Fin de Siècle

The Uncompromising Bistro

Fin de Siècle occupies a specific and important position in Brussels' dining culture. It takes no reservations. It seats strangers together at communal tables. The menu is short, written on a chalkboard, and changes with the market and the season rather than the preferences of its audience. The kitchen produces Belgian classics with the conviction of a restaurant that understands these dishes are not simple to execute well and does not pretend otherwise.

Located on the Rue des Chartreux in the Sainte-Catherine neighbourhood — the fish market district that has evolved into Brussels' most interesting restaurant quarter — Fin de Siècle draws a crowd that ranges from local residents who have been eating here for years to visitors who have been pointed here by people who know the city properly. The queue outside during peak hours is not a deterrent; it is evidence that the restaurant's judgement about its own format has been validated by repeated experience.

The cooking is Belgian without qualification. Carbonnade flamande — beef slow-braised in dark Belgian ale with the onions and thyme and bay that the preparation demands — is the signature and the measure. Rabbit braised with Kriek, the cherry lambic beer that gives the dish its characteristic sweet-tart quality, is the second essential. Pork knuckle arrives with the crackling intact and the flesh yielding. Portions are the size that suggests a kitchen that is not interested in charging you more than the food is worth. At €30–40 per person for dinner with beer, Fin de Siècle represents a value proposition that the starred rooms of Brussels cannot approach on their most democratic evenings.

Best Occasion: Team Dinner

The communal table format makes Fin de Siècle one of the most effective team dinner venues in Brussels — not despite its idiosyncrasies but because of them. The act of sharing a table with strangers, of eating from a limited menu that everyone can agree on, of drinking Belgian beer from the list without ceremony or performance, creates a levelling effect that functions better than any team-building exercise. Groups of six to ten eat here with the ease of a restaurant designed for exactly this.

For solo dining, the communal format is one of the city's better solutions to the problem of eating alone without isolation. You will be seated beside people who are eating well and talking; the conversation, if it happens, will happen naturally; if it does not, the food is interesting enough to occupy you fully. For a birthday dinner with friends who value atmosphere over formality, Fin de Siècle provides the energy and the good humour that formal restaurants often mistake for service.

What to Order

The carbonnade flamande is the restaurant's most important dish and should be ordered on every visit. The beef is braised over several hours in a dark Belgian ale — a Trappist or a strong brown ale, depending on the day's decision — with onions that have been cooked down to a sweetness that balances the beer's bitterness. The result is a stew of considerable depth, served with Belgian fries that are crisp and correctly salted. This is not a dish that can be made quickly or cheaply, and the kitchen's commitment to it explains much of the restaurant's reputation.

The rabbit with Kriek is the dish that rewards a second visit. Kriek — cherry lambic — is one of Belgium's most characterful beers, its sourness and fruit providing a counterpoint to the richness of braised rabbit that the more familiar wine-based braises cannot match. The dish takes time to understand and rewards that time.

Drink the house Belgian ales. The list covers the major styles — saison, dubbel, tripel, gueuze — at prices that reflect the restaurant's general philosophy about what things should cost. Arrive at the restaurant with patience for the queue and none for the idea that the wait is a problem. It is not. The food is worth it.