Museum of Costumes and Lace

The Museum of Costumes and Lace is located in the centre of Brussels and currently is holding an exhibition about the 70's. You can see the different types of clothes, shoes and accessories worn at that time, as well as the fashion trends that were in back then. At the end, there's an area for kids to dress up and take photos in a vintage scenario.

This is a cute video played at the entrance that mixes 70's references with icons from Belgium

This exhibition will be on until March 2014, so there's plenty of time to see it. In the first Sunday of each month, however, the entrance is free, so take advantage of that! I thought that the rest of the museum's collection (the lace part) was not that special, but the visit is worthy for the 70's one.

Musée du Costume et de la Dentelle
Rue de la Violette 12
1000 Bruxelles
T +32 (0)2 213 44 50

Au P'tit Breton

Au P'tit Breton is a nice and cosy restaurant located in the Chatelain neighbourhood. It is all themed upon Brittany, a region in the north-west of France, so the sailors and sea references are everywhere. The owner and the chef are actually the same person: Thomas, a very nice guy that you can see in the kitchen, preparing everyone's delicious delights.

The menu is rather rich on what their speciality is: pancakes! Indeed, you can taste salty pancakes prepared with buckwheat flour exclusively biological and then sugar pancakes for dessert. You have a lot to choose from, there's sure one for every taste. As a starter, there's also a fish soup from Cancale. To drink, I can recommend the cider from French Brittany (which you can drink in really cute cups), but there's also wine or beer and all non-alcoholic drinks. This is what we ate.

Galette au jambon cru de Bayonne



Galette Parisienne

 

Crepe maison (caramel beurre salé). This was the best caramel I have ever tasted!



The cider



So here's a place where you can have a nice time, surrounded by a lovely atmosphere while tasting yummy pancakes. Be sure to pass by there!

Au P'tit Breton

117 American Street

1050 Bruxelles

+32 (0) 2 538 00 08

reservation@auptitbreton.com

L'Amour Fou

L'Amour Fou is a restaurant from the same owners of KoKoB, but with a totally different concept: burgers! Indeed, they are the Brussels version of an American diner, striving to offer the best burgers in Brussels (they travelled the US to find the best burger recipe).

The atmosphere is chilled and relaxed: young people, couples and groups just enjoying their night out in a friendly space. This is what we ate:


Quesadillas Italia (tortilla bread, melted cheese, pesto, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, served with guacamole, sour cream and salsa)

Swiss burger (beef patty, mayonnaise, salad cress, button mushrooms, raclette cheese, oyster mushrooms, bacon) and fish burger (deep-fried fish, tartare sauce, salad cress, beetroot, dill, avocado) with chips

Lemon pie with merengue

You don't necessarily need to go there to eat (even though I highly advise you to!), as they're also a cafe/bar and you can just order some drinks (but I doubt you will be able to resist to these goodies passing in front of your eyes). The food is very succulent and tasty, you can really feel the flavour of each fresh ingredient. Pass by there if you're looking for a good place to hang out while munching some substantial food!

L'Amour Fou

infobox@lamourfou.be
02 325 73 53

185, Chaussée d'Ixelles (next to Place Fernand Cocq and to the Ixelles townhouse)

Beer

Beer is one of the things Belgium is known for and they sure have reasons for it. In every restaurant or bar you go to, in whichever city, you can find a good selection of beers for all tastes. And it's common that you see all kinds of people appreciating them in said places, from youngsters to more senior aged couples. Here the beer-lovers have no specific gender or age and beer is something everyone can enjoy together. Also, in the supermarkets you can find a great selection of beers, or course more affordable than if bought in a bar and good if you want to try a few before deciding on which is your favorite treat. In case you buy them there, don't forget to return the empty glass bottles, as you will get back the deposit you paid.

As I am a beer appreciator myself, here it is paradise. I have been trying to experiment different ones everytime I go to a restaurant or a bar and one day I will be able to decide if I have a favorite (a hard task so far!). I have already tried the following beers (even if just a little sip from my boyfriend's glass):

Bush
Brigand
Chimay Bleu
Chimay Blonde
Chimay Rouge
Cookie Beer
De Koninck
Delirium Nocturnus (by Delirium Café)
Duvel
Gauloise Amber
Grimbergen
Hercule
Hoegaarden Rosé
Houblon Chouffe
Jupiler
Kasteel Brune
Kasteel Rouge
Kwak
Kriek Max
La Chouffe
Leffe Brune
Leffe Honey
Leffe Printemps
Leffe Radieuse
Leffe Royal
Leffe Ruby
Leon (by Chez Léon)
Maes
Martin's Pale Ale
Mc Chouffe

Morte Subite
Oude Lambik Girardin
Pink Killer
Piraat
Principale (by La Quincaillerie)
Rochefort
Rodenbach
Seef
St Feuillien
Stouterik
Tourtel
Vedett
Waterloo

Westmallen

Musical Instruments Museum's terrace

The Musical Instruments Museum, located close to the Mont des Arts, has a great terrace that you can access for free. It has a restaurant and a cafe on the last floor where you can enjoy a meal on top of Brussels, but you can also go up just for a look around and to take some photos of Brussels' skyline.

Chez Léon

Chez Léon is one of Brussels' most famous restaurants. It has a history of 120 years, always kept as a family business, always accostumizing its clients to the best of Belgian food. Indeed, it started in the same place where it is today (right in the heart of the city, next to several tourist traps... but don't be mislead into thinking Chez Léon is one of them!), with just five tables. With its growing fame, however, there was the need to expand the space to correspond to the clients' demand and the houses near by were bought to create more room. Nowadays it has the capacity to receive 400 clients and counts with the work of 100 committed staff members.

