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Anyone been to Brussels?

7percent

7percent

Pascal Chimbonda
My girlfriend has booked us a trip to Brussels in a couple of weeks,

I've never been to Brussels before and don't know why I would want to go. I understand there's good food and beer to be had, but there's good food and beer in the UK as well (probably easier to find the good beer in Brussels though)

So what else does Brussels offer? I just want to feel a little bit excited at least.
 
Manneken Pis...

Nah, seriously, the beer is great. I used to love my trips over to Brussels for work just for that reason alone. The beer is loads better than we can get here. And there's more of it.
 
I've been working over here since last Summer and I'm starting to enjoy it more and more recently.. For tourists it's all about the Beer, Chocolate, Waffles, Frites etc...

It's a decent city, although not really an amazing one from a tourism point of view.. I would grab a guidebook and do the obvious sites.
For me I realised it's one of those places where you have to put in the effort to find out what's about. Most of the best places I have discovered have either been by chance or recommended by colleagues.

If you doing a weekend or longer I would say spend 1 day doing the main sites of Brussels then get a train a visit one of the other nearby cities on the other days. From Brussels there are excellent trains and they are pretty cheap... Brugges, Ghent, Antwerp all close (30-40mins) and worth a visit (Probably 10 euros return!).. and even Paris, Amsterdam, some places in Germany etc are all within 1 or 2 hours. When I have friends and family over thats what I tend to do.




This place has over 2000 beers! They say it's the most of any bar in the world but I don't know if it's true!?
http://deliriumcafe.be/bieres.html
 
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Discodean said:
Truffles and depression
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As I sit here at my desk this morning, one of the ladies I work with is currently off with depression....... but we also have a lot of Belgium chocolates in the office so things are good lol!!
 
ArcspacE said:
Why are they depressed - brick weather?
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They're not really, it was just a coincidence I saw that comment and knew this one colleague who was off with depression. The locals are generally a fairly chirpy bunch... More so if you can speak decent French (I'm still learning!)

They do moan about the weather a lot, they say it rains too much but it's no different from London.. In fact I thought it was slightly warmer here last summer if anything.
 
Went to Bruges last year did a day trip to brussels on the train. Got to say thought the place was bit of a dump. Had a decent meal and beers were good but just walking around thought there was that edginess feel with tramps and pickpockets everywhere or so it seemed.
 
I'm going with a bunch of mates in a couple of weeks. We're basically looking to get brick-faced and perv on strippers for three days. Can Brussels do that for us?
 
DeanoAustin said:
I'm going with a bunch of mates in a couple of weeks. We're basically looking to get brick-faced and perv on strippers for three days. Can Brussels do that for us?
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Not that I've come across yet, If you find any hidden gems make sure you spread the knowledge though ;)

Brussels is full of little squares with bars but they are all dotted about all over the place.. I recommend doing some serious research on bars, clubs, strip clubs etc so you can plan your night.
 
dingdongo said:
Not that I've come across yet, If you find any hidden gems make sure you spread the knowledge though ;)

Brussels is full of little squares with bars but they are all dotted about all over the place.. I recommend doing some serious research on bars, clubs, strip clubs etc so you can plan your night.
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Thank you. If you come up with any recommendations, can you PM me please. Hope we can find somewhere to meet our needs or we'll have to sit around and talk to each other about our feelings and stuff. Bit gay that and not the sort of weekend we are looking for.
 
DeanoAustin said:
I'm going with a bunch of mates in a couple of weeks. We're basically looking to get brick-faced and perv on strippers for three days. Can Brussels do that for us?
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I dunno how well Brussels is catered for the latter. The only time I saw anything vaguely resembling titty bars was on a train heading out to Antwerp on the outskirts of Brussels, but I reckon that was more red light district than titty bars. Never ventured there on foot to check it out though as I just basically got brick faced on Belgian beer with work colleagues (or once or twice on my own). Rather than talk about your "feelings" you could just get brick faced and see if you can talk to the massive stuffed horse that takes pride of place at Le Roy on Grand Place. After several glasses of Duvel - or whatever - you'll probably think the horse makes more sense in conversation than your mates.
 
funster said:
I dunno how well Brussels is catered for the latter. The only time I saw anything vaguely resembling titty bars was on a train heading out to Antwerp on the outskirts of Brussels, but I reckon that was more red light district than titty bars. Never ventured there on foot to check it out though as I just basically got brick faced on Belgian beer with work colleagues (or once or twice on my own). Rather than talk about your "feelings" you could just get brick faced and see if you can talk to the massive stuffed horse that takes pride of place at Le Roy on Grand Place. After several glasses of Duvel - or whatever - you'll probably think the horse makes more sense in conversation than your mates.
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Haha, thanks for the advice.

