Le Passage in Uccle: Serious French Cooking Worth the Trip

Le Passage is on Avenue Jean et Pierre Carsoel in Uccle, in one of the quieter and more residential corners of Brussels. Chef Rocky Renaud has been cooking there for years, joined more recently by his son Kevin: a family restaurant in the proper sense, with the consistency that implies. It holds a Michelin recognition and features in the Gault&Millau guides, which in practice means the cooking is at the level where technique and sourcing are taken seriously.

The cuisine is French in foundation (classical methods, good sauces, proper protein cookery) with Belgian ingredients and enough personality that it doesn’t feel like a textbook exercise. The lunch menu at €75 is the more accessible entry point and one of the better value propositions in Brussels for cooking at this level.

The keto situation

French gastronomic cooking is generally manageable on keto for the same reason fine dining tasting menus are: the carbs, when they appear, tend to be in small garnish quantities alongside well-executed protein rather than as the structural base of the dish. A piece of fish with a butter sauce and a vegetable preparation is the format, not pasta or a bowl of potatoes.

The bread basket will arrive. It will be good bread because this is that kind of restaurant. You will ignore it or you won’t, depending on where you are with keto at that particular moment.

The dessert courses are not keto-friendly, which is true of dessert courses everywhere. The cheese course, if offered, very much is.

Worth knowing

The restaurant serves the whole table the same menu at the same time, so if you’re going with people who eat differently, that’s worth coordinating in advance. Allergies and dietary requirements should be communicated when booking. At a restaurant operating at this level they’ll accommodate serious requirements without making it awkward, though keto isn’t exactly a medical necessity so phrasing it as a preference is the right approach.

Uccle is not the most convenient location from central Brussels but it’s accessible enough and the neighbourhood is pleasant. This is a dinner destination rather than a casual lunch drop-in, though the lunch menu makes it more approachable than the dinner price might suggest.

If you’re going to spend money on a proper restaurant meal in Brussels and want something at the level above the brasserie without going full Terborght in the countryside, Le Passage is the obvious choice in the south of the city. The cooking earns the price and the room feels like somewhere that’s been doing this for a long time.