Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

Indulge

Text Guy Dittrich

Eat like a local and dine at one of these stylish restaurants on the Brussels Airlines network

Le Bar à Gilles

BRUSSELS
28 Parvis Saint-Gilles, tel. , www.lebaragilles.be

Small but beautifully formed, Le Bar à Gilles is a neighbourhood success story in the making. Somehow, Philippe Sochnikoff and his business partner Sam Hachimi have managed to pull off an unlikely marriage of brasserie, tapas bar, vintner and café. The large show windows of this former fashion boutique on the main square of the up-and-coming suburb of Saint Gilles look on to interiors transformed by Olivier Hannaert of As-Built Architects. They now feature offset, woodblock wall-coverings and a gold-laced, bovine mosaic mural lit by suspended prismatic lamps. The stainless steel of the kitchen, seen through a large serving hatch, is carried through to the sturdy steel-covered tabletops, from where guests can watch Hachimi give his cocktails the attention they deserve.

The wines are very much the coup de cœur, or favourites, of Sochnikoff, and are selected for their taste rather than their prestige. The extensive list currently focuses on French and Spanish offerings, many available from €3 a glass, and the aim is to expand this to include a wider European selection, most of which will also be available to take away at retail prices. For light snacking, the tapas menu includes Andalucian gazpacho and warm goats’ cheese salad with pine nuts and acacia honey. The brasserie menu, meanwhile, centres on fish and meat entrées, plus specials of the day.

Open seven days a week from 11am to late, with a small pavement terrace that’s packed in the sunshine, Le Bar à Gilles is the perfect place to experience something of the real Brussels only a few minutes away from the tourist centre. From €35 for two courses, excluding wine.

La Degustation Bohême Bourgeoise

PRAGUE
18 Haštalská, , www.ladegustation.cz

The raison d’être of this restaurant is its complete seven-course tasting menu, which is a sublime dining experience. Each day sees a new selection of dishes, with ‘regulars’ limited to the amuse-bouche – such as the beef tartar sandwich or the beef tongue, home-smoked on the premises.

Situated on an unassuming corner in the heart of Josefov amidst medieval lanes, the small dining area at La Degustation sees lights appropriately focused on the food. At one end of the room is the discreet bar counter, with its temperature-regulated display of fine wine, and at the other end is the partially-exposed kitchen. Copper sauce pots hang ready to prepare the delicate autumn apple foam to accompany some Prague ham, or the beetroot essence for the butter-poached Canadian lobster.

Strong on local produce and dishes, expect plenty of game on a menu that will also include white fish as easily as it does tripe. Silhouetted staff glide effortlessly between diners, with the sommelier dispensing both advice and wine in appropriate quantities. The wine list includes some classy gems at expectedly high prices, but starts with local Moravian wine at around €20 a bottle.

Despite the elegant portions and well thought out approach of the degustation menu, it may still sound like too much for some, which is where the two-, three- and four-course lunch menus come in. With the current weakness of the Czech koruna, each is an affordable treat for visitors. The seven-course tasting menu costs €87/ CZK 2,250 and a three-course lunch €27/ CZK 695, excluding wine.

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