Restaurants to avoid in Brussels

No good restaurants to comment on recently, but here are a few I have been to in the past months that I would recommend avoiding:

Cafe Leffe – huge tourist trap at the Grand Sablon. Bad and slow service (even worse than usual), stale (almost entering rotting-state) salads, and really bad pasta and dips (this is from people who will even eat day-old cold pizza in the morning)

Phoo Lan – wanna-be trendy restaurant-bar that actually attracts quite a crowd for happy hour due to its location next to Place du Luxembourg. It’s ok for drinks, but if you decide to go there for dinner, you might encounter rude (not just bad) service (e.g., talking back with an attitude when you ask if something is wrong after you’ve waited for over 45 minutes and haven’t even been given some bread yet), long waits, and average food worthy of a decent company cafeteria, but it’s definitely overpriced. You would be much better off going to Il Pasticcio or Hinodeya just a few meters away.

Fortunately, there are many good restaurants in Brussels to make up for these and the rest of the bad ones (a few bad Chinese restaurants) have been temporarily blocked from my memory, but if you have any other “must-avoids”, feel free to share!

Skiing escapade to France…

If you haven’t booked your ski trip yet and don’t have a car, or just don’t want to bother driving all the way to France for a few days of skiing, this might just be for you:

Through Feb 3, Thalys has a special ski offer: EUR 40 each way (2nd class; EUR 65 for 1st class tickets) from Brussels (or Antwerp) to several ski destinations in France, for travel between February 16 and April 5. Unfortunately, no ski rental discounts this time (they sometimes do… watch out when you book, as they might still have them somewhere on the site).

Cheap flight offers

Airfares have been increasing for the past year and a half or so, so it’s no longer that easy to find tickets for under EUR 100 (roundtrip within Europe). Brussels Airlines (as well as all other airlines, to tell the truth) has been increasing its prices on an ongoing basis, despite regular promotional sales, which are often not that interesting unless you can fly during the week.

Still, you might want to check out tomorrow’s sale: Thursday, 31 January from 18h00 through midnight, if you’re planning to travel between 17 April and 31 August to any of the “sunny destinations”, i.e., Spain, Italy, southern France, Portugal. (But check also the local national airlines – Iberia, Alitalia (beware delays and cancellations), Air France (usually quite expensive), TAP – because if you’re booking well enough in advance, tickets are often cheaper with those other airlines….)

Another tip: Look at low cost airlines. You can find a list based on departure city, as well as destination on Whichbudget.com

If for some reason you’re considering traveling to Germany or to destinations outside Europe, you might want to take a look at Lufthansa, as it’s currently celebrating its 50th anniversary with some special offers, which allow you to book tickets to Germany, for instance, for less than EUR 100 (all inclusive, roundtrip), which means lower prices and better service than Brussels Airlines.

And don’t forget to enroll in Frequent Flyer programs – they’re free and worth the few minutes it takes to sign up… but more about that later…

Thalys offer for Cologne

If you were thinking of a short escapade nearby for a day or weekend, there is a two day sale (on January 23 and 24) for tickets from Brussels to Cologne. You can travel between February 4 and March 16 for EUR 15 each way in second class (EUR 25 each way in first). The trip (each way) is 2 hours and 20 minutes long, so it’s still feasible for a day trip to visit the Cathedral and do some shopping…. albeit in a bit of a rush. Tickets have to be booked online.

Brussels Airlines sale 3-6 January

Happy New Year!

I you still have money after the holidays and want to start planning your next break, here’s another sale for flights within Europe, as well as Africa. As always, you have to book the tickets on the website and the sale has a limited time frame: From tonight (January 3rd starting at 18h00) through January 6 (midnight). You can buy tickets now to travel between January 31st and  August 31st in Europe (just through June 20th for African destinations).

For full details, check the website and if you don’t see the destination you want, if it’s in Europe, chances are they will be some other promotion later on, as the airline usually has one at least once per month , although travel periods are usually more limited.