Craft beers, dim sum, Chinese hotpot and more: a culinary trip through Brussels
From craft beers to Chinese hotpot, Brussels’ vibrant food scene blends Belgian tradition and global flavours in unexpected ways
In Brussels, few things are as they seem. As the Belgian city’s famed son René Magritte once said, “everything we see hides another thing”.
I think of the surrealist painter, best known for hauntingly simple works such as The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe) (1929) and The Son of Man (1964), often on this trip to Brussels. It is 8am when our flight from Hong Kong touches down, yet the sky is still inky, the air bone-chillingly cold.
There is an eeriness to the streets as our car meanders its way into the heart of the city. As the sun begins its ascent, there is that fleeting moment between the skies turning blue and the street lights turning off, the scene unfurling almost like Magritte’s The Empire of Light series, which depicts a neighbourhood living in both daytime and nighttime.
The interiors have been updated with what its designers call “1970s Brutalism-meets-botany aesthetic”, with lush greenery meshing with chrome detailing, a cheerful colour palette and plush textures.