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Gay Guide - Lunch

For a quick and healthy breakfast or lunch, less trendy but always nice: Le Pain Quotidien . They serve crispy, dark, bread with sundried tomato's, salad and parmesan cheese, soups and fruit pastry. If you wish, you can sit at an enormous table surrounded by all kinds of people, or pick an intimate table for two. There are several Pain Cotidien: right in the middle of the Rue A. Dansaert, on the Avenue Louise, Rue de Wand, on the Sablon Square etc. Always fashionable neighbourhoods, so you just have to choose.

For a luxurious tea-time, go to A.M. Sweet. As soon as you enter, their superb and freshly backed pastries welcome you from upon the antique display. Next to the Rue A. Dansaert.

To dine in this street, just choose one of the several nice restaurants. Try Bonsoir Clara. An upbeat, refined brasserie (not gay) serving excellent dishes. It is best-known for it's decor, especially the large colored squares on the back wall are eye-catchers.

We have decided to carry on our shopping marathon and we are heading for the Avenue Louise.

A few steps further you will find Planete Chocolat. Used to be very popular for it's Sunday Tea Dance. But this has been now taken over by the You Discotheque. Don't be afraid to queue! They are proud to present music you have never dared to ask the dj. Lots of queens and BCBG (Bon Chic Bon Genre) are sipping their “half-n-half” (half champagne, half white wine) while giving each other the eye. Let them know you come from abroad and you will not be alone a second….

Reaching Toison d'Or…Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Armani etc. So nice to see how the couturiers are trying to make our lives so much easier by crowding all together! On this boulevard and along the Avenue Louise you will find them all.

Halfway the Avenue Louise, look for the Place du Châtelain. This Square and it's surrounding streets in the Ixelles-area, feature a number of upmarket boutiques as well as an assortiment of other shops including antiques, housewares and secondhand clothes. (Lots of goodlooking men…) You should have lunch at Eat!

For a soup lunch in one of Brussels latest hotspots, go to Mange ta soupe!. In this contemporary & trendy interior design (with Rietveld chairs) the most delicious soups are being served in very nice plates, by waitresses dressed by Jean-Paul Gaultier. Some of the specialities: Soupe à la Brabançonne, Truffelsoup and mushroom/nutsoup. Try the desserts by Marcolini !

We are heading back downtown and on our way we will pass by the Place du Sablon. This large Sand Place is where the people of Brussels come to see and be seen. Every Saturday and Sunday morning there is a lively antiques market at the upper end of the square. You will find several very nice hotels in this area too. On sunny Sunday afternoons this area is very popular for gay walk-arounds… A stop at chocolate-heaven Marcolini is a must!

To dine, you go to Lola. Overlooking the Sablon you will enjoy the French cuisine orientated fusion cooking, seated in this contemporary and quit upbeat place. Count on 50 to 75 Euro's for two.