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Classified from A to Z they cover every neighbourhood in the city plus all genres and prices.The guide continues to apply a « rigorous » selection procedure and inclusion is much sought after. It has won an enviable reputation for giving an objective, accurate and detailed analysis of restaurants of all kinds and types.

These range from gastronomic establishments to relatively humble and low-priced places. All are based on 10 separate criteria such as the welcome given to diners and all are judged on their price/quality.

About 60 restaurants have been deleted in the 2019 issue, either due to bankruptcy or non-compliance with the strict selection criteria. As it has done since 2011, the guide once again includes a Delta Discovery Pass which offers 30% discount (excluding drinks) in 45 restaurants in and around Brussels, all scrupulously selected by the Guide’s gastronomic columnists.

For the second year in a row, the publisher, Stephane Desmet has also included, under the heading « Tips from the Delta Guide », about 60 restaurants considered « essential to discover. »

These are classified in four categories: trendy, gastronomic, must-sees and those classed as cool.

The 45 gourmet addresses have been scrupulously selected and are classified by district and category (gastronomic table, good value for money, favourites and those in a beautiful setting). The Discovery Pass is also available at these restaurants.

The guide, first published back in 1977 and the only one of its kind in Belgium, is also available as an electronic version

With an average of 7,000 visitors per day and a database of 5,620 hotels and restaurants, the website (as is the book) a reference to find a good restaurant or a hotel in Belgium and also the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

Each year, it also presents awards to mark the new edition and 2019 is no different. Desmet, publisher for the past 11 years, explained that while the temptation, with each new edition, is to honour well known chefs who have helped win Brussels its culinary reputation the « Delta Guide philosophy is more about discovery than consecration. »

This year, the guide has therefore honoured relatively new restaurants and young chefs.

The 2019-2020 nominees are:

Golden Delta: Hispania Brussels (Brussels) Adrian Mancheño;

Silver Delta: Origine (Etterbeek) Xavier Lizen;

Bronze Delta: Willy’s Workshop (Brussels) Bogdan Streinu;

DELTA by specialty (in alphabetical order):

Bissetoun (Iranian cuisine);

Chez Anesti (Greek);

From Brussels and Elsewhere (world);

Gallery Resto-Boutique (Vietnamese);

Mon Fou d’Mari (Belgian cuisine);

Osteria Romana (Italian);

Meadow of Chez Nous (bistronomic) and

Tang Dynasty (Chinese)

The guide, which sold up to 10,000 copies in 2018, is available in all bookshops.

Further info via

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The restaurant owner is Anca, an affable woman with great taste for wines, interior and of course, for food. Robin complements her perfectly; when he started at Alexandre, he decided to give the dishes a female, elegant and filigree twist. Robin (or The Robin, as he’s called by friends in the food scene) is, to say the least, a perfectionist and everything about his dishes is well thought through; the colours, tastes, textures and of course the ingredients; the produce is well-balanced and perfectly aligned with each other. On top of this, the restaurant has a sustainable outlook, wasting as little food as possible and using each ingredient wherever and however possible. What’s in the sauce, dressing or puree, is usually also on top of the dishes, such as shiso, violet petals or wild leaves.

To follow the seasons, the menu changes frequently, with one element usually being replaced every two or three weeks. In summer, you might find dry aged milk cow or all kinds of baked, smoked, cured or raw fish dishes on the menu. While towards winter and spring time it could be game duck or milk-lamb that you’ll discover on your plate. The dishes are never ordinary or boring, you’ll always experience something you haven’t eaten or even heard of before, such as tamarillo, juice from young pines or verbena. Once, for example, there was a deconstructed Lobster roll on the menu, inspired by Robin’s wife’s stay in Boston. The Lobster was sautéed in garlic, served in a delicate and very flavourful sauce made from toast, baked apple and tamarillo, lemon and mustard. On the plate there were also green tomatoes, chervil and a juice reduction from young pines. This dish was so surprising and interesting, while being very tasteful and an absolute colour bomb, intensified by the blue plate it was served on.

Service and kitchen staff are utterly lovely and it’s visible that the team at Alexandre is a team of people, who love food and want to bring it to their guests in the most perfect way. It’s haute cuisine with creative tastes and dishes in a non-pretentious, but welcoming and warm setting.

Address: Rue du Midi 164, 1000 Bruxelles

Prices: Quick lunch 28€, Lunch 40€, Grand Lunch 60€, Petit menu 70€, Grand menu 120€

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The place opened in 2014 by Giorgia and Andrea, two Italians, who are passionate about good food and great ingredients. But the place has changed a lot over the years. Not only in terms of interior and decoration, but also the menu and the drinks have been reinvented to what is today a very interesting variety of food and cocktails. It’s packed every evening and now Cipiace opened a second bar in Antwerp.

