23 Best Restaurants in Brussels, Belgium

This cozy café is the epitome of Brussels decor: bicycles hang from the ceiling, Tintin statues everywhere, shelves overflowing with books. It's sculpted chaos and part of a chain of cafés that is slowly taking over the city. This was the first branch, and it's still the best. The bagels and ready-made sandwiches are always tasty, plus it stays open until 8 every day, by which time it's filled with busy students.

The Maison Antoine frites stand sells the best fries in the capital, say some people, accompanied by a dizzying range of condiments; try either local fave "Bicky" or the indulgent vol-au-vent sauce. The surrounding bars on Place Jourdan are used to patrons munching on frites (so long as you order a beer), so grab a seat and savor your twice-fried snack.

There's plenty of debate as to Brussels's best ramen. This cozy little joint 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.

With former lives as a convent and a restaurant, this place along a side street in the Marolles now makes good use of its cavernous interior as a rather flash club, where deep house music and jaegermeisters flow freely.

A friendly neighborhood café in the shadow of Schaerbeek Town Hall. The weekly lunch menu springs the odd surprise, with everything from Japanese okonomiyaki (savory pancakes) to Lebanese flatbreads cropping up. Look out for the daily homemade soup and a sandwich offer, which is particularly good value.

This cheap, satisfying neighborhood café-restaurant never fails to please. Slightly removed from the center, on Hogeschoolplein, it's as much a lunch spot as a restaurant, but its cheap pastas and salads make for a good, filling meal on the go. Given the prices, it's no surprise that it's a student hot spot with a large terrace that fills up fast on warm days. The fact you can get its desserts from a vending machine seems to delight many a local customer.

It divides opinion (as this hotly debated topic often does), but this is an outside shout for one of the best frites kiosks in the city. Locals who know tout it as such, and who are we to disagree? Certainly, the long queues at this historic crossroads between Chaussée de Waterloo and Chaussée d'Alsemberg (at one time a medieval toll point on the road out of Brussels) is proof enough, and the taste or sauce selection is not in doubt.

The city isn't short of food halls, not since Wolf opened in the center, but out in Laeken, where the options are not nearly as interesting, this addition was a godsend when it opened in the Tour & Taxis center in 2021. The choice here errs on the side of crowd-pleasing, ranging from the smash burgers and frites of "140" (the perfect temperature for cooking fries) to "sausages from around the globe" at Saucisses. The space is huge and you're not short of options.

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 bustling little coffee shop that's usually packed with gossiping, bitching politicos—which is always entertaining to overhear—because it just edges the European district. The bagels are fresh and rightfully celebrated, while the coffee is first-rate.

Spring rolls are the specialty at this über-popular fast-food café beloved by local office workers, though the fillings are hardly traditional: meat loaf, crispy bacon and avocado, caramelized tofu. There are a few locations in the city now (the original opened in Saint-Gilles), but this is the perfect snack stop for shoppers on Rue Antoine Dansaert. 

This beloved local favorite lingers on a busy street of cafés behind the Oude Markt. Its small terraces and ethical approach are popular lures, with most of its coffee beans directly sourced from the farmers. You can also buy its own roasted blends in-house.

The main menu is more polished than you'd expect, dishing up soups, burgers, and salads, as the odd cultured surprise, but you come here for the titular croquette (breadcrumbed parcels of potato and various fillings). These come with several wild stuffings, ranging from carbonnade flamande (beef stew) to the classic grey shrimp. Order a few for an indulgent pit stop.

Located just above the place de Jeu de Balle in the heart of the Marolles area, this café is a local institution—legend has it that residents would come to fill their buckets full of hot water in times of need, hence the name. In 2014, its closure was imminent, but locals stepped in and reopened it as a social cooperative (open 11–4) with a kitchen dishing up hearty, organic, vegetarian lunches (coconut curry, lasagne) and a dish of the day for a decent price. It also boasts a well-curated list of bottled beers (many of them organic) from lesser-known artisanal Belgian breweries.

A Brussels institution named after a card game called "Sudden Death," A la Mort Subite is practically unchanged since its 1920s heyday; and with its distinctive high ceilings, wooden tables, and mirrored walls, it remains a favorite of beer lovers from all over the world. Balancing a vast drinks menu with a choice of simple snacks (sandwiches and omelets), it still brews its own traditional Brussels beers (Lambik, Gueuze, and Faro). These sour potent drafts may be an acquired taste, but, like singer Jacques Brel, who came here often, you'll find it hard to resist the bar's gruff charm.

The Maison Antoine frites stand sells the best fries in the capital, accompanied by a dizzying range of condiments; try either local fave "Bicky" or the indulgent vol-au-vent sauce. It's a bit out of the way, but it's a great place to try Belgium's famous snack (the country's secret is frying the potatoes twice in beef tallow) and most of the bars that line the square will let you sit down either inside or outside and order a beer to go with your paper cone of frites. Although don't leave your greasy paper behind or you will get told off.

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.

All desserts, all of the time. This chocolate-theme café might be part of a chain, but it's captured the imagination of locals in part due to the sheer abundance of melted chocolate, particularly the fountainlike fondue.

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.

A patisserie-cum-deli with a Greek twist, where you can sate your appetite on bougatsa (custard pie) or spanakopita (cheese and spinach pie), or just bag a coffee and chocolate croissant.

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. 

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.