As I walked past this place I made a mental note to come back to it a little later after we had…read moremanaged to get something to eat. Well, when I checked up on Yelp I suddenly discovered that it was hovering near the top of the best bars in Lille, so I guess I must have this habit of being able to sniff out the really good bars (or I'm just lucky - I'll go with the luck factor). Anyway, it happens to be another hard rock cafe, or more specifically beer bar. There are only a couple of tables out the front, but then again the view out the front isn't all that fantastic (it is of a supermarket, so the only people who land up out there happen to be the smokers). Anyway, the inside is pretty cool, quite atmospheric actually, and they also play some pretty decent tunes. I wouldn't suggest that it is hugely crowded but since I was there on a Sunday that was probably the reason. Still, if you like your hard rock then this is a pretty decent place to go.

One of my favourite bars in Lille this is the place to go! Awesome draft Belgian beer choice and…read moregood music. Un de mes bars préférés sur Lille, un large choix de bière pression et toujours de la bonne musique :)

A fair place. Healthy options. Our dinner was good. A basic dinner with potencial to be better. My…read morechicken was slightly overcooked but the combination of sauce, veggies and spices made it okay.

Atmosphere: 5/5. Set in an old convent, very cool interior. Small but cozy. There is a back yard…read morearea where you can sit when the weather is nice. The restaurant is in the middle of town within a few blocks to the main town square. The menu has pictures of the nunnery attire, maybe how they brewed their own beer? They only had it in Dutch, no English menu. Food: 3/5. Bland food, which is not uncommon for Flemish cuisine, but meat was also quite tough. We tried the 2 most popular dishes, Brochette Oud Clooster, and Rundsstoverij met Westmalle Dubbel, and were not impressed. Both bland. The brochette was supposed to be medium rare but came out well done. Dry and tough. The dipping sauce has a hint of curry but wasn't enough to carry the whole dish. The stew has a yummy base, I could pick out the beer flavors (Belgians truly have the best beers in the world). Meat pieces were tough, which is a shame given this is a stew. They should have use a fattier cut of beef like chuck. Meme Gusta has a similar but much more flavorful Flemish stew. The no-bake cheese cake was light and refreshing. Good for 1 person, small to share between 2. Service: 2/5. They had no English menu. At this point I have come to Belgium enough to pick out a few familiar terms, but I would have liked to be able to see what other dishes they had. Had to aggressively flag down waiter whenever we needed something. they also charge €1.80 for tap water. This place is popular enough even for locals that one can't get in without reservations. We were told they only have 2 slots: 6-8 or 8-10. We picked the earlier one. The restaurant was only half full until about 7.

This local Ghent favorite lived up to the hype. The staff is fantastic and takes the time to…read moreexplain the menu. The highlight was a seasonal chicken and pumpkin meatball that was hearty and delicious. The vibe is casual, the seating is comfortable, and you get plenty of food for your money. A great pick for a cozy, filling meal!

After debating what to eat for our last lunch in Ghent, my friend and I decided to try this place…read moreout. When we arrived, there were a few people sitting inside, but wasn't fully packed. It was made known to us that we order first and then grab a seat. The menu was primarily in Dutch, so the staff were helpful enough to explain to us in English and answer any questions that we had. I got the Tomato Paprika Ball with Apple Rhubarb drink. It was one giant meatball with mashed potatoes under it. From the outside, it didn't appear to have tomato sauce at all cause the sauce was brown, but found that it was inside the ball. I personally like anything tomato sauce related, so I really enjoyed it. The meal was full of carb/protein. It was very filling - almost couldn't finish it myself. Flavors were delicious. I enjoyed the meal a lot.

A great authentic Belgian meal while you're in Brussels! This restaurant has been around for a…read morelong time, is always packed, often with a lineup outside. But they do their best to seat as many people as possible. I got in fairly quickly because i was alone. The food was fantastic. I had the Carbonade a la Biere, and it was so great! Like a beef stew and very tasty. Also had some good Belgian beer. Service was attentive and very fast. The restaurant is lively and exciting - not really a quiet romantic dinner. But a lot of fun!

