12 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.

Moules (mussels), pastas, and steaks, along with a small handful of the usual Belgian standbys, set the pace at this much-adored brasserie. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks—it's pretty much all things to the large contingent of expats who have made this a popular local spot. There are plenty of burgers to keep the kids happy, too.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Power food, in all its acai glory. Wild Lab is the kind of place you get chia jam on your chocolate-banana pancakes or can find a "Goodness Bowl" brimming with lentils, roasted parsnip, and za'atar. It's a great spot for brunch, and the juices and smoothies leave you glowing.

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.