Brasserie Pakhuis (Ghent, BELGIUM) ★★★★★

What a way to kick off our 24-hours in beautiful Ghent of Belgium with a casual and relaxing meal at Brasserie Pakhuis! Just by looking at its stunning interior, we knew it was worth the visit.

The two storey brasserie was a restoration project from a former textile warehouse and the architect here did a marvelous job turning the space into a lively brasserie with a lovely industrial vibe. I love the skylight and Roman style sculptures providing a touch of vintage chic.
 
On paper, Pakhuis is an authentic brasserie offering many Belgian classics such as steak tartare with the meat coming directly from the restaurant's own farm. 




The house specialties also include fresh oysters directly from France and a wide variety of seafood. Needless to say, we were all over these fresh Belon oysters. Very creamy and perfect "sea water" flavors.



More seafood to come in the light of a smoked eel salad. Very refreshing start.



Duck liver terrine with caramelized pear and toasts was next. Not bad considering the size of that terrine but they should have given us more toasts and pear!



Butter poached lobster, that was heavenly too. The lobster was meaty and full of flavors. I was also impressed with the Asian style coconut rice with fresh coconut cubes and carrots. That was an excellent match for the lobster.



We had just enough room for one dessert and opted for this sponge cake served with a small cup of ice cream which I managed to forget about the flavor (caramel?).

After dinner, we took a scenic walk around The Graslei, Ghent's old city centre. That was one of the most memorable nights of my time in Europe. 

Ghent ranks in the top three of my favorite cities in the world and 24 hours are definitely not nearly enough to explore this amazing city. I am sure I will be back here at some point in time.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: €€€

Address: Schuurkenstraat 4, 9000 Gent, Belgium

Tel: +32 9223-5555

Website: www.pakhuis.be

Pierre Marcolini (Brussels, BELGIUM) ★★★☆☆

Someone once told me a visit to Brussels is not complete without dropping by one of the local Pierre Marcolini boutiques. Obviously I have been listening all these years!



There are quite a few Pierre Marcolini boutiques in central Brussels but it was the one on
Rue des Minimes that we ended up running into.



Instead of their impressive pastries, we decided to go with their chocolate truffles.



And surprisingly, not as good as we thought (but that's coming from a guy who's not entirely into chocolates).

Price: $$$$

Address: Rue des Minimes 1, place du Grand Sablon, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

Tel: +32 2514-1206
Website: www.marcolini.be

Le Drug Opéra (Brussels, BELGIUM) ★★★☆☆

We have just less than 24 hours to spend in Brussels so the consensus was to visit as much attractions as possible and not have any long meals which would make our scene-seeing time even shorter than it already was.

One of the first place we visited was the opera house but too bad it was under a massive renovation. Sadly we walked away from the opera house and suddenly, we spotted "Drug Opera" in the horizon.

Oh yeah, our stomach was growling.

This is a charming early 20th-century building with a slight different theme on each floor. On the ground floor was English pub style tavern serving beer and home-style food.



I started things off with this prawns in garlic cream. Very thick and delicious cream sauce.



But the roasted rump steak was very hard.



Finally a lovely hot chocolate in this atmospheric setting.






Food Rating: 5.1/10

Price: €€

Address: Rue Grétry 51 - 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium 
Closest Metro Station: De Brouckere
Tel: +32 (0) 2229-1666
Website: www.drugopera.be

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Park Inn by Radisson Brussels Midi Hotel (Brussels, BELGIUM)

Technically I never splurge on a hotel if I know I won't have more than 24 hours to spend there. That was precisely the case with our stay at Park Inn by Radisson Brussels. We were traveling from London to Brussels via Eurostar and arriving very late at night. And with Park Inn located right across the street from the Eurostar station (Gare de Bruxelles - Midi), it was the ideal choice for a stopover before we head to Ghent the next afternoon.



Park Inn really exceeded my initial expectation with its sleek and modern design.



It's a perfect business traveler's lodge for a short stay. My only complaint was the internet charges. Shouldn't wifi be free these days? Come on.....








Rating: ❤❤❤
Price: €€
Address: Place Marcel Broodthaers 3, 1060 Bruxelles, Belgium
Closest Metro Station: Gare Du Midi
Tel: +32 2535-14 00
Website: www.parkinn.com/hotel-brussels