The Top 100 Places to Eat Near Cantillon
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Rank 1. La Paix
French Fusion Japanese
A two-Michelin-star restaurant that has traded its old corner spot opposite the Anderlecht slaughterhouses for a grand Belle Époque hotel, La Paix is mid-move and temporarily closed. The kitchen's signature territory is French technique pulled toward Japanese restraint, with serious seafood running through most of it. A destination fine dining room, the kind where you dress up and clear your afternoon.
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The Art Nouveau interior by Horta, all stained glass and sinuous ironwork, sets the scene before anyone's opened a menu. This is classic fine dining in the old Brussels sense, the kind of room where sauces are taken seriously and the fourth generation of the same family is still running the pass. A Michelin star. The wine cellar doubles as a private dining room for those who want something a shade more contemporary.
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Rank 3. Asturias
Spanish
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Brutalist concrete and a casual room that makes no apologies for either. Kline is a modern neighborhood restaurant where the menu leans on local sourcing, vegetables, and seasonal instincts, with global flavors folded in wherever they fit. The à la carte lineup skews well toward vegetarian and is designed to share. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the kind of place where the food does the talking without the room dressing up for it.
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Rank 7. Jayu
Contemporary Korean
Twelve stools around a counter, one table, three bells to signal the start of service, and a two-hour tasting menu in twelve courses that Sang Hoon Degeimbre shapes around Korean fermentation, fruit, and spice. The room reads like a speakeasy, all theatrical hush, and the food leans into doenjang, umami, and smoke rather than the usual European fine-dining playbook. A Michelin Selected restaurant tucked behind the noise of Rue de Flandre.
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Rank 8. Bozar Restaurant
Modern French
Karen Torosyan's pâté en croûte, made by reservation only and shown to you unbaked before it goes into the oven, is the kind of production that makes you sit very still. This two-Michelin-star modern French restaurant occupies a Victor Horta Art Nouveau building, so the room is already doing a lot. The kitchen revives ancestral French and Belgian technique with a precision that borders on meditative, puff pastry very much included.
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Rank 9. Entre-Nous
Neapolitan Italian
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Tucked near the old fish market, this Greek taverna runs through a long modern corridor before opening into a brick-walled, wood-tabled room that feels lifted from a quieter part of Athens. The menu leans into mezzes and the kind of full-flavored cooking that makes a meal stretch pleasantly long. The wine list pulls from Greece and skews affordable. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.
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Rank 12. Fish Tank
Seafood
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Rank 13. Henri
Modern French
A cobbled terrace on one of Brussels' cooler streets sets the tone for this laid-back bistro. The menu roams freely, landing somewhere between classic French technique and Mediterranean ease, with the occasional Thai detour just to keep things interesting. The wine list and local beers get as much attention as the food. Regulars seem to treat the place as a neighborhood right rather than a reservation.
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Rank 16. Alley Mian
Lanzhou Noodles
A cook pulls and folds noodles to order in full view of the dining room, which sets the tone for everything at this small, no-reservations noodle shop near the Théâtre de la Monnaie. The broth is Lanzhou-style, built deep and left unadorned. Michelin gave it a Bib Gourmand, and the lunch queue most days makes the argument more plainly. Go early, go hungry, and don't expect to linger.
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Rank 17. Nénu
Contemporary Vietnamese
The organizing idea at this contemporary Vietnamese restaurant in Saint-Gilles is anh nhau, a tradition of sharing food and drink with people you like, which turns out to be a fine excuse to order three dishes minimum. The kitchen takes classical Vietnamese flavors somewhere quieter and stranger, lamb wontons and duck's tongues landing alongside smart cocktails. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the kind of place that makes a Tuesday feel considered.
