brussels nightlife

me and 10 of my mates are going for a weekend in october,wheres the best place to go for a great night out,i.e clubs and pubs,and also does anyone know if we can wear our kilts ? ha

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Hi,

the grand place is the main square where you want to be, its the most beautiful place. If you want nightlife heres the following- O%26#39;Reilys (opposite Bourse st and next door to Marriot hotel), few cocktail bars i.e. Sphinx and a club and theres over 5 kebab shops here, all on a road near the Alma hotel (where i stayed, good location). just ask for directions.

for food, theres a street, a little hidden treasure where i always go, to get there- from the grand place take the corner exit where theres a cash point/bank (as theres over 5 exits from grand place!!) walk down, walk through the shopping centre and as soon as you come out take a left (don%26#39;t continue walking through the second shopping centre), you will recognise it immediately thats where the sea food restaurants begin. you can walk all the way down to other restaurants, theres over 50 restaurants here, choice is endless!!!. restaurants are normally open from 10am - 11/12pm.

if you take the eurostar, you can use your ticket for free on that day you arrive to Brussels. you can definitely use your ticket for free from Gare du midi station to Bourse st which is the closest to Grand Place.

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im not sure about kilts, but im sure no one will have a problem with you wearing it :D

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I think O%26#39;Reilly%26#39;s is probably the sort of place you are after, and there are more bars in the nearby St. Géry area.

However I must warn you that after managing to work out the directions given (the %26quot;shopping centre%26quot; mentioned must be the belle-époque Galeries St. Hubert), the restaurant recommendation given in the previous post is to the Ilôt Sacré area (rue des Bouchers) which specialises in ripping off tourists. If you want seafood restaurants, rather than impressive outside displays, the Ilôt Sacré is NOT the place, other than for mussels and fries at Chez Léon. It is, on the other hand, where you will find the Delirium bar which might also interest you with its 2000-beer menu (impasse de la fidélité, off rue des Bouchers at the opposite end from the Galeries St. Hubert, near rue Grétry.

A better area for restaurants is Ste. Catherine. From the Bourse, take the street to the right of Macdonalds, cross the junction into rue Ste. Catherine; about 3/4 of the way down on the left is the Amedeo, an all-you-can-eat ribs (and a few other things like scampi) place; carrying on, turn right towards the church and on its left you will find the old port and fishmarket area of Brussels which is where many good fish (and other) restaurants are to be found.

One of the local newspapers just visited a restaurant in the Ilôt Sacré posing as tourists and had the following experiences:

- %26quot;barkers%26quot; (waiters standing outside trying to get you in) are supposed to have been banned, but are still operating;

- menu had dishes with one price when served as a starter and a higher one when served as a main course, the waiter attempted to serve things at the same time so avoid charging the %26quot;starter%26quot; price;

- they ordered a Chianti DOC (dénomination d%26#39;origine controlée) from the winelist, the waiter brought a DOCG instead (higher quality) and they had to ask him twice to confirm that it was the DOC before he reluctantly took it away (this is the third time I have heard of this trick in that area - someone I know ordered a €13 bottle of wine and was served a similarly-named one costing twice the price, of course when they brought the bill they said it was what had been ordered and indeed confirmed when they brought it...);

- the bill contained several %26quot;mistakes%26quot; as regards what was ordered, prices and adding up.

In addition, many restaurants in that area apply a cover charge, which is unheard of in the rest of the city.

So, eat what and where you like, but keep your wits about you.

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