A rundown of recommendations for the Belgian capital…
Brussels was my latest city break and the first of the Autumn/Winter season. Meaning the weather was a lot different to previous city breaks in the summer. My visit to Brussels was my first ever visit to Belgium and it did not disappoint.
I visited in late October and during this time the weather was quite temperamental some days it could be breezy and sunny and then a few hours later it could be pouring rain with gale-force winds.
On our first day, I wore a trench coat and sleeveless top and I wasn’t that cold. However, for packing for a weekend here in the Autumn I would recommend packing a warm coat and an umbrella for those of us who don’t own any practical coats and go for style over substance.
Brussels itself is a lovely city and one not many of my family or friends had visited before so I didn’t have any expectations or recommendations on my arrival in the Belgian capital. Our flight landed at Charleroi Airport which isn’t the most central airport to fly into as it is then around 50 minutes away from the centre of Brussels itself.
If you can I would try to fly into the more central airport of Brussels Airport than Charleroi, however, travelling from Charleroi to Brussels is a very straightforward journey via a bus company called Flibco. My top tip would be to book your bus tickets in advance as this can save a lot of time after arriving at the bus stop. The bus stops in Brussels at Bruxelles Midi train station which is a good station to get to other areas of the city.
Buddy Buddy
Rue des Drapiers 10, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Buddy Buddy was a cafรฉ that I had seen people talk about on Instagram like @itsonthethirdfloor and being a fan of nut butter it was right up my street. However, when we looked on a map it was around a 20 minute walk from where we were in Grand Place.
After a mishap with my phone and a very impromptu trip to the Apple store we found that Buddy Buddy was only around the corner so the mishap with my phone was definitely worth it so our next trip was to Nut Butter Atelier Buddy Buddy. The vibe was cool and relaxed and had a very cosy intimate feel to it.
In-store you could buy all of their in-house made delicious nut butters. Or try some of the nut butter infused coffees or drinks. However, we were freezing cold and nothing seemed better than a cup of Earl Grey and Vanilla Rooibos tea.
If on a trip to Brussels I would recommend visiting the area of Ixelles, Brussels, the home of Buddy Buddy and the many clothing stores around the area too. Paris is also home to one of the nut butter coffee shops on Rue de Marseille.
Friterie Tabora
Rue de Tabora 2, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
On a walk around Grand Place we came across an extremely long queue for one of the many fries stores/windows. The queue at Friterie Tabora did not seem to get any shorter each time we past. We made a pact that we would have to see if they were worth the hype. On our last day we stood in long queue in the pouring rain and the chips were so good that we didn’t care about the rain and even ate them outside the friterie.
They have many different sauces to choose from. To put a number on it I would say around 30 different sauces. In fact there were too many sauces to choose from resulting in a quick last minute decision despite the long queue time you have to decide. I got sweet curry and mayonnaise which seemed to be a popular choice amongst fellow queuers. These were the perfect fries with a crisp outside and soft middle. 10 out of 10 fries in my opinion.
Aux Merveilleux de Fred
Rue Auguste Orts 23, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
On every corner in Brussels, there are chocolate shops, bakeries, cafes and restaurants.
Each morning while we were in Brussels we got up early and cycled or scootered to the city centre from our hotel. We wanted to find a new bakery to get a Croissant or a Pain au Chocolat and have some coffee before we start our day exploring the city.
On one of our mornings we visited Aux Merveilleux de Fredโs, we first came across their smaller sister patisserie near Grand Place which was a walk in only/ non-seated bakery that sold to go breads, brioches, pastries, sandwiches and patisserie.
Whilst looking for somewhere for breakfast we headed towards the smell of the fresh bread and pastries and the short queue outside. After we looked in their window of sandwiches and watched the bakers working we were completely drew in, and we decided to have a late breakfast early lunch here, and it was honestly the best breakfast of the trip. Me and my friend tried the freshly baked brioche. One was with salmon and cream cheese the other with Ham, Cheese and salad.
Alongside the sandwiches, we enjoyed a very indulgent hot chocolate with fresh whipped cream. I am still thinking about this combo now. I really wish there was one of these in my city.
Belgian Chocolate Making Class
The Belgian Chocolate Makers, Rue Lebeau 11, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
I think a must do when visiting Brussels is a chocolate making class. In a city where you are surrounded by chocolate shops on every corner, it is nice to go deeper into the history of chocolate making and learning more about how to make chocolate by doing one of the many chocolate classes on offer in the capital.
We chose an hour and a half long class with the Belgian Chocolate Makers. This is around a 10-15 minute walk away from Grand Place. Our class was lead by one of the leading chocolatiers of the Belgian Chocolate Makers Patricia who had such a wide knowledge of the bean to bar process of chocolate and chocolate making as a whole. She lead the class and made it very enjoyable for us.
In the class you get to try the cacao beans themselves, three types of chocolate they have on on offer and also a drink made from the Mucilage (the white exterior of the cocoa bean) which is surprisingly citrusy in flavour. My personal favourite chocolate was the ruby cocoa which has a more fruity flavour to it and is sweeter than dark/milk.
During the class you make a bar of chocolate using milk chocolate and topped with your own toppings such as nuts, pretzels, speculoos biscuits and dried fruits to name a few.
We also made our own bag of Mendiants, a french chocolate disc traditionally topped with fruit and nuts. However, we were able to customise our Mendiants with whatever toppings we liked. Finally, we finished the class with making truffles. The class was around 40ะ each and for the price you get so much and learn a lot about the history of Belgian chocolate whilst also tasting the chocolate. Once the class is over you are invited to visit the adjacent store of the Belgian Chocolate Makers where you get to explore the store and make use of the discount as part of the price.
Special Mentions:
Belgian Waffles and Belgian Cherry Beer (Kriek Lambic)
A right of passage when visiting Belgium has to be trying a traditional Belgian waffle. As with Friterie Tabora being one of many chip stores, there are also many waffle stores selling traditional freshly made Belgian waffles. I personally had waffles before and they weren’t really my cup of tea, until I tried a proper Belgian Waffle topped with dark chocolate and morello cherries. Each store allows you to pick your own toppings for the waffle. Many people take the waffle to go whilst walking around the city.
One evening, I tried a traditional Belgian fruit beer called Kriek Lambic, a beer made from Morello cherries. This is a good beer to try if you aren’t a huge beer lover like myself and would prefer something more fruity. This style of beer is native to this area due to the growing of the cherries here.
Parc de Bruxelles:
One of my favourite moments of the weekend was when we spent our first afternoon cycling around the Parc de Bruxelles that is adjacent to the Palais de Bruxelles and is in a lovely area of the city. The weather was crisp and the sun was out and locals and tourists alike seemed to flock to the park to get some fresh air in between the odd rainy shower.
Parc de Bruxelles is a great park in the city to have a walk around, to see the sculpture park, or sit and people watch at the food and drink cabins dotted around the park. Personally, I found that cycling around the park was a great way to see all of the park if you didn’t have a lot of time in the city or visiting for just the weekend like we did.
We hired bikes via the Dott App which had baskets attached to your bikes and were electric which makes all the difference when we used them for hours haha.