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Rank 19. La Sardine du Marseillais
Provençal French
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Rank 20. La Boule
Bakery
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A Michelin-starred corner restaurant near the Brussels fish market where the menu is a surprise and the philosophy is not. The chef builds tasting menus around local, seasonal produce, then quietly pivots to something like wasabi sorbet without breaking a sweat. The room is deliberately unpolished, the wine list leans natural, and every decision on the plate seems to have been argued over before it arrived.
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Rank 24. senzanome
Italian, Sicilian
Tucked into the Sablon, one of Brussels' more self-satisfied corners, Senzanome is a fine dining room where the chef has spent years building a loyal following on Sicilian instincts run through a serious technical filter. The interior is cool and spare, pale tones and clean lines that step aside for the plate. Tasting menus carry the room's ambitions; the wine list leans deep Italian. It holds a spot on the 50 Top Italy ranking of the world's best Italian restaurants.
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Rank 27. Addis Stories
Ethiopian
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Rank 28. Nüetnigenough
French
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Rank 29. Pois Chiche
Lebanese
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Rank 30. Lucifer Lives
Coffee
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Rank 31. Lil Bao
Taiwanese
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Rank 32. Boulengier
Bakery
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Rank 34. Kage
Tea Cocktail Bar
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Rank 36. ANJU
Contemporary Korean
Sang Hoon Degeimbre, the chef behind L'Air du Temps, strips things back here to explore his Korean roots. In a minimalist room in Saint-Gilles, the kitchen puts out sharing plates built around hotpots, kimchi, and slow-cooked meats, the kind of food that reads as generous rather than studied. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the sort of contemporary Korean spot where the bill won't send you outside to quietly recalibrate.
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Rank 40. Lil’ Bouche
Coffee
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Kobe Desramaults, who made his name at In De Wulf and Chambre Séparée, runs this Michelin-starred creative dining room in central Brussels with a lounge soundtrack and an open kitchen counter at its heart. The set menu changes daily, which keeps the chef honest and the regulars guessing. Expect bold, ingredient-focused cooking where the produce does most of the talking, and service polished enough to feel made-to-measure without being stiff about it.
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Rank 43. Koul
Coffee
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Rank 44. L'Express
Lebanese
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Rank 46. Corica
Coffee
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Rank 47. Mok
Coffee
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Rank 48. Fight Club
Pizza
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Rank 49. Le Petit Mercado
Peruvian
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Rank 50. Wide Awake
Coffee
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Rank 51. Lafeh
Lebanese
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Rank 52. Gazzosa
Italian
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Rank 54. Chana
Vegetarian Indian
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Rank 55. Auntie Café
Cantonese
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Rank 56. Ajiyoshi
Japanese
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Rank 57. Cipiace
Italian
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Rank 58. Drache
Coffee
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Rank 60. Kitsune Burger
Vegetarian
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Rank 61. La Charcuterie
Mediterranean
The vintage tiles and butcher's wainscoting are still intact, which tells you this was once a charcuterie and is now a snug sharing bistro in Saint-Gilles. Walk past the deli counter and wine bottles on your way to a table, then order things meant to be passed around: rustic country cooking with a Mediterranean turn that nobody saw coming. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the price point matches the unpretentious mood.
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Rank 63. Nuovo Rosso
Italian
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Rank 64. Badi
Cider Wine Bar
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Rank 66. Gaston
Dessert
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Rank 67. Honest
Coffee
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Rank 68. Maison Dandoy
Bakery
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Rank 69. Da Long Yi
Sichuan
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The open kitchen runs entirely on fire, so you watch everything get smoked, roasted, or grilled from your seat. Flamme is a buzzy gourmet bistro in Saint-Gilles where vegetables take the lead, treated with the kind of seriousness usually reserved for meat. The menu is short, which sounds easy until you're actually choosing. Let the front-of-house guide your wine; regulars say she's never steered anyone wrong.