None of their cocktails are ordinary. Their drinks list is very creative with some unusual techniques that make the cocktails extra special, such as infusing them with liquid smoke for example. The cherry Negroni is served in a little porcelain cup. You drink it with a dried pear on the side, as well as a small teaspoon with a blop of rich, melted chocolate, with a cherry marinated in syrup on top – it’s their version of Mon Chéri. The cocktail is made from Laphroaig 10 Whisky, Martini Rubino, Martini Bitter, Italicus Rosolio and Amarena Fabbri syrup. With each drink you order you get a small snack, such as Taralli (an Italian kind of cracker).

Another special thing about Cipiace is that instead of egg whites for their whisky-sour-style cocktails they’re using Aquafaba, which is the water that chickpeas or other protein-rich legumes were cooked in. Once in the shaker, it attains the same effect as with egg whites and you get a nice, even foam on top of your cocktail. The great thing is that you produce less food waste and it’s vegan.

However, Cipiace is not only about drinks. They also offer small Italian bites or bigger dishes: from bruschetta to pasta variations that change with season. You’ll find a lot of options that will make your belly happy. To cure a possible hangover that your first experience at Cipiace has left you with – head straight back for the brunch to cure it. Brunch takes place on Sundays and goes on until 15:30h.

Price: around 9-13€ for a cocktail, 9-16€ for starters, 17-19€ for pasta and 20-26€ for seafood and meat dishes

Address: Parvis Saint-Gilles 49A, 1060 Bruxelles

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Yamato is a simple and honest place that serves great food. It was opened in 2016 by Kato, who came to Belgium when he was 23. After he had worked at several Japanese restaurants in Belgium, he took over the restaurant from Mr Inagaki, one of the first to introduce Japanese Ramen food culture to Brussels. Kato owns three restaurants (Yamato, and Menma in two locations), but Yamato is the only one where the broth used as a base for the Ramen is made from chicken, whereas other places predominantly use a pork base.

What’s Ramen? Ramen is a Japanese soup consisting of a broth basis that is served with homemade noodles, vegetables such as spring onions, soy beans or bamboo shoots as well as pork slices or Katsu. Katsu is breaded pork, which is very thin, crispy and juicy, cut into slices and added on top of your big bowl of Ramen. You can also choose the Miso version, which means that Miso paste (fermented bean paste) is added, giving your soup a more intense, saltier taste.

Another thing that makes Yamato special is the setting. You get delicious soup bowls while sitting at one of the stools around the bar from where you can watch Kato cooking and preparing steaming bowls, filled with handmade curly Ramen noodles, chicken broth, vegetables and meat (or without it if you’re vegetarian).

You can also order other dishes at the little corner restaurant right by Saint Boniface. Their Gyozas are delicious and the Katsudon, too. If it’s your first time here though, definitely try the Miso Katsu Ramen. It’s smooth in its taste, full of umami flavour and full of different textures. Once you’ve taken a bite into the Katsu, you’re going to come back to Yamato over and over again.

Good to know: Gyoza around 7€, Ramen 12-14€

Address: Rue Francart 11, 1050 Ixelles

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The restaurant is one big dining room, decorated in a romantic and somehow mystic way: it’s painted in a dark forest green, decorated with fresh flowers, green leather cushions, old paintings and other Art Nouveau pieces. In the middle of the room there’s a large, heavy, wooden commode with even more fresh and colorful flowers on it. Dark brown wooden tables and heavy chairs put you in the perfect mood to have a more-course dinner and three or more glasses of wine. The waiters are neatly dressed and are very polite and helpful. You could say that there’s some kitsch to the whole place, but it’s just the right amount.

The menu changes depending on season, but you’re able to order many of the traditional dishes all-year-round. Belgian food culture includes dishes such as intestines or brain and Les Brigittines serves these, but also pig feet, udder, and other curiosities. If this is not for you, don’t worry. There are many other choices, such as their delightfully tasty and soft pork belly with cubes of raw tuna on top, seasoned with spicy ginger, fresh cilantro and green lime. You could also try the rich, creamy soup from grey shrimps that Dirk orders from the North Sea.

A classic is, without question, the roasted chicken cooked in vinegar that arrives at your table served by the chef himself and accompanied by loud, cheerful music. If your dinner hasn’t been an event until that point, it certainly is now. Another must is their changing fish dishes, the pigeon, or simply the beef steak. Make sure you try the ‘Geuze’, a special, quite sour Belgian beer, fermented in a copper barrel for over a year.

 

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Dirk Myny pays very special attention to the ingredients he uses and therefore you’ll always find something new when enjoying your meal at his restaurant. It’s the comforting food you want to eat on rainy evenings or sunny lunches just to leave with that little, good amount of tipsiness.