Their most famous dish is the moules (made in all different ways ans styles) with frites. The moules come directly fresh from Zeeland and the best months to eat them are the ones finishing with -bre (Septembre, Octobre, Novembre, Decembre). However, that applies only to the moules served in a cocotte, as the others served in plates are of a different type and their season is all year. Even for the cocotte ones, they are served all year, but out of season they come from a different place.

Additionaly, the menu offers you many more delicious traditional dishes, not just the moules. I had the opportunity of spending a nice lunch there and this is what we ate:

Moules à l'escargot and Léon beer (yes, they brew their own beer!)

Vol au vent avec frites

Boulettes sauce tomate

Gaufre bruxelloise chantilly

The lower floor is open for the general public and the upper floor is reserved to groups.

If you're looking for a typical Belgian atmosphere, a cosy place with great dishes made by those in this business for many years and who know what they are doing, don't forget to pay them a visit! It is a great place to go with friends when sightseeing in the center, to take your relatives if they're in Brussels for a visit, or to organize a group dinner.

Chez Léon 

Rue des Bouchers 18, 

B-1000 Bruxelles

Tel.: 02/511.14.15 

Fax: 02/514.02.31 

welcome@leon1893.com 

Margueritte Couture

This is the most extraordinary thing of having a blog: being able to, through it, meet extraordinary people and come across projects that you would never know otherwise. That's why I want you to meet Felicia Teleuca and her story.

Felicia is from Romania, but she lives in Brussels for 5 years now. She has studied and learnt the crafts of designing and sewing from a young age, but has passed several years of her live working in other areas, until she rediscovered her passion for dress making here in Brussels. She has a beautiful atelier, the one you see in this pictures, from where she manages her own brand: Margueritte Couture.

She's been making personalized dresses for her clients (or shall I say friends?) for some years now, both wedding dresses, cocktail dresses and evening dresses. She pays attention to every little detail and takes into account the personality and style of her client before proposing her a dress, which she then makes with much love and care. The quality standard is then very high, as you'll have an unique dress made with the best materials, your own measurements, carefully crafted just for you.

I had the opportunity of meeting her as she kindly offered to make myself a dress for the Hungarian Ball I am attending next weekend. We have already had a first meeting to discuss the model she's going to make (it's not the one pictured in these sketches!), to take my measurements and by the end of the week she will have it finished (made in only one week without compromising quality, that's a challenge!). It will be my pleasure to attend this event dressed in a gown made by Felicia and an honor to have met this brave woman, who wasn't afraid to follow her dreams and doing what she loves and who, being an expat herself, showed a great amount of generosity and kindness to receive me in her atelier and offer me her services. If you ever need a ball gown, an evening or cocktail dress, or even a wedding dress, be sure to talk to Felicia and I am certain you won't be disappointed! As she mentioned herself, her work is so emotive and time consuming, that it's hard to see a dress go away in the hands of a client. But the recognition she has from her work and the pride of seeing it being worn in a special occasion, are the motivation she needs to continue to do what she loves.

Felicia Teleuca

Couturière Independante

sales@margueritte.be

www.margueritte.be

+32 475 42 48 22

Rue Auguste Heene 10/1

1190 Bruxelles

Bier Circus

Bier Circus is a bar close to Madou, where you can not only try a big variety of beers, but also eat typical Belgian food (and desserts!). It has a very colorful decoration and the walls are covered with beer capsules, which make the place look very cheerful. We went there in the evening (it is not crowded) and this is what we ordered:

The Chocolate Mousse à la "Chimay Bleue" Trappist Beer

The "Dame Blanche" with Crunchy Speculoos Biscuit Ice Cream and Hot Chocolate and Oude Lambik Girardin  (Sint-Ulriks-Kapelle) beer

The staff was very friendly and the place has a calm atmosphere (the kind of bar you can go with some friends to talk).

Bier Circus
Rue de l'Enseignement, 57
1000 Brussels City 
02 218 00 34

Brussels Vintage Market

Last Sunday I was at Halles Saint Géry for an edition of the Brussels Vintage Market, that takes place on the first Sunday of each month. The environment was great, full of young people enjoying the sun with a beer outside, or inside browsing vintage clothing and handmande goodies through the improvised shelves. They had some cool stuff for sale, but I always find vintage to be a bit overpriced. Yet they also had second hand clothes and handmade accessories for reasonable prices. You have a bar inside (and several outside) where you can eat or drink, nice music was playing and there were 3 floors of stuff to explore. For the content and the atmosphere, it is really worth going!

Les frites

They are one of Belgium's most famous treats... and we sure can't live without them! Here in Brussels they are everywhere, but the opinions on which are the best are divided between only two places: Flagey and Place Jourdan. Both are sold in kiosks in the middle of each square mentioned and I have tried them both and cannot decide myself on the best. I've heard a lot of stories (or should I say myths?)... that they are fried twice, that the fat used is animal fat instead of vegetable one... but all I know is that they are bigger than regular fries and they indeed taste good. In the fritteries they usually have lots of sauces to choose from and given the great variety I never knew what to pick (apart from the traditional mayonnaise), but with a recommendation from a Belgian friend I started to ask the andaluz sauce and it is in fact very good (like a spicy mayo actually). They come in these paper cones, in the "small" size (don't get mistaken by the name, as the small one is already big enough for 2!) or big size.