207 Best Restaurants in Belgium

Teasers is the ice cube down the back of Bruges's "traditional" dining scene; it's brash and modern, serving a relentlessly inventive menu of French-inspired sharing tapas dishes slanted heavily towards seafood. The growing Rock-Fort empire also encompasses the Glocal shop and take-home service next door, and---above that---the more upmarket Orange District restaurant, which serves fixed-price fine-dining menus.

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.

You probably think beer when you think Belgium, but this tiny French-influenced restaurant is all about the wine; each month focuses on a different wine region. Early 20th-century decor, vibrant jewel-tone colors, and jazzy music set the scene for an ambitious but small menu with a strong focus on fresh fish and well-aged beef. For the best deal, try the three-course menu, offered at both lunch (€43) and dinner (from €69)—although be sure to splurge on the sommelier's suggested wine pairings. If all that food makes you sleepy, stay in one of the three adjoining Glorious Fashion Inn Suites after a nightcap of homemade jenever (Dutch gin).

This smart modern restaurant takes its inspiration primarily from the nearby North Sea, with fishy and seafood stars ranging from the familiar mussels, to rarer menu treats like skate wing, or more indulgent lobster. The adjacent "Bar a Vina" wine bar (open evenings only), under the same ownership, offers tapas-style sharing dishes prepared in the same kitchen, but designed to be enjoyed in slightly less formal surrounds.

A conscientious nonprofit café-restaurant with a zeal for organic and local producers. Good cocktails and a selection of lesser-seen Wallonie beers add to a menu that is particularly good for nonmeat-eaters and those with food allergies. Veggie meatballs, soba noodles, and lasagnas round out a menu big on comfort. 

Playful like the puppet Tchantchès, the bar La Maison du Pèkèt concocts cocktails using pèkèt—Liège’s local liquor—in every way imaginable. When you’ve had your fill of pèkèts with passion fruit, head next door to the attached restaurant, Amon Nanesse. Named after Tchantchès’s girlfriend, this friendly joint serves hearty Belgian fare made with, of course, pèkèt. Ten rooms in two 17th-century town houses comprise the restaurant and bar.

This stylish spot and long-standing local favorite on the place du Marché serves up large portions of Walloon specialties, such as rabbit stewed in beer, and succulent boulets (traditional Liège pork-and-beef meatballs flavored with a fruit syrup) served with mounds of frites. Its original name, As Ohès ("To the Bones" in local dialect), was a nod to the fact that the building sits on the site of an old cemetery—the addition of a "u" transformed it into the more customer-friendly "To the Birds."

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. 

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.

This elegant dining spot has a charming terrace surrounded by a grassy lawn and trees. The menu is grandiose but not afraid of the more interesting rural delights of French cooking, from saddle of hare to fillet of fawn via a number of interesting pheasant dishes. Just as exciting is its food-sharing menu, as it tries to capture the post-garden walk-in crowd, where baked sweetbreads, caviar, and Duroc pork belly offer a more classically French take on the format.

You'll find an absolute sea of bakeries selling mattentaarts, the iconic local curd pastry that errs decidedly on the sweet and dry side. Everyone has their favorite bakery, though the more mean-spirited might argue there's little difference in quality. Nevertheless, this artisanal bakers high up on Vestin is well-loved by locals, and makes a fine pick-me-up when walking the Muur.

This now ubiquitous "fast food" meatball joint has found plenty of love across Belgium but it all started here in Ghent in 2012 with a simple pop-up. The idea is simple: pick from a choice of large meatballs (as well as a veggie option), served with either stoempe (Belgian-style mash and vegetables) or salad. Communal tables and bowls brimming with apples tick the right boxes, while the meatballs themselves have an array of fillings, from a mushroom and truffle to the classic liégeoise style. It just works!

This café-bar on the market square is popular among cyclists, as any glance at its walls—festooned in photos, jerseys, and memorabilia from the Tour of Flanders—will tell you. Owned by a former professional rider, Frederik Penne, it's a good spot to grab a coffee, a beer, or a few ideas for places to pedal in the area.

Sometimes you're just in the mood for a solid bar-brasserie meal, and this well-loved spot on the corner of the Vlasmarkt is as good an option as any in the city. Inside, its publike interior has been decked out in hip but cozy sofas and long tables. To the rear sits a neat terrace that sometimes has music. The menu is replete with brasserie standards: steaks, pastas, ham and mustard, eel in green sauce. It's like a haven to all things comfortable.   

