The restaurant was very clean & the staff was very friendly. The food was excellent. The beef was…read morecooked perfectly & had a peppery sauce. The roasted chicken was tender & delicious. Everything tasted freshly made. They serve warm bread with dill spread to start.

This place is legit. Extremely friendly service, great recommendations, warm inviting space, and…read moreexcellent food. We were greeted immediately upon entering around 8pm on a Wednesday and though the shopping area around us was deserted, this place was absolutely bustling. Our party of 3 was offered a high top table at the bar as none of the regular tables were available. This suited us perfectly! We were offered English and German menus, which was nice as it's always great fun to attempt to figure out what's what. Our first waiter (perhaps the manager?) was full of personality and took great care to help us pronounce the names of some of the dishes. He also recommended our excellent appetizer! Another waitress took his place later in the meal, so I assume she was on break when we were seated. She also provided super friendly and polite service. I had the roasted goose, and it was simply divine. Beautifully rendered skin, not chewy, tons of flavor. This came with a heaping pile of vinegary red cabbage and kartoffelkloesse (soft potato dumpling, which I actually don't care for that much but these were okay). The fresh Pils on tap (Bitburger, of course) was clean and crisp, and the ambience was cozy and comfortable. Everyone was quite satisfied with their meals, though in classic German style the portions were enormous. The bill came out to about 100€ total for three diners, which felt about right to me. I was super happy with this place!

From the owner: Maison rustique,ambiance très chaude,vieille pierres et poutres apparentes,cuisine de…read moreterroir,produits de production locale principalement, en semaine menu du déjeuner à 12. 50€ ou 15. 50€ servi rapidement (- de 1 heure)changement journalier du menu avec au choix 3 entrées, 3 plats et 5 desserts. Carte des vins composée de nombreux petits propriétaires ou de grands noms de la viticulture française. Facilité de stationnement, parking à disposition. Possibilité de repas de groupes ou manifestation familiale jusqu'à 60 personnes. Un geste commercial sera fait si réservation par cityvox!

Back in the early days of my beer geekdom, one of the styles that really piqued my interest was…read more"saison/farmhouse ale," even before I'd ever tried a single example of that style. I used to read the forums at BeerAdvocate.com and Ratebeer.com a lot more than I do now - and whenever I came across a discussion thread about saisons, an enigmatic beer known simply as Fantome was typically mentioned as one of the more complex, standout examples of the style. I searched out all the better local liquor stores I knew about, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Fantome...which, in retrospect, was a very futile effort, as back then the Shelton Brothers (Fantome's U.S. distributor) neither distributed to my area, nor planned to. Dejected, I proceeded to cut my farmhouse ale teeth on Saison Dupont, and whatever lesser saisons were available at the time (not that many, as the style wasn't trending yet). Just a little later in my beery evolution, I found out that I could order beer online from other states, even other countries. Finally, the Fantome was within my reach. I bought a bottle, nervously wrestled the cork out, poured and drank. Truth be told, it wasn't really what I was expecting. It tasted a bit like orange juice that was starting to go bad. I shrugged and chalked it up to beer-tasting experience, then forgot about the Fantome. The next time I had a bottle of Fantome, it was a revelation. My beer tastes must have matured, because this time it was the perfect balance of tart, funk, dryness, herbal and peppery character. I finally got it. I knew that if I ever visited Belgium, a trip to the Brasserie Fantome would have to be on the itinerary. A few months ago, I got my chance. Let me first say that the little town of Soy, in which the Fantome resides, isn't all that close to anywhere. It's a couple hours of driving from Brussels, and not hot on any tourist trail I'm aware of. I should note that normally, the brewery is only open on weekends. We were there on a Friday, having emailed head brewer and owner Dany Prignon beforehand to set up a special "tour." I put that word in quotes, because this is a very small brewery. There's not a lot to tour, basically one room for the old-school brewing apparatus replete with brick mash tun held precariously up in a creaky, musty wooden loft, a room for bottling, a little office space, and a tasting room. This is NOT a highly modernized, efficient brewing operation...experiencing it firsthand, I will never complain about the spotty availability of Fantome bottles ever again. Dany himself showed us around - while it appears that he gets friends to help him out occasionally, the Fantome is truly a one-man operation. He's a cool guy and an inspirational mad scientist of a brewer with his anything-goes, crazy secret recipes. Oh, and if you ever took any high school or college French, you might want to draw upon that knowledge here, as Dany speaks very little English. After the brief tour, we were ushered into the tasting room and invited to pour from the taps. The eponymous Fantome saison and the Chocolat were on tap. I'd never been that much of a fan of the bottles of Chocolat I've had in the United States, as I was never able to pick out much chocolate flavor...which admittedly is an odd flavor component for a saison, but hey, this is the Fantome we're talking about, so I wanted it. However, fresh and at the source, this time the chocolate came through loud and clear and meshed surprisingly well with the tart and peppery notes of the base saison....it might as well have been an entirely different beer from what I'd tried before. Then, Dany opened up bottles for us. Oh, lots of bottles of these strong, tasty 8-10% ABV saisons.....wow, what a day, let's just say that. One of my favorite Fantome bottles has always been the Brise-BonBons!, which is the "hoppy" Fantome. But yet again, clearly, I'd never had a bottle of it quite this fresh before - that was the best "hoppy saison" I'd ever had. It's off the beaten track, but if you're a beer geek in Belgium, well worth a trip out of the way for such an irreverent, quirky, and ultimately excellent brewery.

