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Au Vieux St Martin
The staple of the Niels restaurant empire (which
also includes La Marie Joseph on Place St
Catherine as well as the Canterbury in Flagey),
Le Vieux St Martin sits on Brussels’ Grand
Sablon/Grote Zavel the way a queen sits on her
throne – majestic, composed and dignified.
With its kitchen open for business throughout
the day, it has ever since its opening in 1968
excelled in cooking up authentic Belgian
cuisine (its Filet Américain, invented in 1924
by founder Albert Niels, is the stuff of legend)
for the upper crust of society – everyone from
Bill Clinton to Johnny Depp has eaten here. A
pillar of the city’s dining landscape, Au Vieux St
Martin is the kind of place where your parents
took you as a child, and where you’ll definitely
be taking your children too – kind of like that
Piaget watch that is passed on from generation
to generation and never goes out of fashion.
Au Vieux St Martin
Place du Grand Sablon 38 Grote Zavel
1000 Brussels
The Food Special
Le Pré Salé
81
Founded in 1968, le Pré Salé is squeezed
between two townhouse on Brussels’ Rue
de Flandres/Vlaamsesteenweg, its entrance
flanked on both sides by two large windows
offering full view of the restaurant’s interior.
Once inside, the first thing that strikes you is
the open kitchen, the magnificent tiling on the
floors and walls as well the glassworks dating
back to the 1800s, and which hang above the
kitchen counter. Authentic and no-nonsense,
le Pré Salé’s our go-to-place for seasonal
mussels, which come direct from Zeeland
(owner John Lerinckx calls them the ’golden’
mussels) and are best served ’nature, with a
portion of homemade French fries of course
Rue de Flandre 20 Vlaamsesteenweg
1000 Brussels.