Price: 3-course lunch is 35 €, 4-course market menu is 55 €, 6-course menu “canaille” is 75 €, à la carte starters are 14-21€, main dishes are 25-35€, wines are

Address: Place de la Chapelle 5, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

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When you enter, the place shines in bright red and offers a lot of seating options. You can take a seat more towards the right side of the restaurant at diner-resembling tables or at a higher table just next to lovely ladies folding dumplings by hand. You can also choose to sit more towards the middle of the room on cosy sofas and simple chairs. Additionally, there’s a private room that is opened for special occasions, or if the restaurant is buzzing with guests.

Dam Sum is most popular for dinner during the week, and for lunch time on weekends. Why? Because it’s a restaurant where you want to relax and take your time. You’re not just going to enter, sit down, eat your three dumplings and leave. No. You’ll start with the steamed BBQ pork buns, which are soft and moist and might stick to your mouth – but in the good way. You might then order fried shrimp rolls that you dip into a spicy mayonnaise sauce or maybe you’re going to try the steamed beef dumplings in vinegar sauce that are wrapped in a shiny thin dough. Once done with this, it’s a good idea to try some more dumplings and it’s entirely up to you how many.

One thing not to miss is their soup dumplings. It’s a dumpling filled with broth that you can slurp out, before enjoying the rest of the filling. For this, you place the dumpling on a spoon, poke a little hole into it with your chopsticks, slurp out the soup and then you eat the rest of the dumpling.

In case you’re curious about how the dumplings are prepared, you can observe the ladies right by the entrance rolling the dough, filling the to-be-dumplings with minced meat or vegetables and then twirling them into a perfect little bag that they place into an Asian steaming basket in groups of three. In case you want to have something different, Dam Sum also serves warm dishes like black pepper beef or pineapple chicken fried rice.

Among all this savoury indulgence you shouldn’t neglect their vanilla ice cream buns, made from fried, sweet, fluffy dough. If you’re a fan of cocktails that are more on the sweet side, then you’ll be happy about having a ‘Beijing Fresh’ or other options from their drink menu.

Price: 4-7€ for a portion of Dim Sum, around 11€ for main dishes and on Sundays there’s a special menu which includes 5 Dim Sum baskets for 2 persons for 22€

Address: Parvis de la Trinité 11, 1050 Ixelles AND Quai Au Bois a Bruler 51 – 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium (New!)

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Le Wine Bar des Marolles got its name in 2007, when it moved just a few hundred metres from Sablon to Rue Haute. It’s here where Vincent Thomaes, the warm and friendly owner of the restaurant, speaks passionately to his guests while walking energetically in and out of the kitchen. Before opening the restaurant, he worked together with his brothers at their star restaurant South of Brussels. He has trained famous sommeliers around the world and Vincent’s knowledge of wines permeates the entire experience.

On two floors, dark wooden tables take up most of the space in the large dining rooms. The tables are placed close together, but just far enough so you avoid overhearing the conversations of your neighbours. The warm, dark orange lamps hanging from the ceiling, illuminate the place just enough to shed light on the old, golden-framed paintings that decorate the walls.

Vincent opens the restaurant only from Thursday until Sunday with lunch being served on weekends exclusively. This timetable allows for him to travel through Belgium and France to look for high quality produce, as the ingredients used at the restaurant are mainly locally sourced and carefully picked by Vincent himself. The meat and seafood served come from well-treated animals that were held under good conditions and most of the vegetables grow in proximity to Brussels.

On the menu you’ll find a lot of traditional recipes that belong to Vincent’s family, like the very soft, intensively-tasting butter that’s been cooked several times. There’s a lot of comforting food, like the homemade Foie Gras with an apple reduction and apple slices cooked in syrup made from the peels; or the Joue de Boeuf, slow cooked beef cheek that is served with a puree of seasonal vegetables and grilled roots. It’s so soft that you could easily tear it apart with a spoon in one hand while holding a glass of one of the marvelous wines in the other. Recommended dishes are also the creamy, soft burrata, served with seasonal grilled vegetables or any type of terrines, sausages or the tastefully prepared seafood like oysters, mackerel or scallops.

Price: A bottle of wine is around 25-200+€ (extraordinary wines), starters around 11-20€ and mains 18-35€

Address: Rue Haute 198, 1000 Brussels

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Henri, the owner, moved to Belgium five years ago. He moved from France, where his father is a vigneron (someone who produces wine) and where most of his family is working with wine. He’s quite a character and you’ll want to become friends with him immediately.

When you step inside of La Trinquette, there’s several seating options to consider. Either you sit right at the long bar – decorated with plants, glasses and industrial lamps – where you’ll be facing Henri and his crew, who are always up for a good laugh and some French humour. The other option is to find a romantic corner somewhere in the back at one of the rustic wooden tables, surrounded by decorative, antique gimmicks. There’s even an old piano and some paintings in the open room at the back of the bar, which is great for big groups. If you’re more of a ‘see and to be seen mood’, you can also sit on one of the bar stools around a big wooden barrel. It serves as a table for your numerous glasses of wine – because you will most probably want to try all of the different ones.