When planning a Europe excursion around beer, there is one stop that needs to be at the top of the…read morelist. Sure it may not be the most traditional, nor is it a huge and touristy operation complete with its own stand-alone gift shop, but undoubtedly the Fantôme Brasserie is a phenomenal experience. In America the beer has developed almost a cult-like following with rising demand, and limited batches of innovative creations are definitely at the root of the problem. However, visiting this beer mecca, is a truly humbling experience that helps to put things in perspective. The owner, brewer, and creative genius behind Fantôme, is an incredibly warm individual named Dany. Although his English is limited (which gave me a change to practice my rusty French), he is more than happy to open up his brewery to the public. It really is a one-man operation, atlthough he had a couple of people were assisting as well when we came to visit. They do have hours on the weekend during which the tasting room is open, however, I made special arrangements (by emailing in advance) to visit on a Friday afternoon. A small building in Southern Belgium, the brewery is fairly small compared to its reputation. Upon arriving, we were given a tour, were we viewed the brewing equipment and bottling room. Dany informed us the bottling room machinery is fairly new, and it definitely makes the process a bit easier. Afterwards we moved into a restaurant/tasting area, where Dany generously poured bottle after bottle of his tantalizing beers, and we got the opportunity to chat with the brewmaster himself. Speaking with him I really learned a lot, and I found it increidbly amusing to hear his take on his fame. No hint of hubris, he enjoys making beer, but actually prefers drinking Coca Cola. He doesn't understand the demand that beer enthusiasts have created, and has no plans to increase his operation to keep up with it. I find it impossible not to respect such a down-to-earth and welcoming man, who does what he enjoys and doesn't take himself too seriously. That being said, his beer really is beyond spectacular and quite worthy of the praise. BBBrr and Strange Ghost are some of my favorites, but neither were had on this visit. Magic Ghost is a really interesting green beer that conjures images of a leprechaun celebrating St. Patrick's Day. It starts a little sweet, but as it develops I get less green tea, and more fruit from this beer, especially starfruit. Fantôme de Noel is a lovely beer, a bit funky, fruity, and sweet with notes of caramel all in one. Furthermore, Brise-BonBons! Is one of the best hoppy saisons I've ever had, and when served fresh there is none of the horrible bitter aftertaste associated with beers being served past their due date. So whether you consider Fantôme the exhalted royal of the beer community, or you are just learning, make this brewery a sure destination. Dany's farmhouse operation with its playful bottles and unique beers reminds consumers what beer is all about, having fun and bringing people together.

