Last minute offer – Concert at Liege opera

For those of you looking for a last-minute “cultural” plan for tomorrow night (Saturday, November 7), here is an idea:

EUR 10 for a concert version of the opera Don Pasquale, conducted by maestro Ricardo Muti.

Might be a bit far of a drive just for a concert if you are in Brussels, but if you are a music enthusiast, it’s a great deal.

Get your tickets and more details through this link.

Nocturnes – Thursday evening museums

I’m a bit late with the announcement this year, but the Thursday evening museum openings (a.k.a. Nocturnes) are back.

The ticket price has increased a bit but remains very reasonable at EUR 2.50 (or just one euro if you are under 25).

The list of participating museums has not changed much from previous years and no, the much-awaited Magritte museum is not on the list. (You will see a Rene Magritte museum, but that’s the old one, not the new one on Place Royale…)

Change to winter time on 25 October

Once again, we’ll be changing time to winter time next week, on Sunday, 25 October.

What does it mean? In the morning from Saturday to Sunday night, at 3am you will have to change your clocks and watches back to 2am.

To remember: not all countries end daylight savings time the same weekend, so if you are making international calls or traveling, you might want to keep that in mind…

More info here.

Bistrot du Mail: Michelin meal under EUR 30

Everyone has heard about Comme Chez Soi with its exorbitant prices, and sometimes not that cozy ambiance…

But not many people know about the Bistrot du Mail, which has one Michelin star less (but still, great credentials – one star is not bad at all…) but offers weekday lunch menus for EUR 25 to EUR 29 for a 2 or 3-course meal. (The prices have gone up in the last few months, probably because the secret is out… so hurry!)

The food is really excellent and you will have trouble finding such a good meal at that price in Brussels. The portions are not huge, but just right if you have the 3-course menu, which will take you about 1.5 to 2 hours to complete, so don’t go to the Bistrot if you are looking for a quick lunch between meetings…

Great deal for a weekday lunch but not so for dinner, which becomes a bit too pricey (not to mention it is much more difficult to get a reservation).

Some pictures to whet your appetite…

Blog temporarily discontinued…

… until further notice

Restaurant Week (Dec 1-7): 3-course meals for €20-25

Restaurant Week will run through next week (December 1-7) in all of Belgium, offering 3-course meals in a selection of (over 150) restaurants for €20 for lunch or €25 for dinner. (The only exception: Michelin-starred restaurants, which have a reasonable €10 surcharge).

A 3-course meal (without drinks) would usually cost €45 upwards, so the savings can be quite substantial. For Restaurant Week, chefs prepare a special menu, so don’t expect seeing caviar and oysters as the appetizer…

You can download the complete list of restaurants from the website. There are over 25 restaurants to choose from in Brussels (including classic Quincaillerie, hip Museum Brasserie, or trendy but small-portioned Bloom Hotel) and many more in Antwerp.

Reservations required – book early online!

If there any of them you would recommend, please leave a comment with your suggestions!

Changing time this weekend

Don’t forget to change the time this weekend in the night of Saturday, 25 October to Sunday, 26 October.

At 3am on Sunday (i.e., 3 in the morning if you’re staying up late on Saturday night), turn your watch back an hour to 2am.

One more hour of sleep, many hours of darkness to come…

Bongo gift vouchers

Bongo gift vouchers are becoming increasingly popular. But what are they exactly?

What?
Simple: Nicely boxed CD-size thematic gift vouchers for activities, meals, wine, and other entertainment, mostly throughout Belgium but occasionally also including locations in The Netherlands, Germany, and France.

What exactly?
The booklet comes with a list of around 30 establishments in which you can redeem the voucher, which can be for a dinner for two, a hotel stay in a chateau for two, cooking lessons, a cultural activity, a bottle of wine and appetizers at a wine bar, etc. etc. (Redemption instructions come in the booklet).

How much?
The pricing is also quite reasonable with boxes starting at EUR 25 (for a lunch, breakfast or wine bar for two), going up to EUR 50, EUR 100+ and all the way up to EUR 3,000. (The lower priced ones are a good deal, but the high-priced ones probably not, as the venues and hotels in the guides are often not the top, exclusive ones you would expect when you’re spending really large amounts of money).

In any case, this is a good gift that beats the more impersonal mall or store gift certificate and allows the gift recipient to explore a bit of Belgium and discover new places or things to do.

Where to buy
The booklets (only in French or Dutch) can be purchased online (you can browse all the packages and locations) or in one of the Bongo shops. There are two shops in Brussels: One in the City 2 shopping center (Metro Rogier) and another one on the lower floor of the Woluwe Shopping Center, across the supermarket. There are also other sales points, like the fnac and the Connections travel agencies, that also sell the Bongo books.

There are also Bongo books in other countries, including Denmark, Sweden, France, The Netherlands and Spain.

Great puzzle shop

In an otherwise most uninteresting rue Belliard, hidden in the middle of a lot of scaffolding in the ever-under-construction area close to Parc Leopold, is Puzzle Passion, a small family-owned shop wholly dedicated to puzzles and possibly one of the most interesting and special shops in that neighborhood.

The owner is a huge puzzle fan that tries out every single puzzle he has in his store and can give expert and friendly advice on everything that has to do with puzzles. A great shop to find a nice, entertaining (and potentially addictive!) gift for friends and family (starting from age 1-2).

Puzzle Passion: Rue Belliard 143, 1040 Brussels. Open M-F 10:00h – 16:00h or by appointment (call +32 475 441 077)

If you’re bored…

… and want to build up your vocabulary with a game that will help provide donations to the UN’s World Food Program, check out the FreeRice site that someone just forwarded to me.

In a nutshell: A game (free) in which you are given a word and you have to pick a synonym among the four choices provided. Of course, there are corporate sponsors behind this, but you can also donate and the game is somewhat entertaining for a few minutes.

(Warning:If you are a language and precision buff this game might annoy you because the options provided are often not accurate or satisfactory enough…)