18 Best Restaurants in Brussels, Belgium

This cozy café is the epitome of Brussels decor: bicycles hang from the ceiling, there are Tintin statues everywhere, and shelves overflow 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 is 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. 

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.

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 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. 

With its all-day brunch ricocheting between healthier options (acai and Buddha bowls) and more indulgent offerings, including a guacamole, bacon, and cheddar toast, this is a good spot to bag a late-morning or early-afternoon pick-me-up (until 3 weekdays; 3:30 on weekends). 

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. 

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 with an organic canteen dishing up hearty lunches and a dish of the day (11–4). It also boasts a well-curated list of bottled beers (many of them organic) from lesser-known artisanal Belgian breweries.

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.

It's a little touristy, but worth it if you've got a sweet tooth. Set within the beautiful old Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, this rather distinguished tearoom is a fine spot to indulge in waffles and this famous old brand's speculoos cookies. It has another location on rue Charles Buls.

This organic Neapolitan-style pizzeria has a couple of branches now: two (one pizzeria, one pasta joint) in St-Catherine and another opposite the eastern entrance to Cinquantenaire. 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 the park, and it's not a bad option. 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.

This popular spot among health-conscious office workers lets you fill your bowl with healthy veggies, grains, meats, and berries (or just take one of the standard blends). Everything is tasty, good for you, and the word "superfood" crops up endlessly.

Woodpecker cafés are strewn across the city, including a few kiosks (like this). But it's the setting 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' prettier parks. In the evening, the neighboring Radio Kiosk sees DJs and drinks flow.