Most people who come to Belgium think of beer first, and fair enough. But Belgium has another drinking tradition that predates most of its famous abbeys and that is, for keto purposes, considerably more useful: jenever.
Jenever (also spelled genever, and the etymological root of the English word “gin”) is a malt wine spirit flavoured with juniper and other botanicals. It originated in the Low Countries in the sixteenth century and has been made continuously ever since.
Hochepot, also called hutspot in Dutch or pot-au-feu à la gantoise if you’re being formal about it, is one of those dishes that exists in every northern European peasant cuisine under a slightly different name. Flemish hochepot is a slow-cooked stew of mixed meats and root vegetables, traditionally made with whatever cuts were available: oxtail, pig’s ears, lamb shoulder, beef shank, pork belly. All of it goes into a pot with root vegetables and water and cooks for a long time until everything is tender and the broth has absorbed three or four different animals’ worth of flavour.
The Plaisirs d’Hiver market spreads across Place Sainte-Catherine, the Bourse area, and several surrounding streets from late November through early January. It’s one of the larger winter markets in Belgium, it’s extremely crowded on weekends, and the food stalls are primarily selling things you cannot eat on keto: Liège waffles with Nutella, hot chocolate, churros, crêpes with sugar, speculoos everything, and at least three stalls selling nothing but variations on waffles with fruit and cream.
FOX Food Market in Watermael-Boitsfort operates on the same principle as Wolf in the centre: multiple food stalls under one roof, different cuisines, eat in a shared space. The neighbourhood is different: Watermael-Boitsfort is in the southeast of Brussels on the edge of the Sonian Forest, quieter and more residential than the centre, and the market has a slightly different character as a result. Less tourist traffic, more locals, arguably a bit easier to navigate.
Wolf is a covered food market in central Brussels with a large number of stalls serving food from different cuisines. It’s also very crowded, particularly at lunchtime and on weekends, and the layout is dense enough that getting an overview of what’s available before committing to a queue takes more effort than it should. The honest experience of going to Wolf for the first time, and sometimes the fifth time, is mild sensory overwhelm followed by standing in a queue before you’ve properly evaluated your options.
Amadeus has been serving ribs in Brussels since the 1980s and shows no signs of stopping. There are several locations around the city, the Ixelles one on Rue Veydt probably the best known, and they all follow the same format: dark room, candlelight, checked tablecloths, all-you-can-eat spare ribs with various sides. It is a dinner spot rather than a lunch place, it has been a reliable Brussels night out for decades, and it has a specific problem for keto purposes.
Tour & Taxis is a repurposed 19th-century customs and railway depot near the canal in Laeken, one of the more interesting buildings in Brussels and a venue for markets, events, and various other things the city routes through large covered spaces. The food market there runs regularly (check the current schedule as it varies) and has a different character from either Wolf or the Marché du Midi.
It’s more artisanal in positioning.
Brussels in July and August is a different city from the rest of the year. The terrasses fill up, everyone is outside, the barbecues appear on apartment balconies and in parks, and the pace slows down enough that eating feels more social than mechanical. Most of this is fine for keto. Some of it is genuinely easy. One part of it is a problem.
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Kabuki is a Japanese buffet restaurant in Brussels with a model train. A small locomotive runs a circuit through the dining room on a track above table height, pulling cars loaded with plates of food, and you take what you want as it passes. There are also normal tables with standard buffet service if you prefer not to eat by rail. Both options are available and the food is the same either way, but the train is clearly the right choice.
Noordzee, or Mer du Nord in French, is a small seafood counter on Place Sainte-Catherine, in the fish market neighbourhood that used to supply the city before the canals were filled in. You order at the counter, you eat standing outside at a high table or on the square, and what you’re eating is as fresh as anything available in central Brussels. It’s one of those places that has no pretensions and doesn’t need any.