Where are you getting your bûche de Noël this year? This special occasion might well be the perfect excuse to splurge a bit and visit what might be the best patisserie in Brussels: Yasushi Sasaki (see old post here.)
There are three different types of bûches and two holiday cakes to choose from and which include some of his “top hits” which usually are sold as cakes. The price is €5.50 per serving with a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 12 servings per bûche.
The deadline for Christmas has passed (sorry, was too busy at work to post but luckily managed to order!) but you can still order one for New Year’s as long as you do so before the 29th of December. Details can be found on his site.
I have a new favorite lunch spot in Brussels, and those of you who have been following this blog will know that’s a pretty serious statement.
SAN Sablon serves an amazing lunch for an unbelievably well-spent €28. This is what happens when a great chef – Sang-hoon Degeimbre from the two Michelin star L’air du temps – decides to open a restaurant in the city just for fun. (This is his second restaurant in Brussels, the other one being SAN Bruxelles on rue de Flandre, featuring the same concept). Although Chef Degeimbre is not in the kitchen, he oversees the creation of the dishes, which are then beautifully executed by his team (of which we saw three kitchen staff and two waiting tables).
Lunch is simple and relatively fast, as summarized on the website and menu (drinks other than the juice and coffee are not included in the €28 and I’d recommend choosing the dessert and the soup as menu options rather than the drinks):
But let’s take a look at the photos for a more pictorial (and mouth-watering!) review:
The restaurant offically seats 40 people (although it was only set up for 30 when we went) and has an elegant, modern and stylish decor
SAN Sablon is on rue Joseph Stevens, just off the Sablon and on the same street as the popular Pistolet and Brussels classic Skievelat
The concept: the meal is served in bowls and eaten with a spoon
Bread and butter to greet you and make the (short) wait more amenable
All bowls (except the one with dessert) are brought to the table simultaneously. The menu changes every month (if I understood correctly).
Salmon with greek orzo pasta and mushrooms in a deliciously light and refreshing citrus-based sauce
Hake tempura
This is what the delicious hake tempura looked like inside. The tempura was light and crunchy, just like it’s supposed to be
Lacto-fermented vegetables
This was a smooth and delicious lamb cream with crunchy vegetables mixed in
Kumquat madeleine accompanied by a granita of clementine and other fruits
View of the kitchen and bar seating
Drinks menu
Wine list
A few remarks especially for business lunches and families with children:
As promised, the main part of the meal was served quickly and we were done in 30 minutes. However, dessert took a bit long to get out, maybe because the restaurant was filling up, so in the end it took almost an hour for the lunch.
Book a table for noon (opening time) to get faster service.
The food is delicious but probably not appealing to most kids (other than the dessert), but the staff is friendly and have no problem letting you order just for the adults.
They don’t take credit cards so make sure you carry enough cash.
The open kitchen doesn’t have the best ventilation system so your clothes will smell like food after your meal… Something to keep in mind if you’re having a client meeting in the afternoon.
All in all, this has been a fantastic find, and I’m already planning the next meal there (need to check on consistency of quality of course… But I could easily make up another excuse to go back! ;))
SAN Sablon – Rue Joseph Stevens 12 – 1000 Brussels
Reservations online or by phone tel:+32 2 512 42 12
Open from Thursday to Monday. Closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Lunch menu served only on weekdays. Evenings and weekends only €55 menu available.
Savory menu includes eggs, bacon, vegetables, potatoes, lasagna; sample of homemade cakes
UPDATE 2017: The brunch has been discountinued permanently.
There’s a great new brunch in town – an Italian brunch run by Italians in a wine bar/restaurant just off Place Jourdan on rue Froissart.
The restaurant seats about 35-40 people and is decorated in a simple and sleek way with large windows that let lots of natural light in (nice even in autumn’s grey and gloom…)
But on to the food… You basically have two different brunch menus: a sweet buffet breakfast (€12) that includes:
Buffet bar of bread, croissants and other pastries
A selection of homemade cakes
A basket of butter, jam and Nutella
An orange juice, hot drink (coffee or tea) and a cold drink
The second option is the savory menu (€22) which includes all of the above, plus:
A plate of hot food including eggs of your choice (frittata pictured below), a selection of seasonal vegetables (all cooked. The tomatoes were amazing!), bacon, and salmon (which we did not order)
A small portion of homemade lasagna
(I think that was it but can’t be 100% sure as there was no written menu yet to be found and I’m not sure I followed the whole description of the brunch concept…) But anyway, we went for the big menu and were happy we did so because although the sweet items are good (don’t miss the delicious cakes!), what really stands out and sets this place apart from others is the quality and the generous portions of the savory items. It almost feels like your Mamma or Nonna is making breakfast for you at home. And for the price, which unlike many other brunch venues in town already includes drinks, this is a really good deal.
