Belgium: Where to eat in Brussels

Definitely one of the best things about Brussels is that we found awesome restaurants for every meal. Which is pretty good going since there's usually one or two duffs you end up visiting where you can't understand why those places have been rated so highly on TripAdvisor. (I'm a massive TripAdvisor fan when it comes to finding foodie places on holidays!)

Not even an hour off the train and we were sat down at Bia Mara for lunch . Now, you're probably thinking, wait, you went to Brussels and the first thing you had was fish and chips? Call yourself a Brit! But, these are fish and chips with a twist. We ordered to share the Malaysian curry panko with seaweed salted chips and pineapple ketchup, plus a portion of lemon and basil tempura battered with seaweed salted chips and homemade garlic truffle. Both flavours were beautiful, but I preferred the Malaysian curry panko fish.

For our first dinner in Brussels we headed to Fin de Siecle. A cash-only, no reservations and the menu is written in chalk in French on the wall sort of place, it is well worth a visit. Portions are super generous, super cheap, and super tasty. I enjoyed the Stoemp (sausages and mash), and Olly had the very tasty Jambonneau (above). Yum!

My birthday dinner happened at Colonel (reservation recommended). If you don't like steak, stay away, but if you do then Colonel is where you want to be. I can highly recommend their starter of Flemish-style asparagus three ways (tempura, pan-fried, and in brown butter espum, in case you were wondering - pictured above), then their black Angus rib to share.

And if you need a breakfast/brunch option, a few doors down from Bira Mara is Peck 47. There are plenty of choices, but first you've got to decide whether you want waffles or muffins - once you've managed to get a table, that is. I went for the Eggs sausage fest (above) whilst Olly plumped for the Peck's Special (below) with its interesting-sounding "psycho sauce"!

Of course Belgium is famous for mussels and fries, as well as beer and chocolate, so we also had to try out some fries in the capital. In Brussels we picked Fritland, who are also known for their mitraillette sandwich. (Olly had one of those.) The fries were fine, but they were just fries at the end of the day. I was expecting something a bit more special to your usual takeaway sort of chips/fries.

If you've been to Brussels, where are your favourite places to eat in the Belgian capital? x