parts.

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.

Plant-based burgers, salads, and hot bowls (usually a grain and a curry or veg medley) make this vegan fast-food joint a cheerful spot to rest your feet.

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. 

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 Mexican street food of Social Tacos, 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. 

The kind of authentic southern Japanese cooking little-seen in the capital. While it can be tricky to get a table at this tiny eatery, it's worth putting in the legwork, even this deep in Schaerbeek. An open-plan kitchen, set behind a long bar, puts chef Tomoyuki Ohara skills on full display as you grab a stool and tuck into a menu unafraid to stick grilled chicken hearts and gizzards alongside crowd-pleasing curries, tempuras, and crispy karaage (fried chicken), or introduce you to something you've never tried before. You don't often find Ohara's specialty, chawanmushi (a savory custard), on menus in the capital, and that's something to be cherished.

Leuven has a good reputation for its dining, with a couple of Michelin stars knocking about its streets. This isn't one of them, but it's not far off. A little cluster of high-end restaurants scatter Bondgenotenlaan, leading up from the station. The setting here is rather unique, with a long, narrow dining hall below a beamed ceiling made entirely of skylights, leading to a small walled terrace. It couldn't be lighter, and the same goes for its food, where it almost seems to float off the plate it's so dainty and wistful. Dishes are an experience, with its collection of ingredients arriving in ever more inventive ways.