paulbrussel

Indeed, I just learned from a friend in BCN that he passed away. Very sad news! Always when I went to BCN I passed by one of my favourite restaurants in Europe. He was a great chef, and a very nice man; as Corinna, always when by him I had a nice, friendly and interesting talk with him. All the best for his family, friends and his restaurant colleagues!

I know your post is almost 2 years old and there has been no comments added. I will be in Brussels in 2 weeks and I have booked CCS but not Sea Grill because of the many negative comments I have seen on other websites. Would anyone recommend it now ? I haven't been to the Sea Grill for over a year now, si I can't judge whether it has changed so dramatically since the chef Mattagne started his own owed restaurant. But in the past years I have eaten there over 50 times and in my view the quality was constantly high. CCS has all the times disappointed me (3 or 4 times). To be recommended: Jaloa (not Jardin brasserie), and Bon-Bon.

In reply to ameiden: I started to say to the chef that the food was good as ever. So there was no difference in that respect. Nevertheless, the cuisine has stayed about the same over the last 10 years, and so changed little. This probably has lead to the decision that also the second star has been taken by Michelin, leaving Bruneau now with only one star.

Thanks to their third star, I was unabale to book 10 days in advance for a Friday lunch :-(. I choose as alternative Can Fabes, which I never regret to go to, by the way.

At the end of March I will be in Taipei; is there any updated information about top quality restaurants there? Thanks in advance! Paul

After almost 10 years I had such a bad experience last Saturday at Bruneau (now two starred, fro a long time 3 star restaurants) in Brussels that I just sent the following letter to the chef, stating that the arrogant and very rude attitude did decide me never to go there again: Jean-Pierre Bruneau Chef de Cuisine Avenue Broustin, Bruxelles Bruxelles, le 8 mai 2009 Monsieur, Depuis des années j'ai savouré tout ce qui provenait de votre cuisine. J'ai toujours eu une grande admiration pour vos qualités en tant que cuisinier. Comme je vous l'ai dit samedi dernier, malheureusement ce jour-là c'était la dernière fois que je me rendais dans votre restaurant. Votre hôtesse était vraiment extrêmement désagréable, ne montrant aucune flexibilité, ni de la politesse, mais au contraire: elle m'a montré, en présence de deux amis à moi, un grand dédain pour quelqu'un qui depuis presque dix ans déjà vient régulièrement chez vous. Le ton sur lequel elle m'a répondu sur toutes les propositions de compromis faites par moi, était vraiment incroyable. Je ne pense que ni moi, ni aucun autre client chez vous, ne mérite un tel traitement. Je vous ai averti par après que c'était ma dernière visite chez vous. Vous m'avez choqué en me répondant: "Ce n'est pas grave!", réponse suivie par les mêmes mots quand j'ai montré à quel point j'étais stupéfait par votre réponse. Tout cela m'a bien expliqué comment un chef aussi arrogant et avec un tel manque d'éducation a pu recruter une hôtesse qui manque également d'éducation. Votre réponse m'a confirmé que j'ai fait le bon choix de ne plus venir chez vous. Vous étiez presque indifférent vis-à-vis de moi. Je suppose et j'espère que vous êtes aussi indifférent au fait que j'ai déjà commencé à déconseiller votre restaurant aux autres gourmets. Dès lundi, quand on m'avait demandé, en tant que grand amateur et connaisseur de recommander un restaurant pour un dîner d'une compagnie de renom, je me suis décidé de ne surtout pas recommander le vôtre. En ayant écrit beaucoup de critiques de restaurants sur internet, aussi sur les meilleurs restaurants de l'Europe, je communiquerai également ce traitement minable sur internet. En même temps je copie cette lettre (en b.c.c.) à mes amis et connaissances à qui j'avais recommandé votre restaurant et qui sont venus chez vous. Etant encore furieux, pour la première fois, je me sens incapable de clôturer cette lettre avec une formule de politesse.

I always take the bus from Brugge to Breskens which goes every hour and stops near the restaurant in De Ridderstraat..

I have had a meal at Beluga 9 times, the last time in June 2005. I thought about going there again, since some people say Van Wolde has become better. But I am eally a bit shocked by all this negative feedback here!

Nice, your Brussels reports!The sentence I quoted is exactly the reason why I come here quite often for a quick dinner of about 45 minutes and with two glasses of wine for about 30-40 €, incredibly good priced for Brussels for dinner (lunch is quite another story!). [i wanted to have dinner tonight there, but they are closed this week.]

OK: then I fully understand the difficulties :-).

I am afraid I have to agree with you.

Difficult to eat high end in Aalst.[Just to be precise: your post suggests that Flemish and French are alike - of course some one who understands French will never be able to read Flemish unless he also learned Dutch / Flemish.]

I can certainly again agree with the first recommendation.The second unfortunately is certainly not (longer) true!

For me there is some incoherence between the two remarks.I have tried Comme chez soi several times, the last time when Rigolert was already almost completely in charge. The meal gave me (again) the impression that the food is OK, good, but nothing special except for the extremely high prices. So I would rather say: "If you want to treat yourself, it is more worth going to Sea Grill".

Surely, Oud Sluis, being imho the best restaurant of the Benelux, is even a better choice as De Karmeliet.[You can even go there by bus 2 (every hour to Sluis-Breskens at 59 past) from the train station and stop at Sluis, Ridderstraat.] If you go there, do make a reservation, esp. for Friday, Saturday and Sunday quite in advance. (I tried to book for Friday dinner 9 months ahead but didn't succeed.)