The place is also perfect for families with small children: the staff is very friendly and accommodating, the food is healthy and homemade, and small kids eat for less (or for free if they’re under 5, which makes sense unlike in other places like the popular La Fabrique, which charges full price to tiny kids who will barely eat!). On top of that, La Vita e Bella also has some high chairs and a changing station for babies.
Maybe we were extra lucky because we went during the opening weekend and they were trying to impress, but I will certainly be going back to this Sunday brunch which has instantly become one of my favorites in town!
It’s been a long while and it’s not that I abandoned the blogosphere (I have mostly been on Twitter though @lifeinbxl) but it’s just that most of my dining experiences have been somewhat underwhelming, or not inspiring enough to write a full post. (Fine, inspiration was also low due to lots of work and a very busy schedule!)
There are a few places worth mentioning and I will be featuring them here in the coming weeks… One of them is the little-covered Sofitel Crystal Lounge Sunday brunch, which is likely the most expensive but also the best brunch in town, and there is also a new Italian brunch spot I was impressed by… So stay tuned!
Update: October 2016. Prices have gone up considerably now that Kamo has been in its new and fancier Chaussee de Waterloo location. The lunch special is €22 and other lunch dishes are priced at €25-30 with a more limited selection. tasting menus have also increased in price by €10-15.
***
I finally made it to Kamo – and once I tried it, I had to go back…
This is the only Japanese restaurant in Belgium with a Michelin star, but it is very different from all the other Michelin awarded restaurants in Brussels I have tried… so if you are looking for a fancy dining experience, look elsewhere. If you are just looking for good food, definitely put this on your go-to list!
Kamo must have earned its Michelin star solely on the quality of the food. The venue itself is your simple, small and basic Japanese restaurant with the standard sushi bar seating and about a dozen tables. It is small and relatively packed, no fancy decor, and none of the dressed up waitressing staff you would encounter in your average Michelin joint. Which is what I loved about this place: unpretentious, good food, with fast and friendly service… and good food (did I mention that?) Very good food.
Plus, what other Michelin star restaurant could you eat lunch at for EUR 15??
My tips and highlights:
Book in advance (Tel: +32 2 648 78 48) This place is always PACKED. It is closed on weekends.
The lunch special is just EUR 15, but arrive early or it might be sold out. Other lunch dishes range from EUR 18 to EUR 25.
There are two menus for EUR 45 and EUR 60 if you have time for a leisurely meal and want the full Kamo experience (see a full review from another blog here).
For me, the cooked dishes are what really make Kamo stand out and what the chef is best at. Everything I have had there was cooked to perfection, even an “unglamorous” dish, such as fried chicken.
If you go for lunch, go with an appetite and get a lunch set (which comes with soup and a few other side dishes) plus another dish a la carte… The food is healthy and light, so it goes down easily!
Wanna know more? I will let the pictures talk for themselves… (and check out also some great photos here from Brussels Kitchen)
This is another of the top 10 new restaurants identified by LeVif Weekend. I went to West End creperie after having lunch at Piccola Store, and was pleasantly surprised by the quality and reasonable prices of this fairly genuine creperie (I found it to be the best I have tried in Brussels so far.)
The ingredients are fresh, the service is friendly and fast (we had our crepes in about 10 minutes), and the prices will allow you to have a whole meal (savory and sweet crepe and a drink) for about EUR 15 per person, which is not bad for the area.
West End (rue Americaine, 91; Tel: +32 2 538 21 30) is open for lunch on weekdays (special lunch menu available) from 12:00h to 15:00h and dinner 18:30h to 22:00h, all day on Saturday from 12:00h to 22:00h, and 12:00h to 16:00h on Sunday. Closed on Monday.
Life in (and around) Brussels... 