I am often asked how do I find the places I go....there are several ways. One of them led us to…read moreD'Artagnan and we were not disappointed. We had originally headed to the local family-run Bar Frape but were distressed to find it shuttered. Perhaps because they closed at 2000 and we were there shortly thereafter. Looking south along the river we spotted tables and chairs on the sidewalk so we headed in that direction. What we found was a trendy (and empty) bar that was obviously serving up what we were NOT looking for. That's when we spotted across the street what appeared to be a Eetcafe but upon further inspection found a joint billing itself as a Grand Cafe. Now, typically we steer away from Grand Cafes since our desire to impress is less than at times it should be. We have found Grand Cafes to not have any better food than Eetcafes and usually at twice the price. However, we decided to go outside our box and give it a try....and we are glad we did. Inside the D'Artagnan resembled more an Eetcafe than a Grand. While there was much more spit and polish than most Eets the atmosphere was that warm, comfy gezellig the Dutch are so wild about. We were looking for refreshment and a snack and ended up finding our favorite Dutch gin (2VC) which right then and there told us we were putting the rest of our evening on hold. We ordered the bouillabaisse and the anti pasta. Both excellent choices and between the both of us we could not finish. The bouillabaisse contained succulent portions of langostinos in a delicate seafood/tomato broth. The cheese bread on top was less a compliment than what was intended but good nonetheless. The anti pasta included ham, proscuitto, salami and pepperoni. Plus bread, olives, salad and scrumptious garlic mushrooms. With the exception of the pepperoni which was mealy, it was a great sampler. If you are not familiar with gezellig (gezelligheid) then you need to look it up or better, hang out here for an hour.... We will return.

The place is now called Cabaret Douze, but the ambiance, the service and the food is still amazing!…read moreAte here twice the last few days and the price/quality is simply outstanding. Also worth mentioning is the background music: just love it! Will be back here for sure.

One of the best diing experiences we had in Brussels! The food was great and the service was…read moreoutstanding. Huge shoutout to Julian! He reminded us of a combination of Neil Fak (from The Bear) and Lazlow (from What We Do in the Shadows). He was coordinating the line, seating, and gave outstanding recommendations, as well as praise, when we picked our wine. We were quoted about 45 minutes to wait, as they don't take reservations. A two-top opened up inside and Julian was concerned that it would be too hot, so he made me go inside to check first. Thankfully, it was right by the open area leading to outside, so we took it and were seated in about 20 minutes, rather than 45. The place was packed the entire time we were there; its reputation certainly precedes it. Good energy and beautifully decorated with stunning art inside. Carbonades a la Biere (beef stew; 19.45 Euros) is their speciality and was delicious! So reasonably priced for the flavor and te size of the dish! After Julian mentioned that the lamb is the best dish on the menu, there was no question that I was ordering it. Jarret d'Agneau Roti (Roasted Lamb Shank; 27.35 Euros) was so very good! Full of Rosemary and so tender! As Julian was running by, I quickly asked him: "Tiramisu or Tarte Tatin?" No hesitation, he replied, "Tarte Tatin." I wasn't sure if he actually put the order in for us or not, but then it arrived at our table and it was delicious! Pear Tarte (8.65 Euros) with a side of ice cream. Not too sweet, with lovely spices in the pears. Cash only, always a line, but totally worth it!

You likely will see a line for dinner. Don't worry it does go pretty fast and likely faster than…read morewhat they may quote. The stew was fantastic! Tender meat bursting with flavor with some mashed potatoes to soak up the sauce. I enjoyed the lamb as well, however a bit too much rosemary for me. Get the pear dessert. The soft and sweet pear coupled with the ice cream was one of the best desserts I've had in some time.

Place to be!!! Great food, discover the chefs menus…read more. Amazing kitchen and a very nice restaurant with a friendly and professional staff and service... Always a pleasure to enjoy quality time in this place... In the summer great seating outside!

Good classic Belgium food in a warm and quiet environment. Many a late night supper at De Nachtuil.read more

One of my old colleagues recommended I come here for the home style food and told me to make…read morereservations ahead of time as it is a rather popular place. Glad I listened to him on both accounts. Great food, great ambiance, and exceptional service. Really enjoyed the portions and the flavor of the food. Really enjoyed the strong drinks we ordered. Portion sizes were really up my alley as I expect to be getting a good amount of food for the price. Would HIGHLY recommend.