Fin de Siècle: Great Food But Can Have Long Lines

Fin de Siècle is a popular spot for dinner and drinks in downtown Brussels, Belgium. If you’re craving hearty, filling dishes, you’re in luck!

For avoidance of doubt, this post was in no way sponsored by the restaurant.

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Arrival to Fin de Siècle

Fin de Siècle is located in walking distance to the Bourse metro stop. We’d also argue it’s not too long of a walk from Grand Place and City Hall. But, then again, we’d argue much of the city center area is very walkable and felt very safe doing so.

We headed down a cute street that hung up some decorations for the Christmas season.

Fin de Siècle is open daily from 12PM to 12AM, but the thing to know is that it’s very popular at dinner time. If you want an easier time dining, you’ll want to arrive before 6PM. Should you come after 6PM (this photo was taken at 7:30PM), you’ll have to wait outside a long time. Don’t do this to yourself especially in colder weather. For the record, no other restaurant in the immediate area seemed to have a line as long as this one.

The line outside Fin de Siècle can be long

We arrived minutes before 6PM and grabbed one of the last tables in the restaurant. Once again, we ended up with a table near the window. But one thing to know about this one: the heater is right under the window, which is what the kids are looking at. Touch it and you might get burnt.

The menu

First up is the drinks menu, which our server placed on the table for us to peruse. As you might imagine, there’s plenty of alcohol, but they do have some non-alcoholic soft drinks and juices that work for the kids.

Fin de Siècle menu — *Drinks menu (front)*

The food menu isn’t on your table. Instead, they have a large, double-sided display with chalkboard where the menu is written for all to see. When it’s your turn to figure out what you want to eat, they’ll turn the board in your direction.

One thing to know is if you have children in your party. There is no specific menu for children at Fin de Siècle. However, they will gladly turn a dish into a smaller portion for children. And, yes, the price will be reduced accordingly.

One more thing–the restaurant is cash-only. So, make sure you have plenty of euro notes on hand before you sit down.

Drinks

For drinks, Jenn ordered a spritz, which was strong, and I ordered a gueuze (Geuze Boon). If you’re into sour beers, it’s worth a try.

The food at Fin de Siècle

Bread

Our evening started off with some bread and butter, which the kids openly welcomed. While restaurants in some European countries charge for the bread at the table, that’s not the case here.

Kids meal (Stoemp sausage)

Given Char’s newfound love for sausages on this trip, we got her a child’s version of the dish. The main difference is it comes with just one sausage instead of two. And rather than costing us €17.85 for the normal version, it cost us €10.95. Not exactly half off but reasonable given the large serving of mashed potatoes and sauce also come with it. She loved the sausage, which pairs well with the sauce on the plate. I’ll have to apologize for the poor lighting in the photo below, but Char couldn’t wait to eat.

Penne al Ragu

Alex was in no mood to transform his dish into a smaller version. He is all about the pasta, which meant this dish was right up his alley. He’s used to red or green coloring on his penne, but this one is more of a hearty gravy that smothers the dish. You get big chunks of meat and some shavings of cheese that top it. This dish is filling and perfect if you’re hungry.

Spare ribs

I ordered the spare ribs, which were fall-off-the-bone good. This isn’t American BBQ–these ribs had more of a rosemary flavor to them–but it might be as close as you can get to it in Europe. We’d argue this meal is perfect for a nice summer day sitting out in the sun. The ribs come with a salad and a baked potato. Overall, this dish is delicious and a little bit of a guilty pleasure.

Carbonades à la Bière

This is a traditional Belgian beef stew made with beer (of course). Naturally, when we eat beef stew in Europe, our thoughts almost always go towards Ireland. This version of beef stew was every bit as hearty, filling, and flavorful as the Irish kind. You want something that will warm you up on a cold day? It can’t get much better than this.

Just look at all that food–it felt like a feast fit for a king (while everyone else patiently waits to come inside).

Desserts

As we tend to do, we get a little carried away with desserts from time to time. And this time we ordered a trio of desserts.

This first dessert is a delicious ice cream sundae with a scoop of vanilla covered in fudgy chocolate and whipped cream. Of course, here’s it’s not called a sundae and instead it’s known as a Dame Blanche.

Next up is the Tarte Tatin, which we could best describe as an upside-down tart with caramelized apples. Yummy and soft, it’s a great way to end the evening but it can be a bit filling.

Lastly, we also ordered the Sesame Mousse, which surprisingly didn’t have a strong sesame taste. There is a faint taste of sesame but if you’re looking for something overwhelmingly sesame, this won’t satisfy your needs. As such, we’d rank it in last place of the desserts we tried.

Recommendation: Yes, if there’s no wait

We loved our time here at Fin de Siècle. From the friendly staff to the delicious and filling food and everything in between, we were completely satisfied. While you could come here for the drinking, what you really want to do here is eat. If you’re like us and spent the whole day walking around, you should have built up your appetite enough to fully enjoy dinner here.

That said, do your best to come here before the crowds. I’m not so sure the kids (or Jenn) would have survived the wait outside in the cold.

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