Brussels
Pleasingly gigantic and highly addictive, donuts from Coco come with all manner of fillings from salted caramel and vanilla custard to Snickers, peanut…
Must-see restaurants in Belgium
Brussels
Much less formal and a little cheaper than many Ste-Catherine options. Petit Vistro has bare brick walls, a pretty tiled floor, A-frame beams upstairs and…
Leuven
This place is two businesses in one. A bargain takeaway window serves homemade pasta in a cup, with nine choices of topping including pesto, four cheeses,…
Antwerp
While it looks tourist-centric and is hardly the most fashion conscious of places, Arte has a decades-long reputation for cooking highly reliable Italian…
Liège
It's the top-quality Italian food that takes the limelight here, with fresh ingredients prepared before your eyes in the central open kitchen. There's a…
West Flanders
This quaint teahouse-cafe with wooden beams and exposed brickwork was once a tiny alleyway. Over the generations it was gradually enclosed until it was…
Ghent
Good veggie food set to classical music and served on linen at tables with fresh orchids. Three windows have canal views. The daily changing lunch plate…
The Ardennes
The Ardennes-style cuisine here is better than you might guess from the unexotic, tightly packed interior and garish pink frontage located 50m from the…
Namur
In a high-ceilinged 1902 building with down-to-earth touches, Fenêtre Sur Cour serves reliable favourites including barramundi with saffron, rack of lamb…
Ghent
Want to (over) fill your stomach for €5? It’s possible at Gülhan, a large, mildly garish modern diner that – despite the name – is not a pizzeria, unless…
Brussels
Gastronomic Belgo-French seasonal cuisine is served in this sophisticated restaurant on the 2nd floor of a classic 17th-century guildhall. Book way ahead…
Bruges
Providing a truly intimate eating experience in a lovely old gabled building, the owner serves classic Belgian dishes such as meatballs and kalfsblanket …
The Ardennes
This place faces St-Hubert's basilica, with an all-wooden interior festively decorated with furniture made from tree trunks, hats and wine bottles. The…
Ghent
Since 1987 this joint has been hardening the arteries of Gentiens with its knockout all-you-can-eat spare ribs (€17.95) at this and two other local…
Ghent
This rustic bakery and tearoom looks a treat from the street, beckoning you inside for breakfasts, light lunches, soups, savouries and, of course, great…
Antwerp
Unsophisticated yet atmospheric, the interior here features marble tabletops, chequerboard floors, mirror panels and carved wooden beams, all surveyed by…
Brussels
This age-old classic occupies an atmospheric 17th-century whitewashed cottage, with a summer terrace spilling onto the revamped square. Bruxellois…
The Ardennes
This legendary charcuterie shop is packed to the beams with sausages, hams and smoked meats. To taste them in situ, there's a gingham-tableclothed tasting…
Ostend
There's nothing fancy about Benny but there's something about this fabulously frozen-in-time cafe a few blocks back from the beach that beckons you slide…
The Ardennes
Cheerful and attractive, this main-street cafe does a range of snack lunches, typically croques, quiches, sausage dishes, meatballs and the like, which…
Bruges
If you're travelling on a budget and don't mind eating al fresco, this tidy takeaway joint has decent-sized portions of westernised Chinese dishes at…
Wallonia
This family-style restaurant is superb value for home-style Belgian food that’s filling rather than gourmet (think meatballs, mashed potatoes, rabbit or…
Brussels
The Atomium's panorama-level restaurant reopens after the exhibits have closed, putting starched cloths on its functional tables and serving dinners with…
Antwerp
Come here for authentic Italian food, either bar-stool lunches or dinners of carpaccios and thin-crust pizza, all in a casually stylish setting surrounded…
Northwest Belgium
This no-frills joint, located midway up the hill between the station and the Markt, offers great-value tasty and filling pastas. Takeaway is available, or…
Wallonia
Across the road from the Abbaye de Villers, La Cave du Moulin gets mixed reviews for service and food but is ideal if you fancy coffee, cake or a drink in…
Ypres
Tucked away in a quirkily decorated historical guildhall beside the stadhuis, this split-level café serves gigantic good-value meals, including some beer…
Bruges
This homely little café belonging to the Volkskundemuseum is a quaint spot for a light lunch, local beer or coffee and cake.
Northwest Belgium
For a quick bite, this joint doles out eight tasty sauces with the pasta of your choice in a jiffy. Food is mostly takeaway, but there's a handful of…
Ghent
At this bright, central retro-'70s soup kitchen, each bowlful comes with add-your-own cheese and croutons, two rolls and a piece of fruit. Canal views are…
Ypres
Fresh bread, pastries, croques and fancy patisserie goods to take away. Try the amazing and filling broodpudding (bread pudding) for just €0.40.
Brussels
Great ice cream in a dizzying variety of flavours, including speculoos, Belgium's trademark biscuit. It also serves frozen yoghurt and snacks.
West Flanders
Classic wood-panelled café with tulip lamps, Rodenbach beer on draught and inexpensive pub meals (cheese croquettes, baguette sandwiches).
Brussels
Convivial fish restaurant, with mirror-panelled walls, model yachts, sensible prices and a jolly ambience. The wine of the month is €20 a bottle.
Brussels
Head to the top floor of the Old England building for the Cafetéria du Mim, where spectacular views are framed by wrought-iron curlicues.
West Flanders
Amid the cracked paintwork of this recycled old café, Ludwig busts sniff enviously at the range of ribs, steaks and fondues.
Ghent
Cheap, tasty and with whopping portion sizes, Yaki Noodle is a student fave, best for big appetites or friends who like to share.
West Flanders
Old timbers, jugs, buckets, statues of saints and so much more are crammed into this atmospheric carnivore's lair.
Brussels
Cosily elegant oak-panelled restaurant on the Grand Place serving French bistro classics plus steaks and burgers.
