When Eurostar are having a sale to Brussels for £45 return, who can resist the temptation of chocolate, moules and frites? Join us for Sophie's Powerwalking Gastro-Fantasy Tour of Brussels...

Stay with:

Eat, Shop and Visit:

Given that the whole weekend revolved around eating, I've combined all the sections to follow our 2-day route through food-heaven.

DAY 1

First stop was croissants and pastries at the house, served with lashings of Le Pain Quotidien's luscious chocolate praline spread and Paris' Mariage Freres tea.

Le Cremerie de la Vache. Sophie's favourite cafe which serves real milk (not UHT) which is apparently a rarity in Belgium. I remembered this cosy cafe from my last visit to Brussels and it was full of delectable pastries in the window.

Pierre Marcolini. In a city full of chocolate shops, Pierre Marcolini is reknowned for being THE place to visit - he's apparently the Heston Blumenthal of the chocolate world, famous for his 'molecular' approach to chocolate. The sleek shop holds glass cabinets full of sophisticated black-boxed chocolates (Sophie also recommends the hot chocolate flakes). We celebrated our arrival in Brussels with a chocolate eclair 3-ways.

Godiva. Belgian frites come in a paper cone, and Godiva combines the twin Belgian towers of chocolate and frites into a paper cone of chocolate-dipped strawberries.

Dandoy. Famous biscuit bakery selling speculoos, sort of a spiced gingerbread.

Le Beau Soleil. Why not a cafe/gallery/violin-maker's workshop? The friendly owner brought us yummy coffee, hot chocolate (a block of chocolate melted in hot milk) and fresh mint tea, then polished a violin for our photographic benefit.

Manneken Pis. A cute but slightly stupid tourist attraction of a little boy peeing. Apparently there is a guy whose embarrassing job title is 'official dresser of the Mannekin Pis' (he has between 600-700 outfits) and on special days he pees out beer or wine.

AM Sweet. A delightful several-storey shop and salon de the which tempted us with the marshmallows in the window.

Atelier des chefs. A city dedicated to food should of course have a good stock of cooking implements and ingredients. This shop has a teaching kitchen at the back as well.

Frederic Blondeel. A cafe and chocolate shop decorated with Asiatic wood pillars and serving large pots of steaming hot chocolate. Sophie and I shared two tartlettes of pommes and apple crumble for a chocolate hiatus.

Le Fruit Defendu. It seems that it is almost impossible to eat badly in Brussels and the Flynns are fortunate to have a stylish neighbourhood restaurant right around the corner (not 'In Defence of Fruit' but rather 'The Forbidden Fruit'). Lucky as we were all flagging after ending our day's eating marathon with a three course meal (scallops with truffles, one of the best steaks I've ever had, gooey chocolate fondant) and a bottle of wine.

DAY 2