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Sunday in Brussels



Winter, spring, summer or autumn: the place to be to sample the best dishes in Brussels is the Place Sainte Catherine. Situated in the heart of the city, not far from the historic Grand Place, this square is the epicenter of fish and seafood of the Belgian Capital.

Along the square in front of the church and in the nearby streets you find numerous fish- and seafood restaurants, wholesalers of fish, oysters and lobsters and a few great fishmongers.

One of those top-of-the-bill fishmongers is without any doubt “Mer du Nord” (the North Sea). The place to be for locals and tourists every day of the week except on Mondays. Opened many years ago as a ‘normal’ fishmonger, the Mer du Nord started to sell fish soup and scrimp croquettes at a window counter. Soon they offered a glass of wine with it and added other dishes like mussels in white wine sauce, raw mussels (eaten like oysters), ‘scampis a la plancha’, sandwiches with fresh home-made fish salad and oysters.

It ‘Mer du Nord’ was born! During the weekends the store became the place to meet friends, mingle with people or just have a good time on your own, sampling delicious seafood, sipping a glass of wine and watching people.

After Linda, my wife of 32 years passed in 2008, I got rid of our house in Ghent and moved to a condo in Brussels. Being alone (kids were living on their own) in that big empty nest with too many memories was just too much.

During the week I had my job at the bank and in the evening I was teaching entrepreneurship in college so there was no time to feel lonely. The weekends were different! Not easy to fill up two days all alone after being together so many years.

One spring Sunday, strolling around in Brussels, I discovered Mer du Nord. And from that day on it became my place to be every single Sunday (except when it was raining to hard).

On Sunday morning my first mission was to go to the street market in Jette, the Brussels district I lived in, to buy fruits and vegetables, some cheese, olives and mortadella for the days to come. 
The biggest treat on that market was that small poultry farmer who was selling his free range chicken roasted to perfection. 

My Sunday dinner with a seasonal salad and a freshly baked bread from the Turkish bakeshop around the corner. 
Simple but delicious food!

But back to the Place St Catherine and Mer du Nord.

At 11 am I was on my way to the Place Ste Catherine. Mostly with the ‘metro’ (the Brussels underground) because even on Sundays finding a parking spot is a hard job!

Next to the superb food I enjoyed every Sunday, Mer du Nord had another impact on my life. It’s easy to connect with people when you can talk about food. There are always regulars whom become acquaintances but it is also very easy to connect with tourists. And before you know you share a bottle of wine. How (good) food brings people together!

But the Place Ste Catherine has more to offer for the seafood lover. I don’t know how many good fish and seafood restaurants there are around the square, but I have great memories of some of them.

On Saturdays I didn’t have to teach in the morning, I went to fetch my mom, at that time 76 years old, and took her for lunch to her favorite restaurant ‘Bij den Boer’ (literally ‘At the fish vendors place’: in earlier days, the vendors of mussels and fish were called ‘visboer’ or ‘fish farmer’…sorry, but I can’t explain why!)
The interior of ‘Bij den Boer’ is typical for restaurants of the interbellum, the period between the two world wars. A lot of wood at the wall, mostly dark wood panels and mirrors. 

Bij den Boer is still authentic but also Le Corbeau (The Raven) and La Roue d’Or (The Golden Wheel), both not far from the famous Brussels Grand Place. Even the furniture has original looks but Iam pretty sure it’s new. What is authentic is the fantastic checkered brown and white floor.
   
The menu is simple and honest, with seasonal products and the dishes are prepared in the classic way.
My mom’s favorite dishes were the ‘Sole Meuniere’, a simple Dover sole in butter, and Cod with real North Sea shrimps. But also the Moules mariniere, simple mussels with vegetables as onions, celery and parsley, served with homemade Belgian fries. A real delight!

Our Saturday lunches were the highlight in my mom’s week. Those days she lived in a small village 35 kilometer from Brussels where nearly nobody spoke French….
And my mom as a French language teacher for 30 years enjoyed to speak French. And talking to the waiters of Bij den Boer was her biggest joy!

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