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Rank 72. Frank
Coffee
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Rank 76. Bouche
Coffee
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Rank 77. Era
Middle Eastern
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Rank 78. Buddy Buddy
Coffee
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Rank 79. L'épicerie Nomad
Mediterranean
The slate menu here draws no line between starters and mains, which sets the tone for a casual, tightly packed eatery where the cooking roams freely between mezze, couscous, and grilled beef. The Mediterranean and French instincts sit comfortably together, and the wine list is short but considered. It's the kind of neighborhood spot where no one's trying to impress you, yet the kitchen clearly has ideas.
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Rank 80. Eight
Bakery
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Rank 81. Selecto
Modern French
A bistro on one of Brussels' more self-consciously cool streets, Selecto earns a Michelin Bib Gourmand by keeping things honest: a short set menu, blackboard specials, and modern French cooking that leans Mediterranean when the mood takes it. The flavors are direct and generous rather than architectural. The wine list tilts French without being smug about it. Regulars seem to have done the math on the prix fixe and decided there's nothing to argue about.
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Rank 82. Grabuge
Cocktail Bar
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Rank 83. Ptitbeur
Beer Bar
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Rank 84. Stella
Specialty Coffee
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Rank 86. Belle Lurette
French
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Rank 87. Beaucoup Fish
Seafood
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Rank 88. Horta
Portuguese
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Rank 89. Savage
Vegetarian
A grocery-bakery at the door sets the tone before you've sat down. Savage is a plant-forward set-menu restaurant in the Saint-Boniface neighbourhood, where the single nightly lineup leans on herbs and vegetables, with meat or fish available to add from the refrigerated counter by the restrooms, which is a very Savage way to handle the choice. The terrace catches the neighbourhood's easy energy, and the cooking is precise enough that the radish cream and the marinated carrot get their own moment.
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Rank 92. Little Apo
Vietnamese
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Rank 93. Pépite
Bakery
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Colorful artwork lines the walls of this old-school Brussels brasserie on the Grand Sablon, and the terrace pulls in everyone from antique dealers to tourists who've just figured out where they are. The menu reads like a Belgian civics lesson: filet américain, vol-au-vent, brains with gribiche. The larder is famously well-stocked, and the kitchen doesn't pretend otherwise.
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Rank 95. Ciao
Modern Italian
The dining room inside a 17th-century stately home on Place Poelaert, all character and elegance with a pretty bar tucked alongside. The building belongs to a private club, but Ciao is open to anyone who wanders in. The chef leans heavily Tuscan, turning out Italian comfort food with a light modern hand, housemade pasta and slow-braised cuts that feel considered without feeling precious.
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Rank 96. La Belle Maraîchère
Franco-Belgian Seafood
Shrimp fritters and saddle of hare on the same menu tells you exactly what kind of place this is: an old-school Franco-Belgian seafood restaurant on the Saint-Catherine square, nostalgic in the best possible, unironic way. The room feels like Brussels circa a much earlier decade, and nobody seems to mind. Fish arrives impeccably fresh, portions run generous, and the crowd is the sort that has been coming long enough to skip the menu.
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Rank 97. Lola
Seasonal French
The terrace on Place du Grand Sablon goes red in fine weather, which tells you roughly what kind of crowd this French brasserie pulls. Beef carpaccio and vol-au-vent share the menu with pasta in salted butter, the kind of pedigree classics that have kept Sablon regulars coming back for as long as anyone can remember. Inside it's all clean, neutral tones, polished without trying too hard.
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Rank 98. Damn Good Café
Coffee
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Rank 99. Les Jours de Damas
Middle Eastern
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Rank 100. Les Petits Oignons
French
Calf's brains in lemon sauce and veal kidneys in mustard sit comfortably alongside tagliata on a menu that refuses to pick a lane, which somehow works perfectly. This relaxed brasserie near the Sablon has the wood-panelled warmth of a place that feeds regulars who never glance at the menu, with a sunny terrace shielded from the street. Classic French cooking, a few Mediterranean detours, and French toast to finish.