Fruit-Time

Fruit-Time (located in Anderlecht) is a farm that opens to the public in the summer months for you to pick strawberries, flowers and raspberries. It is a bit far from central Brussels (I live near Schuman and it took me 1h15 to get there by public transportation), but definitely worth a visit. As you get away from the city center, this is the scenario you find.

As you arrive, you are given a box to fill with strawberries. The rule is one basket per person, per day, so it allows more people to come and pick their strawberries.

The raspberries are still too green! Wait for middle July, as there are plently of them (more than the strawberries) to pick.

Sneaky kid eating some while picking them!

In the end, you take the fruits you've picked for weight and pay for them. The price is 4€ for each 500g of strawberries. It is a great activity to do on a sunny day, with friends or family, being able to take home then some really fresh fruit bought directly from the producers. I have bought 1kg of them and everyday since Sunday have been making fresh milkshakes and juices with them (delicious!).

Right now the strawberry season is open and in July the flowers and raspberries are on too. See here the available periods:

Strawberries : June and July
Raspberries : July, August and September
Flowers : From July till September

For more information on how to get there, the opening hours and to see when the new cultures will be available, check out their website. Are you wondering how I did to get there? Here's how: I took the metro line 5 and hopped-off in Saint-Guidon. There I took the bus 46, direction Moortebeek (the bus stop is right outside the metro exit). You leave the bus in the stop Sibelius and then walk to the farm for around 15 minutes (it's a straight road). To return, the bus stop is closer to the farm, so you just walk around 10 minutes. But nothing like google maps to help you better plan your trip!

Fruit-Time

Rue du Pommier (left to no. 463 - Restaurant de Notelaar)

1070 Anderlecht

info@fruit-time.be

http://www.fruit-time.be/

Neuhaus' factory shop

After having read this post, I became really curious about visiting Neuhaus' factory shop. It is located in Anderlecht, very close to the metro station Erasme (10 minutes maximum walking distance), so you can easily reach it with public transportation. Inside you'll find all types of Neuhaus' chocolates, being sold for a reduced price. In their regular gift boxes, you don't see that much of a difference in the prices, only in case their expiry date is close (we saw a box of 500g of truffles being sold for 10€, because it would expire in 15 days).

What is really worthy is the called "lucky corner", where you'll find 1kg boxes filled with all types of chocolates (each box only has one kind of chocolate, though, but you have a lot of variety to choose from). Each box currently costs 25€, but if you buy 3 of them you pay only 50€. These are cardboard boxes filled with chocolate (well accommodated with layers and plastic shelves) and you can taste each of them before buying (in fact, everything sold in the shop can be tasted for free, as there are plates with samples in front of each product, so even if you end up deciding not to buy anything, you can still have pieces of some finest Belgian chocolate for free).

I went with a friend and we bought together one of those 1kg boxes. We then split its content half-half (so I got 500g), which I then divided into 5 plastic bags, that I bought in HEMA (10 of these bags are sold for approximately 1,50€, they come with a piece for closing and they have them in several designs). 

So, in the end, I had these 5 little bags to offer as a souvenir to my friends and family, not in one of Neuhaus' classic packages, but with one made on my own and for a much lower price than if I had bought them in a regular shop or at the airport. If you want to offer even a larger portion, it may be worthy to go with a friend with the same idea and buy the 3 boxes for 50€, because then the discount would be even greater. Nevertheless, pay also attention to the expiry date of these boxes, as some have a long period, but others were also finishing in just one month.

Neuhaus Outlet

Postweg 2, 1602 Vlezenbeek, Belgium

Tel: 02-568-23-10

Hours: Mon. – Fri. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. | Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

The outlet is open during the lunch hour.

All major credit cards accepted

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PhoPho

Yesterday I had lunch at PhoPho, a Vietnamese fast food restaurant located in the St. Boniface area (so just 10min walking from my place of work).

The place is quite cozy and good for a quick lunch (food is served quite fast). It is owned by a Vietnamese guy who came to Brussels with his father when he was 3 years old and decided to open this place dedicated to his home country's food just 10 months ago. Easy to see this was a recipe for success, as many were the people coming and going to enjoy these well cooked delights at their lunch break. No reservations are accepted (unless you're a big group), but places are easy to find (no problem in finding two seats for us at "rush" hour!). Their especialty are the noodles' soup and you have some to choose from, either in the medium or large size (we ordered medium and it was enough!).

This is what we ate:

Ha Kao - bouchées langoustines

Cha Gio Ga - Nems poulet and Pho Bo - Soupe Hanoi boeuf

Mi Wan Tan - Soupe nouilles raviolis scampis

You can choose each item individually, but they have also two combos: Dessert (noodle soup medium size + dessert + soft drink for 10€) and Entrée (noodle soup medium size + starter + soft drink for 12€). They are open 7/7 days a week, from 11h to 23h. The food was delicious and even though it is marketed as "fast food", that does not reflect on its taste (it's just because it is indeed fast to eat there in your short lunch break!). You can see it is being made by people who really understand their business (apparently it is very common for Vietnamese people to eat these kind of noodles soup everyday, so who better to make them in Brussels?) and, on the top of that, are very nice and welcoming to costumers. For example, the beef for one of the noodle soups needs to be cooked for 6h and they do it everyday so that the soups are always made with fresh ingredients (no frozen stuff there!). Go pay them a visit if you're looking for something different (and tasty!) for your lunch break.

PhoPho

Rue de la Paix, 27

1050 Ixelles, Bruxelles

phophobelgium@gmail.com

Dinant, Namur and Liège

Dinant

Namur

Liège

Another trip I made in Easter, 3 cities in one day! This was actually one of the trips I enjoyed the most, especially the city of Dinant. The train trip from Brussels to there is beautiful, next to a river and with beautiful houses in between. It is a small city, but so nice to wander around in a sunny day. You can go up the hill in a cable car and have a nice view as well. The other two cities are nice for a step by too!

Leuven and Mechelen

Leuven

Mechelen

Another two cities I visited on the Easter break. Both make nice daytrips from Brussels, though I was expecting more of Leuven (I know some people who did Erasmus there and loved it - but anyway, who doesn't love their Erasmus year? - but the city didn't impress me that much, I thought it just had a nice center, as all Flemish towns do). Still, I liked Mechelen's center more, with lots of little nice shops and movement of people. Pass by there if you have a free day!