If you want to try Belgian food with reasonable prices then this was one good option in Brussels…read more I arrived early for Friday night dinner and the restaurant was just over half full with lots of available seating. While the register states No Cards one of the servers told the table next to mine not worry when they didn't have enough euros. Only a drink menu was provided and the dishes being served that day were handwritten on moveable boards or posted on the wall. I had on my list a couple to try but finally went with the Belgian carbonades à la biere which was beef stew with mashed potatoes in a dark gravy made with beer. The plate was quite generous and much appreciated since I devoured it. I enjoyed the creaminess of the potatoes swirled with gravy but the meat could've been a tad bit more tender. Service was good. I think everyone on the floor stopped by my table for one reason or the other. Ambiance was casual and looked like many people were taking their time over their meals. When finished you need head to the register to settle the tab. I paid in cash. Worth a return visit.

Went looking for somewhere to eat in the town & found this small but tidy restaurant in the corner…read moreof the market place. The staff spoke English & we ordered ribs & 2 beers. When the meal arrived we had a rack of pork ribs as long as your fore arm cut into 3 pieces, a small dish of salad & fries. It was the specialty & was absolutely delicious. The beer was from the tap and was equally as nice. Overall a well deserved 5 stars for not only the food but service & ambiance.

Great! They are good and confident and don't need my review,,,but...here I go anyway! It's small…read morebut very cozy so when I got there...No tables available and they don't take reservations! I left to find something else but tried my luck & coming back. Glad I did! They have wine, but as I was told, beer is their thing. The food was excellent and the staff are colorful and efficient as the flow between tables! I had the meatballs (2 large ones), meals come with a small salad and a side & bread! The beer selection is wide. Mostly Belgium ones. Other tables had what looked like delicious tuna, lasagna and stew which they all seemed to enjoy.

This was a great experience. Nice small place that feels authentically Belgian. Great ambience and…read morefantastic service. In reviewing the menu, everything sounded fantastic. My wife settled on the beef stew with stoemp, I had the confit of beef chuck with a side of fries. They were both very tasty, the servings were perfect for normal appetites and the meal came with bread, and salad as well. We really enjoyed it, in retrospect I wish we had ordered a beef dish and something else, both dishes we had were excellent (the confit of beef practically fell apart with my fork) but the tastes were similar. Oh well, maybe next time. Highly recommended.

I have given Le Pain Quotidien chances in Washington DC and Qatar but I always leave somewhat…read moredisappointed. Finally, in France, it has to be good, right? I tried their raspberry tart, since, well, this is the land of delicious and fresh raspberry tarts. It just didn't reach the expectations. It didn't seem fresh and seemed more like the outcome of a factory conveyor belt and not the result of freshly made that morning with uniqueness and perfection. You're in France. Go to a bakery that is not part of a world wide chain and isn't even good anyway. Find one of those French bakeries that are one of it's kind and have been family run for generations while they still exist!

Lovely welcoming café/restaurant on one of Lille's pretty main squares. Seating is at large wooden…read moretables replete with the tantalising in-house selection of large glass jars, containing homemade conserves and nut butters. If you're tempted to try them, I highly recommend the breakfast, based on their delicious country bread which you can tailor to your own tastes, by adding a choice of drinks and more copious items. For me, the highlight was this tasty wholesome bread enhanced with the contents of some of the aforementioned jars. Easily kept me going until the evening! The coffee was good too and it was very tempting to buy some of their scrumptious wares on the way out...

Groot Vleeshuis is a historic building which used to be the meat market long time ago. Now it's…read morebeen converted into a restaurant, and the cool part about this place (other than the history) is that they have real Flanders ham hanging and drying from the ceiling! You don't have to be eating there to walk through the restaurant to see the ham! After going on a free walking tour, I was starving, so I came to eat lunch here. There are tables in an inside area that's inside of the building (sounds confusing, but when you see it you'll know what i'm talking about), but sitting in the area where the hams are hanging is a lot more fun. You just grab any table and a server will come to you. It's a hopping place for brunch/lunch - they have salads and toast and omelettes, and of course lots of beer options. I wanted to try something local and so I ordered the waterzooi, which is this cream/egg based stew with chicken and potatoes and other veggies. The dish originated in Gent. And since I was at the old Butcher's Hall, I wanted to try some ham. They had a meat tasting dish that came with four different meats. The meat sampler came with Superano ham, Ganda ham, Breydelham, and Gentse kop. My favorites were the Superano and the Ganda - they tasted like prosciutto. The Breydelham tasted like regular ham. The kop was my least favorite - it's basically a pork product made of parts of the pig like the head. I guess it's kind of like spam, but not as tasty. The sampler came with some kind of mustard for dipping the meat in! The waterzooi was tasty and hearty and it was huge!!! It had generous chunks of chicken and yummy potatoes. I like the light creamy flavor. I couldn't finish it because it was too much food. The service was great except it was hard when I tried to pay and leave. My original server was very busy with this large party that was there and he was bringing out dishes two at a time by himself. I finally got the attention of the girl server who was clearing a different table and she came by but when I tried to pay with my credit card, she said I had to go inside to the bar area to pay. So I went and paid and the girl who took care of that for me said it was like some kind of special customer day and gave me this little bottle of a pickled dip for eating meat with! There is free wifi! And there's a restroom, but you need a code to get there!

