207 Best Restaurants in Belgium

Attached to Hotel Heritage, the elegant dining room at Le Mystique dates from 1869, and its high ceilings, chandeliers, and linen tablecloths create a refined atmosphere, perfect for quiet conversation. Here, chef Raoul de Koning creates a blend of modern French/Flemish cuisine using the freshest seasonal and local ingredients, served in fixed-price menus of three or four courses.

On a narrow street in the city center, this cozy, Old Belgium–theme café serves hearty regional food amid cherry-red furniture, lace curtains, and lots of antique bric-a-brac. A long-established city institution, the graffiti writings and drawings of celebrity visitors who have dined here over the years cover the walls.

You’ll always be surprised and seldom disappointed at this whimsical, colorful den, which changes its interior styling to a new theme every two years—past examples have ranged from farmyard barn to Alice in Wonderland. The fixed-price menu (with or without wine) changes on a monthly basis; duck usually appears in hunting season. Hidden on a residential impasse, it’s very much a part of the vibrant neighborhood.

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.

This is very much the city's go-to brasserie, and has been on the corner of place Jules Mansart since 1920. It has a classical feel, with red-leather banquettes and a jazzy chandelier, and is invariably busy at lunchtimes. Prices are on the higher side for what it is, but the cooking is hearty and earthy, with finer offerings such as roast boar and racks of lamb accompanying the usual crowd-pleasing burgers, tartares, and vol-au-vents. 

A cozy little bistro squirreled away on the main road through town. There's some well-made, decently priced French and Belgian dining here, from ham roasted with sirop de Liège to a huge selection of mussels dishes, cooked with every sauce, cream, and beer you can imagine. You can't really go wrong. 

Salads packed with flavor, great hunks of quiches, and homemade lemonades are what keeps locals healthy at this popular lunch spot. 

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.   

As much a secondhand book shop as it is a café, this literary escape in the Passage de la Bourse has a little bit of everything. Owner Blandine Grandchamps has laid on board games, travel reads, concerts, large comfy armchairs, and an abiding sense that you'd rather be nowhere else. 

Astute readers may spot the tiny hint in the restaurant's name about what to expect from this centrally located and long-standing seafood-obsessed institution, directly opposite the casino and Kursaal. The excellent fruits de mer platters and lobster mains certainly don't come cheap, but if you are looking for something more affordable that is still a mouthwatering treat, go for the three-course prix-fixe menu.

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. 

Jean-François Douffet’s fresh approach in the kitchen contrasts pleasantly with the old-fashioned gentility of many of his local competitors. Sautéed goose liver accompanied by a potato pancake, pike perch with deep-fried basil leaves, roast pigeon with a balsamic vinegar sauce, and ice cream with figs are typical of his creations.

As its name (The Weird Lobster) suggests, lobster is the specialty here, prepared every which way on special menus that recur on Thursday and Sunday. Otherwise, go for the more local fare. The game is especially good, with dishes such as saddle of hare or pheasant embracing its surroundings but giving dishes an elegant twist. 

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.

You enter Margaretha's through one of the oldest buildings still standing in Oudenaarde, a Romanesque patrician tower built in the 12th century. It has a rich past: this was once an almshouse, then a school, and it takes its name from Margarita de Palma, Charles V's illegitimate daughter who went on to rule the Netherlands and was said to have lived here at one point. So much history and yet it doesn't detract from a dining experience that rarely lets up, from a fine selection of game to a series of set menus that always surprises.   

A wonderfully likeable little restaurant with a simple concept: meatballs. They come in veggie, chicken, beef, and Charleroi's vitoulet pork-and-veal style, all slathered in a choice of tomato, barbecue, coconut curry, and house sauces, with a host of frites on the side. A rotating food-sharing menu breaks things up a bit, if you fancy something else, with the likes of tartiflette (potato, cheese, and lardons) or wonton soup on offer. But you come here for the meatballs. Cheap, filling, and delicious. 

Think soups, stuffed spianatas (Sardinian-style flatbreads), and tartines (open sandwiches) spilling over with smashed avocado and served on rustic wooden boards. It's friendly, filling, decent value, and there's a terrace for the sunnier days.  

Uncluttered dishes of classic French-Belgian favorites are the stock in trade of this elegant local restaurant. Their specialty is lobster (there's even a dedicated lobster tasting menu), but you'll find a wealth of interesting flavors here, from a dish of local pheasant, chestnut, and pear to wallet-busting Belgian caviar. The €19 lunch menu is also superb value. 

Simplicity is the buzzword---both in the contemporary Belgian cooking, and in the decor---in this elegant but cozy parquet-floored bistro with minimal decorations on the walls to distract you from the food. Lunch is à la carte, but the three- to five-course prix-fixe dinner menus are also pared down and kept simple, with no more than two or sometimes three choices per course---but simplicity doesn't prevent each dish being a masterpiece.

In fine weather the front terrace of this lively café-restaurant has a to-die-for view of the Zimmertoren, while the bright, modern interior has high ceilings and a mezzanine above to create a sense of space. The extensive international menu of pasta, salads, and steaks in generous portions also finds room for a few Belgian classics, including oven-baked witloof (Belgian endive) in a creamy sauce.

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.

At peak times, this enormously popular brasserie in an old warehouse off the Korenmarkt crackles with energy. A giant Greek statue makes an incongruous counterpoint to the marble-top tables, parquet floors, and long oak bar, but there's no denying its craft. Locals rave about the seafood and the oyster bar, or you can choose the "market menu," based on what the chef picked up fresh that morning.

This mouthwatering bakery makes both bread and sweet treats, and has a tearoom on one side for those who want to eat in. Savory filled rolls are available, but most people are here to indulge in the homemade éclairs and fruit tarts.

This popular bakery is the place to pick up a hot gaufre (Belgian waffle), topped with powdered sugar—or, for a little extra, stuffed with chunks of chocolate that will melt as you eat. For those with less sweet teeth, they also offer an extensive range of filled sandwiches and rolls for a light lunch.

The owners of this food-sharing joint on bustling Oudburg have managed to make its interior look like an enchanted forest—all green walls, fake branches, and pale-pink flowers lit with clever lighting. The theatrics don't end with the decor, either, as each dish on the four- or six-course tasting menu pit-stops in another culinary realm. From tacos to ceviche, to Spanish-style king prawns, each course barrels along with big flavors that don't always match up, but the quality is good and you can always go à la carte if you want to. But it's all about the experience at Ghent's most Instagrammable eatery.

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.