Eating Mussels in Brussels

My first mussels experience was to be at Chez Léon, a restaurant opened in 1893 by Léon Vanlancker, and the restaurant is still run by the Vanlancker family. It has 14 different mussel dishes and its own beer. It’s a Brussels institution, which, yes, means there will be tourists there, but there seemed to be locals mixed in with the out-of-towners. There are a few other Chez Léon restaurants, but this is the original.

As I walked down the cobblestone rue de Bouchers, a street filled with restaurants, I realized that I didn’t actually know how to eat mussels. I started paying closer attention to the diners sitting outside with buckets of the shellfish in front of them. I watched as with seemingly no effort whatsoever they used one hand to hold the mussel and with the other wielded a discarded half shell as a spoon to scoop out the meat, then eating it right from the shell. No extra utensils needed.

All right, I thought, I can get my hands dirty. I liked the tactile connection to the food – just get in there and enjoy it.

While you can get mussels prepared in a variety of ways, the traditional dish in Brussels is moules frites; the mussels are cooked in white wine and butter and served with a side of fries.

Fries actually originated in Brussels, and they do them right. They’re thick, crispy, and not seasoned by just upending a salt shaker on them. And what makes them all the more heavenly, at least to me, is that they’re traditionally served with mayonnaise. I always have to ask for mayonnaise at a restaurant in the states when I order fries, but in Brussels, it was assumed.

So I knew that even if mussels proved to be too much fish for my beef-eating palate, I’d have fries to enjoy. I took a seat at a small wooden table in what from the outside had seemed like a small restaurant, but was actually quite large and quite busy, and noticed that at least every other table had a bucket full of mussels on it. It seemed like a good sign. I didn’t even need the menu – moules frites, s’il vous plaît.

I awkwardly scooped out my first mussel, not quite prepared for the very fishy, very rich taste and unique texture. I’d been warned before I left on my trip that they’re a love-them-or-hate-them type of food. I ended up rather awkwardly in between – not rushing out of the restaurant proclaiming a newfound passion for the dish or vowing to never let another one cross my lips — I decided they were perhaps, at least for me, an acquired taste.

But hey, I’d eaten mussels in Brussels, and finished off a plate full of fries. I was happy. Where to enjoy moules in Brussels:

1. Chez Léon, rue des Bouchers, 18

Au Vieux Bruxelles, rue St Boniface, 35

Restaurant Francois, Quai aux Briques, 2

La Belle Maraichere, Place Sainte Cathérine, 11

Bij den Boer, Quai aux Briques, 60

La Bonne Humeur, Chaussée de Louvain, 244

[Editor’s note: This trip was sponsored by VisitFlanders, but all opinions belong to the author.]