Brussels Comfort Food Season: Where to Eat Stoemp, Carbonnade, Chicons au Gratin and Waterzooi

The four dishes worth knowing

Belgian cold-weather cooking is built on beer, butter, root vegetables and patience. You will find these dishes on brasserie menus all year, but they make the most sense from late autumn, when the chicons are at their best and a long dinner in a wood-panelled room feels like the right way to spend an evening.

Stoemp

Stoemp is mashed potato with other vegetables worked through it, usually carrots, leeks or spinach, sometimes cabbage or Brussels sprouts. The name comes from the Brussels dialect word for mashing or stamping. It is a side that behaves like a main: expect it under a pair of thick sausages, a slab of pork belly or a fried egg, with gravy or mustard alongside.

Carbonnade flamande

Flemish carbonnade (stoofvlees in Dutch) is beef stewed slowly in dark beer until it falls apart. Cooks often add onions, a slice of bread spread with mustard and a little brown sugar or vinegar, so the sauce ends up sweet, sour and glossy. It usually comes with fries, which you should drag through the sauce.

Chicons au gratin

Chicons are Belgian endives, called witloof in Dutch. For the gratin, the heads are braised, each one rolled in a slice of ham, then baked in béchamel with grated cheese until the top blisters. The endive's bitterness cuts through the richness. It is the most home-cooked of the four, so it turns up less often on restaurant menus and more often as a daily special.

Waterzooi

Waterzooi comes from Ghent. It is a creamy, broth-based stew, traditionally made with chicken, cooked with leeks, carrots, celery and potatoes and thickened with egg yolk and cream. Fish versions also exist. Restaurants serve it in a deep plate or a pot, and you eat it with a spoon and bread.

Around Sainte-Catherine

The streets around Sainte-Catherine and the Rue Antoine Dansaert hold several of the city's most dependable Belgian kitchens. Sainte-Catherine metro station (lines 1 and 5) puts you in the middle of them, and De Brouckère is a short walk away.

Fin de Siècle

Rue des Chartreux 9, 1000 Brussels

This is a no-fuss Belgian dinner address. The room is busy and convivial, and the menu leans hard on the classics, including stoemp with sausages and beer-braised carbonnade. For bookings and current details, look at the Fin de Siècle website.

In 't Spinnekopke

Place du Jardin aux Fleurs 1, 1000 Brussels

A low-ceilinged old Brussels tavern on a small square a few minutes from Sainte-Catherine, In 't Spinnekopke is the kind of place the word estaminet was made for. Look at the current menu for stoemp, carbonnade or waterzooi before you set your heart on one of them. It is also a good stop for just a beer if you want the atmosphere without a full meal.

Le Pré Salé

Another Sainte-Catherine brasserie, Le Pré Salé serves traditional Belgian cooking, carbonnade included. It is a useful backup if Fin de Siècle is full.

Near the Grand-Place

Nüetnigenough

Rue du Lombard 25, 1000 Brussels

Nüetnigenough is a small, cosy Belgian brasserie a couple of streets from the Grand-Place, with a strong beer list and a kitchen that cooks with it. The room can fill quickly, so check the Nüetnigenough website for opening hours, booking policy, prices and which classics are on the menu.

Aux Armes de Bruxelles

Rue des Bouchers 13, 1000 Brussels

Rue des Bouchers has a reputation for tourist traps, but Aux Armes de Bruxelles is the old-guard exception: a long-established, white-tablecloth house that has served Belgian classics for generations. Its waterzooi is the dish to look for.

Up in the Sablon

C'est Bon C'est Belge

If you are spending the afternoon in the Sablon's antique shops and chocolate houses, C'est Bon C'est Belge is a relaxed option for carbonnade and waterzooi. It works well for lunch, when a bowl of stew is all you need before heading back out into the cold.

Finding chicons au gratin

Chicons au gratin are the hardest of the four to pin down, because many brasseries serve them only as a seasonal special or a plat du jour. Your best bet is to scan the chalkboards in the traditional places above from November onwards, and to ask.

Tips for a comfort-food night out

• Go early or book. These places are small and popular with locals, especially on cold weekends.
• Order beer with it. A dark abbey beer suits carbonnade, while a lighter blonde or a gueuze cuts through waterzooi and gratin.
• Pace yourself. Portions are generous, and the fries that come with carbonnade are rarely optional.
• Carry some cash. Not every traditional tavern takes cards.

Opening hours, prices, payment options and menus change, and several of these addresses have seasonal schedules, so check before you go.