"Chef Glen's Filipino roots reimagined as sharing plates for a Brussels table — organic, spicy, explosive and gourmet. The team dinner that wins the argument before the wine is poured."
The Unexpected Brussels Table
Humphrey — also known as Chez Pias — occupies a position on Rue Saint-Laurent that is not easily explained by geography alone. In a city that gravitates toward classical French technique and Belgian tradition, Chef Glen arrives from Filipino roots and deploys South-East Asian flavour logic — fermented, spiced, sour, bright — applied to seasonal Belgian ingredients with a kitchen discipline that is entirely self-taught and entirely his own.
The 100% organic commitment is genuine: the kitchen sources from a network of Belgian producers whose names appear on the menu with the quiet confidence of a restaurant that knows provenance matters and can afford to prove it. The sharing format is non-negotiable — every table orders for the whole group, which is the correct way to experience food this inherently communal. Plates arrive in the kitchen's sequence: some delicate, some volcanic, some both simultaneously.
The room is warm, modestly designed, and entirely focused on the table rather than the architecture. Service is knowledgeable and relaxed. The wine list favours natural and low-intervention producers — appropriate companions for food this alive. Budget €60–90 per person with wine and sharing plates.
Best Occasion: Team Dinner
Humphrey's sharing format and high-energy cooking make it the natural Brussels choice for a team dinner. The plates create conversation. The spice creates shared experience. The organic commitment provides a talking point for those who need one. Groups of six to twelve work best — large enough for the sharing format to find its full rhythm, small enough for the room to feel intimate.
For a first date, Humphrey's sharing format creates an inherent intimacy — the act of choosing together, passing plates, navigating new flavours. The cooking generates genuine surprise, which is rarer in Brussels than it should be. For a birthday dinner, the kitchen accommodates groups well and the format encourages the informal energy that birthday tables require. The restaurant does not do ceremony — it does food, which in the end is better.
What to Order
Order broadly — the sharing format rewards this. The kitchen's signatures rotate seasonally, but look for preparations involving fermented black garlic, adobo-inspired braises, and the cured and raw fish preparations that combine French precision with Filipino brightness in ways that have no precedent in Brussels' established dining vocabulary.
The natural wine list is curated with genuine knowledge. Ask the team for guidance: they know both the wine and the food, and the pairings are genuinely considered. The cocktail programme is similarly thoughtful if you prefer to begin that way. End with whatever the kitchen suggests for dessert — the sweet courses maintain the same creative ambition as the savoury.