Michelin star restaurants in Brussels 2012

Brussels, with its impressive 16 Michelin restaurants (a huge amount for such a small city, but still below the record-holder per capita: San Sebastian, culinary capital of the world), has now moved up to having three 2-star restaurants, thanks to the Chalet de la Foret’s additional star.

Check out the full list of Michelin one and two-star restaurants in Brussels, including a list of the Michelin Bib gourmand restaurants (i.e., good food at more affordable prices). [Bib Gourmand parentheses: Magenta and Notos have quite justifiably been removed from the Bib Gourmand list. Noteworthy picks that have maintained their status: Le Ventre Saint-Gris, De la Vigne a l’Assiette, and Mamy Louise.]

If you’re looking to Michelin on a budget and want to make about/at least 50% savings, go for the lunch menus (weekdays only – many of these top restaurants close on weekends). A few examples (all two-stars) in order of preference based on price-quality ratio:

Le Chalet de la Foret – Only EUR 39!! This is ridiculously cheap for a two-star restaurant… They probably still have their one-star prices, so hurry up before they decide to capitalize on that extra star…

Seagrill [don’t bother clicking through; the website has been under construction forever]. Make sure you make a reservation. EUR 65 for lunch.

Comme Chez Soi – EUR 55 for a 3-course lunch

Looking for other ideas? Check this previous post.

Beyond Brussels….

And if you’re willing to venture out of Brussels for food, here is the full list of Michelin restaurants in Belgium. Bon appetit!

Image by Dogfael via Flickr under Creative Commons License

Top restaurants in Brussels (according to Michelin)

Looking for a lunch or dinner spot in Brussels for a holiday lunch or dinner?

Update: Take a look at the 2012 list and highlights

If you want to splurge and spoil yourself or your family and friends, take a look at the 2011 list of Michelin-starred restaurants in Brussels. Three restaurants that previously had a star are now gone, including the Bistrot du Mail which has been closed. The list has now two new restaurants, including Kamo, the first Japanese restaurant in Brussels to earn a star.

Photo: Desert at Comme Chez Soi by Rajiv Patel (Nov.6, 2009) via Flickr, Creative Commons attribution 

If you are looking for a more laid-back and more reasonably priced meal, which is still very good, check out the Bib Gourmand restaurants, which offer great three-course meals for no more than 35 euros. (This is of course the minimum price… certain combinations of appetizer, main course and dessert in some of the restaurants can take you well above that amount…)

The Bib Gourmand list for 2011 has a total of 22 restaurants, the selection of which I partially agree with (e.g. yes for De la Vigne a l’assiette, which has really good food and a great wine selection, and also yes for Mamy Louise which had good quality food and offers great value; but no for Notos, which is quite overpriced for what it is and not that great either. It feels like it is trying to hard to be upscale and special… many people like it though).

The full list with links is here. Please comment if you have been to any of them!