This former butcher's hall is a great space, and very well matched with the fare they now serve…read more I went with the blood sausage, and it did not disappoint. It was piled high with slices of ham and cooked apples. Pork is one of the specialties here, and the whole dish was very good. The distinctive taste of the sausage filling should be savored. I also had the opportunity to taste the waterzooi, a stew with a cream sauce. It was tasty. I would highly recommend this restaurant, if you find yourself in Ghent.

You pop in and it's there, pungent and unavoidable. Bordering on some luscious stinkness, the warm…read morecheese-laden air welcomes you at this little estaminet, half bar, half restaurant. You may have had many strong cheeses in you life, even Munster and Stilton, but Maroilles is nothing like those. I'm serious. The staff are less serious, though, but in a positive way. I've been suggested by French acquaintances to have the legendary Welsh Au Fromage, a Lille specialty this estaminet is famous for. And - ça va sans dire - I'm in need of the Maroilles version of if. I've been told that on both sides of the English channel, this dish used to be a substitute for rabbit. In essence, it's a thin slice of bread that's been soaked in beer, with some wholegrain mustard and ham layered up. Of course, the chief ingredient here is a ludicrous amount of Maroilles added on top before the dish is whacked in the oven to melt and bronze up. As I wait, I'm carried away by the atmosphere which feels like some dimmed-light medieval tavern, unpretentiously painted in opaque colours. We're in a "vieux" place after all. Wooden beams, ancient larders and dried flowers browned by the passing of time, do the trick. A chalice-like glass of golden Goudale ("Good Ale") shortens the wait. But the Welsh au Maroilles does not tarry. It's now sitting right in front of me to awaken my senses with the mighty odour of its presence. I'd love to tell that I had a first big mouthful without any hesitation. But that would be a lie. Still irresolute, I begin with the fries, crisp and creamy at the same time, roughly resembling Belgian fries - just not as crisp. So I dive in. The molten Maroilles surely dominates the flavour. Then comes the mustard, and then the beer. The way saltiness and bitterness go together gets me. And this flavour assembly is punctuated by the grains of mustard, somewhere between vinegar and mold. If you haven't guessed it yet, the taste of the cheese somehow mellows throughout the alchemy that the oven does. Not least, because this may help persuade first-time visitors. The desserts menu is no less interesting - mainly French classics. Crème Brûlée and Muscovado Sugar on Crêpes seemed in order so as to contrast the sharpness of the main course. Obviously, Crème Brûlée is more elaborate, but this was executed to perfection. Only slightly - microscopically, even - disappointing was that a vanilla pod seemed to be missing. And yet the caramelised top was undeniably flawless, and crackly, and luscious. Very good value for money, the bill came to about 48€ (42£) for two. To be repeated, in winter or whenever.

Northern French food with an emphasis on the Maroilles cheese. The cheese itself is a bit strong…read morefor me. This review is biases because I was here on a day where it was 95 degrees hot.. no air conditioning in the restaurant nor did they have ice.. but I'm sure it would be much more enjoyable on a cooler day.

I'm not sure how we stumbled upon this place but I would insanely recommend it for lunch or dinner…read more The chef was beyond amazing and the owner was super warm and friendly, he explained the menu in details and all the beer selections. Bottom line if you looking for traditional Belgium food, great atmosphere and a local brewery, then this is your place! Intention to detail for the men's room is excellent and the fire place smell just right to set the mood.

Decent food and the biggest selection of Belgian beers you can find. They also have their own…read morebrewery with a fine selection of different beers. The owner of 't Rusteel has a big knowledge of the different kind of beers. If you want to arrange a beer-tasting evening, do it here!