Hana (rue Saint Boniface)

When faced with every restaurant blogger's least favourite question - 'What places to eat do you recommend?' - I've started to give increasingly vague answers. Not the rue des Bouchers, of course. The rue de Flandres, though, is a good bet. Or, further away from tourist central, the place Saint Boniface. I've had good and indeed very good experiences in its environs and I can't think of anywhere in Brussels that matches it for sheer variety of different cuisines, from traditional Belgian to African to Asian, including one of Brussels' few Korean restaurants, Hana.

Déjeuner sur l'Herbe (rue des Deux Eglises)

The main reason we decided to go to Déjeuner sur l'Herbe was that it seemed to be a highly popular establishment. A scouting expedition at lunchtime had shown its somewhat Belle Epoque-style, all fresh gilding and mirrors (and random tropical fish tank) dining room to be full. There are plenty of reviews online praising its quality, good value and friendliness. So it was with some trepidation that in the evening we poked our heads in, hoping that there might be a free table for three somewhere in a corner, only to find an empty restaurant and a waitress who was more than happy to seat us by the window. I realise that the edge of the Eurobubble, the hinterland between the rue de la Loi and St-Josse, is not exactly Brussels' hottest ticket on a Friday night, but although our experience was broadly good, atmosphere was not one of its highlights.

Dam Sum (parvis de la Trinité)

As previously demonstrated, I like dumplings of all kinds. A lot. So it's not surprisingly that I take every opportunity to eat dim sum that I get. One day I'll go back to Antwerp's mini Chinatown and review this place, where I had an unexpectedly good dim sum-based meal back in the summer, but for now let's stay in Brussels, on the genteel outskirts of Châtelain.

Sakagura (rue du Marais)

Have a look at the picture below: what do you see? Nothing? Try again. Still nothing? Don't worry: this is a photo of an establishment that I initially managed to walk past three times, convinced I'd got the wrong address. Tucked away in a nondescript street not far from the rue Neuve, surrounded by office blocks, Sakagura - a.k.a. possibly Brussels' most anonymous restaurant - is unlikely to be a candidate for much walk-in custom.

Au Bon Bol (rue Paul Devaux)

One afternoon a couple of Sundays ago I was in a street near Sainte-Catherine when my attention was caught: in the window of a small Asian restaurant, a woman was making noodles, twisting and twisting great lumps of dough until they became long, stretchy strands. Her action was mesmerising and we stood watching for a while, regretting that it wasn't yet dinner time. So when I returned to the area, with an appetite, Au Bon Bol seemed an obvious choice.

(photo from here)

Le Belgo-Thai (rue Haute)

Living in Brussels doesn't, of course, mean that chips, mussels and other less stereotypical but still Belgian items constitute my diet - meals still include a fair amount of scrambled egg, stir fry and questionable canteen food, just like in Oxford. I'd be lying, however, if I said that I didn't get the occasional craving for something different entirely, and so a visit from the Photographer (never adverse to the odd chilli flake), and a trip to Brussels' flea market in the Marolles (highly recommended for encounters with men with splendid moustaches or metre-long saws held casually at the hip) led to Belgo-Thai in the nearby rue Haute. I was intrigued to see what form this east-meets-west fusion would take.