No doubt the horse will make more sense than my mates. To give an example of the level of individual I'm going with, a few weeks back one of them roped the rest of us into a table quiz. One of the questions was:

Q. In ancient Egypt, what is the name of the creature who has the head of a human and the body of a lion?

To be fair, I didn't get it straight away but one of the other lads eventually got it (The Sphinx is the answer for those keeping score). Anyway, read the question again and now read my mate's answer....



















A. Beauty and the Beast.

Can't wait to talk to that horse.
 
Funster and dingdongo- are there any particular bars or restaurants you can recommend? I'm going with my girlfriend and her mates so it's more about quality/value than going out on the lash.

Brugges could be a goer- I'll see if my gf and her mates are up for it. It's more of a medieval town with cobblestones and stuff? For some reason I just picture Brussels as a big faceless mass of concrete with some politicians patting each other on the back.

I know I'm probably totally wrong, but unless I can shake it then I'm not gonna get excited at all.
 
Boonie said:
Good steak and beer, that's about all it has going for it.
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This is a worry though. I'm the kind of guy who will find the one place in the whole city that does brick steak, then instead of going for a few beers in the evening I'll be sitting on the porcelain throne until it's all passed through.

So recommendations please? I need names!
 
7percent said:
Funster and dingdongo- are there any particular bars or restaurants you can recommend? I'm going with my girlfriend and her mates so it's more about quality/value than going out on the lash.

Brugges could be a goer- I'll see if my gf and her mates are up for it. It's more of a medieval town with cobblestones and stuff? For some reason I just picture Brussels as a big faceless mass of concrete with some politicians patting each other on the back.

I know I'm probably totally wrong, but unless I can shake it then I'm not gonna get excited at all.
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You're right about Brugges (and Ghent), they are the kind of places my parents and girlfriend at the time enjoyed... old squares, cobbled streets, cathedrals, canal boats, horse and carts etc.. I went last summer and was a decent day trip (well, at least it kept the mrs happy).

I'll have a think about some Brussels places but i'm no expert on the restaurants, I moved out here on my own so haven't really had the chance to eat out in the evenings that much. One thing is for sure, it's not really recommended to eat in the places close to the main square (Grand Place), it's all a bit over-priced and not the greatest standard (although the square is so busy many tourists make that mistake!)
 
What dingdongo said. Brussles ain't the most picturesque of cities, that's for sure. Grand Place is about as pretty as it gets, but I'd only hang around there for sampling some beers in the local bars. The restaurants in the side streets around it are of the variety where the waiters stand outside trying to tempt you in with offers of a free starter to go with your main. I did end up in one or two in my early trips to Brussels and the quality can sometimes be OK, but never great.

There is a very fine restaurant in Brussels called Comme Chez Sois, BUT it is damn expensive from what I recall. Lucky I was on expenses and entertaining clients then!

Been a good few years now since I was last in Belgium so I'm afraid my memory is failing me. If I can think of any others later I'll post back.
 
I'm just in such a bricky place at the moment. My girlfriend was really excited about going on a holiday with her mates and encouraged me to come, I agreed but when she booked the tickets (In January) I was really skint and she's been nagging me for the money ever since, even suggesting that I don't go out with my mates until I pay her back. I've paid her back now but the question that is on my mind is;

Why would you book a holiday for somebody who you know to be skint, if you cannot wait a few weeks for them to pay you back?

So I've gone from not being too bothered at all about going to resenting it and no wanting to go at all. To make matters worse we're going the night before her mates go for a sexy evening in a hotel - at my expense.

It was only a matter of £130 in the first place, and I can easily spend that much on a night in a hotel.

I get she just wanted her money back but she's been a real c*nt about it.
 
there are a couple of bars with thousands of beers - deff worth checking out.
I had coconut beer out of a fake coconut - was very odd.

Mennekin Pis worth a look

If you havn't been to Bruges, jump on the train (20mins i think) for a day.
If you do - try a Bicky Burger. It will be one of the best burgers you ever have. (Get it from the burger van in the main square)
Frites museum is interesting and they make Frites that taste amazing - really tasty and fluffy.

Brussels - i was underwhelmed tbh. It was ok.
 
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