The novelty of this Italian pizza and food-sharing restaurant is proving pretty enduring. Set on the busy food street of Tiensestraat, this is one of few restaurants here not part of the usual Belgian chains (Wasbar, Balls & Glory, Bavet, etc.). Instead, you'll find good drinks, an array of tapas ranging from stuffed baos to pizza bites and oysters, as well as pastas, risottos, salads, and, of course, decent pizza. The food is served on wooden boards, steamer baskets, and on paper. It's fun, and it probably won't be long before they're found all over Belgium.

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.

This fine bistro-style restaurant is a glorious celebration of the simpler things in life---the stars of the show are the less starry meats on offer: the rabbit stew and pigeon fillets justify their slightly inflated prices owing to the quality of the cooking, backed up by a decent wine menu. Space is at a premium, with most tables downstairs in the cozy bunker of a basement (lined with various pigeon knickknacks) and a terrace during summer.

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.

This charming redbrick eatery on the corner of Collegestraat rings all the right bells. There is nothing too adventurous here; French and Flemish crowd-pleasers are the order of the day, from cordon bleu and stoofvlees to fillet of Mechelse koekoek (a local breed of chicken from Mechelen). But the result is pleasing and the quality consistent.

The focus in this simply furnished, informal bistro is on hearty portions of Belgian classics, with bases covered from bouchée à la reine (chicken vol-au-vent) to boulettes (meatballs). Also worthy of more than a second glace is the beer list, which tops 100, with plenty of Trappist and lambic choices.

The food at this intimate bistro in a half-timbered villa is French-influenced modern European, but with a few nods to Flemish traditions thrown in to suit the old-fashioned surrounds, such as rabbit cooked "grandma's way" in Trappist beer. You can order most dishes as a starter or as a larger main, but if you want to try several at once, ask for the smaller "tapas" portions.

Although the menu at this simple but cozy family-run place splits itself evenly between seafood and meat-based dishes, its location---directly across from the harbor where the fishing boats land their harvest---means you will seldom go wrong if you opt for the catch of the day. Scallop starters and lobster mains add extra sparkle for those in need of a little indulgence.

This place is well hidden from the street, as you enter what is seemingly a mall. But that quickly gives way to a whimsical open-air terrace and a rather cozily lit bar-restaurant. The food decidedly leans towards Italian, though the menu is flecked with the odd Flemish specialty. A small but polished selection of local beers accompanies big portions and a good atmosphere.

Perched over the road from the river, this waterfront café-restaurant is a popular brunch spot, dishing up warm soups, casseroles, and plenty of breakfast treats, from shakshouka (poached eggs in a spicy tomato sauce) to salmon brioche. Even its coffees are on the indulgent side: latte with honey and stroopwaffel (waffles cookies with a layer of caramel in between), anyone?

This health-conscious café majors in vegetarian and vegan treats, largely in the form of plate-sized salads, quiches, and soups. It's a charming location, having been sculpted out of an old ice-cream parlor; the Art Deco moldings lend it a distinguished air and there's a quiet courtyard at the rear.

If you take your salads seriously, this is the place to go. Despite the countrified café setting, they're not cheap (€18.50!) but come exquisitely prepared, piled high with protein, and are always creative. Desserts are cute, too, and the chocolate fondue (with all manner of biscuits and sweet dip-ables) is adorable. There's also a good choice of natural wines if you wish to indulge.

In a quiet suburb a 10-minute walk south from the center, this graceful mansion houses a lovely restaurant with a loyal clientele, all in a fabulous setting of polished wood and antiques. The food is classic French-Belgian, with scallops, lobster, and fillet steak all regulars on the monthly changing menu, alongside locally hunted venison in season.

In a 200-year-old building with stucco columns and shiny brass everywhere, creating an appropriately elegant setting, this old-school brasserie serves up generous amounts of classic French and Belgian fare all day long (tellingly, the menu includes both steak tartare and its Belgian counterpart, filet americain), brought to you by immaculately attired waiters. Other seasonally variable fare includes mussels and game, both at their relevant times of year.

Here, you'll find the kind of food typical of a Flemish table, with plenty of steaks and classic stews accompanied by less local dishes, just in case, with an array of pastas. Staff are friendly and will happily translate the Dutch menu, but bring an appetite because portions are huge. It can get quite busy, though, especially at noon, since the restaurant's size makes it popular with tour groups.