Eating and Drinking Our Way Thru Brussels

Our first impression of Brussels was an unpleasant, French-speaking man who was not helpful in giving us information on purchasing a transit pass. French is the language of choice in Brussels, as well as most of Southern Belgium. Dutch is the primary language of Northern Belgium, including Ghent and Bruges. Obviously, we don't know either language. However, the people in the North seemed kinder and willing to speak English versus in Brussels. Whether that difference in friendliness is due to Brussels being a large metropolis or French-influenced or both, we don't know. Regardless, we set out to enjoy Brussels on our last full day in Belgium. 

Our primary goal for our last full day in Belgium was to find and consume the Belgium specialties: beer, chocolate, waffles, and frites. When our bus reached the city center, the weather was frightfully windy and cold. So, instead of lingering in the Grand Place, a famous square, we located Delirium Cafe. 

Brussels Town Hall

Fancy, gold accented buildings surrounding the Grand Place

The Brewer's Guild

Maison du Roi (The King's Household) on the Grand Place

Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, the first/oldest shopping mall in Brussels, located just off of the Grand Place

Delirium Cafe both produces its own brews and holds the Guinness World Record for most variety of bottled beers available. We started in the tap room upstairs and tried Delirium Nocturnum, Radermacher Rader Ambree, and Houblon Chouffe. 

Our three delicious beers 

Delirium: A great Brussels beer stop

After consuming our morning brews, we walked to St Catherine's Place to take in the sights. Nearby we grabbed some delicious paninis with specialty meat and cheese from La Cremerie. We ate them in the square before heading back to Grand Place. 

Building with flags and flowers to remember the recent Brussels attacks

Nate enjoying some espresso and chocolate from the oldest coffee roaster in Brussels

St. Catherine's 

Fountains near St. Catherine's

Delicious, melty sandwich from La Cremerie

In the Grand Place we wandered past chocolate shops and stopped at Galler Chocolatier famous for their especially dark chocolate. I asked how much it was to purchase a single dark chocolate truffle, but was told I could have one for free. I accepted as did Brandon and Nate, but of course having something free made us feel like we needed to buy something in return. Crafty ploy. Nate ended up buying some chocolate for his boss, which he was planning on doing anyway, and released us from any social pressure. 

With the weather still not looking incredibly nice we decided it would be good to visit a museum. We had wanted to check out the BELvue Museum dedicated to the history of Belgium, but upon arriving we discovered the museum was closed for renovations until July. So, instead we took the metro to the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and of Military History. We thought this museum had free entry, but beginning this January they had added admission fees. The woman at the desk sensed our disappointed and kindly explained that the other area museums had essentially forced them to add admission fees so that it was an even playing field for attracting tourists. In the end, it turned out to be our lucky day, because the credit card machine broke down and she let us in for free. Personally, I was glad it was free because as it turned out only very few of the exhibits had some English translations. Still there was a lot to see. Despite Belgium not being a country known for military prowess, the museum had collected a ton of uniforms, tanks, aircraft, and more. 

View of a giant archway near the military museum

Many preserved Belgian military uniforms

Brandon's beard is pretty much the same color and size as depicted in the cutout

A massive tank

Quite the aircraft collection

Brandon trying out an aircraft

View of Brussels from the top of the museum

After the museum it was time for a waffle snack. We had read in a Rick Steves guide book that The Waffle Factory was one of the best places to get a fresh, hot waffle in Brussels. They were indeed the best waffles that we had in Belgium. Brandon and Nate had Brussels waffles topped with dark Belgian chocolate and I had a Liege waffle topped with speculoos. Brussels waffles are lighter, like what we're used to in the US, while Liege waffles are more bready and sticky due to some sugar chunks in the batter. Speculoos is a spreadable cookie butter made from speculoos cookies. 

These were so good. I want them again. Now. 

Near to the Waffle Factory is the famous peeing statue of Brussels, so we had to see for ourselves what all the fuss is about. It was underwhelming. The statue was a lot smaller than I thought. We hear that there are many different legends about the origin of the statue, but all the sign next to it said was that it was important in the original water system of the city. Not sure what that means. But, we saw it. 

Very small peeing boy statue/fountain

Much larger chocolate version of the peeing boy. Once again, so popular for uncertain reasons. 

It was time to sit, relax, and try some more Belgian beer for the day. Nate had heard about a bar called Le Cercueil that he wanted to visit. Le Cercueil means "The Coffin", and the bar had a very Halloween/skeletal theme complete with black lights and skull cups. 

We did not drink our Belgian beers out of skull cups. We tried Cuvee des Trolls, Westmalle double, and Tripel Karmeliet. 

The tap list and bar counter. Notice there is a Hop Cat sticker plastered onto the front of the bar--a little piece of the Midwest in Brussels. 

From there it was time for dinner. We had read about a delicious restaurant called Peck 47, and the description made it sound to me like the "Marie Catrib's of Brussels". Marie Catrib's in Grand Rapids is my favorite restaurant in the whole world, so I can't say that this restaurant was that level of amazing, but we thoroughly enjoyed our dishes. 

My carrot, ginger, coconut soup with Guinness bread was fabulous. Brandon and Nate agreed that the burger was top notch. The shakshuka type dish was lacking in some spice, but still good, and it came with a shot of tequila. 

With no more room in our bellies for food we had to pass on the last Belgian food item left of the day, frites. This was no loss to me, since I'm not a fried food fan. And, I believe Brandon and Nate decided they were content with the frites they had in Bruges. Instead, we headed to Delirium one more time to finish off our few remaining euros. As we were leaving the next day, we didn't want any cash left. This time we went down to the basement of the bar. There, Nate perused a beer menu so large that it was in magazine form...a very thick magazine. He decided on a beer from a brewery that he had heard great things about, but we weren't going to make it there. 

We all agreed this was the second best beer we had in Belgium. It was a good way to end our day in Brussels.