What’s special about this bar? It’s the atmosphere, the people and of course, the wines and the food. The wines and the food produce all come from Languedoc, a region in the South of France. Wines are usually made from  Syrah, Carignan, Grenache, Bourboulenc, Mourvèdre, but the list of grapes from Languedoc is long. You can get them by bottle or by glass and Henri is more than happy to talk you through the selection. Not only are the wines from Languedoc, but also the rillettes, the sausages, the ham, olives and cheese and everything is fresh and of the highest quality. Sometimes they also serve Croque Monsieur or Mont d’Or, the highly addictive low cholesterol – just joking – melted cheese that is eaten by using a piece of baguette as a spoon. Nights can get long here so fuel yourself up with some French food!

Keep your eyes open for any special events that are often taking place at La Trinquette. They’re usually announced on Facebook and Instagram and involve Oysters, Beaujolais Languedoc-style or other special treats that make everyone’s heart who likes food and wine beat faster.

You like your wine cold? They also have seats outside. Follow them on Instagram to hear about upcoming events: @latrinquettebruxelles / @lescanonsderiton

Price: A glass of wine 5-7€, cheese and charcuterie 7-12€

Address: Rue de l’Aqueduc Rue de l’Aqueduc, 1060 Saint-Gilles

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The book, subtitled A Manual for Criminals on How to Avoid Punishment in the EU has been written by former European Parliament staff member Gary Cartwright. It was launched at the Brussels Press Club last week.

It tells the story of a man, considered by many to be a financial genius, who rose from simple beginnings to become one of his country’s first post-Soviet entrepreneurs, a government minister, and ultimately the head of Kazakhstan’s largest financial institution, the BTA Bank, which he was to defraud of an estimated $7.6 billion.

Cartwright, who has spent almost two years investigating the activities of Ablyazov, has woven together a tale that emerges not just as one of a prolific fraudster, but of a close knit and highly effective criminal syndicate that has links at the highest levels. “When I first started to understand what was going on here, I pitched the story to the British press. I was repeatedly told that the story was far too complex – it could never be explained in a single article, and in any case it was almost unbelievable. So I set myself the task of condensing it into an accessible book form”.

Ablyazov, had already served a short jail sentence in 2002 for “abusing official powers” when he assumed control of the BTA Bank after Yerzhan Tatishev, then head of the Bank, was killed in 2004 in what was described at the time as a ‘hunting accident.’ Tatishev died from a shot to the head whilst driving in a car with fellow hunters. The man responsible for his death, Muratkhan Tokmadi, a known criminal with strong links to organised crime, received a short jail sentence for causing Tatishev’s ‘death through negligence.’ He was later to confess to having carried out the killing deliberately, on the orders of Ablyazov himself.

Between taking control of the bank and the moment he fled the country in 2009, he had channelled billions through a network of over 1,000 offshore companies set up for the purpose, largely through the issue of loans that would never be repaid. Investors suffered heavy losses through his activities, including HSBC, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, as well as the Royal Bank of Scotland which had invested $1.8 billion of private pension funds with the bank. Very little of this money has been recovered.

Cartwright makes clear connections with other wanted criminals such as Viktor Khrapunov, a former Mayor of the city of Almaty, and the subject of no less than twenty criminal prosecutions who has been found guilty of defrauding the Kazakh state to the tune of some $300 million. Khrapunov’s son, Ilyas, who is married to Ablyazov’s eldest daughter is, like his father and his father-in-law, subject to multiple extradition warrants and is on Interpol’s Red List.

In August 2018, the High Court of England and Wales ruled that Ilyas Khrapunov had conspired with Mukhtar Ablyazov to swindle over $6 billion. Court documents suggest that some of this vast sum is likely to have been laundered through the real estate empire of US President Donald Trump.

The book also devotes a chapter to the controversial human rights NGO, the Warsaw-based Open Dialogue Foundation. It has been widely speculated that this NGO was set up by Ablyazov himself in order to sanitise his reputation and to present him as a victim of political persecution. Cartwright asserts that a suspicious number of “politically persecuted” individuals represented by the NGO are, like the Khrapunovs, associated with Ablyazov himself, and also have convictions for money laundering and other offences. The author also draws attention to suspicious funding issues relating to the NGO itself.

Whilst telling the story in a light hearted and easily digestible manner, the book also contains copies of the many court judgements against Ablyazov. It will appeal to anyone curious to learn about the murky world of international fraud and money-laundering.

« WANTED MAN: The Story of Mukhtar Ablyazov is available here

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