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Brussel-Restaurants top choice-Le Petit Cottage

My top choice for mid range to inexpenive high class cuisine in Brussels

"Le Petit Cottage", 150 rue des Cottages tel 033438809
The opening days and hours have changed. The chef lost his wife in a tragic car accident and he decided to take out more time for this two small children.The restaurant is open every day from 12.00 to 14.00 for lunch (with a lunch menu for 14.90 €)and only from Thursday to Saturday (included) for dinner. Closed on Sunday. Closed lunch on Saturday.
This is already my third update and new visitand it only reconfirmed that i found better then my former favourite " Passage" !! This restaurant outpasses it in everything.
This IS the rising new star of Brussels. Such a refined, generous, original cuisine must be rewarded. The Petit Cottage is THE new topper for the Brussels restaurant scene. I will not describe our new meal, but it was even more refined and better as the one below. The style and formula of "surprise menu" stays the same.
We still sat inside, winter obliges, but still with that intimate and convivial feeling. The house was fully booked, very nicely decorated tables, exquisite arrangements and still that friendly and smiling reception. Owner is Johan Visée and the chief cook Cedric Delsaut. and chef are one and only person and serves himself the whole place (8 tables). Everything is still homemade, like the crispy bread rolls, and besides the carte there is now a triple choice: the menu for 34.90 €, the "surprise menu" (we took already last time), and a large menu for 42.90 €.
We tried again the "menu surprise" but without the matching wines. We choose a Graves, Pessac Leognan, excellent for 29 Euros!! Worth every cent! Remember what it is, the surprise menu? Not everybody read my post so here is a reminder: It's a five-course menu: 2 entrées, a sorbet, a main dish and a dessert. Read the carte, all the menus and just tell the chef what item you DON'T like!! (Veal, pork, liver, certain fish, certain herbs, whatever). And he cooks for you a wonderful meal. No liver. Hate veal? No veal? Hate certain herbs? Just tell and you will not find them in your surprise menu. And all dishes are a feast for the eyes!
We started with the gratuitous appetizer, a terrine de homard and terrine de lotte on small toast. The free amuse-gueule!!
Now the serious part comes: served with a Gewurtztraminer 1999, domaine de Rouffac, dry and slightly sweet, a selection of foie gras, faisan and pommes caramélisées, all together.
Second plat, second wine. A Bergerac blanc, Chateau des Gendres, cuvée Conti, matching the meli-melo de Saint Jacques and a white fish (I forgot the name, sorry), with tuiles de pomme de terre rôties. And crispy vegetables to maker it even more heavenly. Because that is what it was: out of this world. Annie looked at me and said: "I didn't eat such a plat since a long, long time", worth a three star dish.
We rested a little bit, enjoying the sorbet au poires that followed.
What now? A third wine appears: a red Languedoc wine, a Cabardes, mainly cabernet sauvignon and a little bit Shiraz. Perfect. How this wine travelled to Brussels is a mystery but it tasted as if we sat in Montpellier. And the matching food, honouring the game season, was a filet de biche flambé au calvados, legérement crèmé, poires, airelles, purée and celeri, extraordinary tender and tasty, juicy, with a melange de differents choux. And we eat, enjoy and don't feel a bit heavy or that's enough! On the contrary, there was still room for the QUADRUPLE dessert, a dôme de noix et chocolat Gianduja (praliné), a tartelette créme onctueuse de figue à la cuillére and a tarte aux poires à la glace réglisse.
If you are in Brussels, or plan to go one of these days, don't hesitate, since my first visit attracted already several people who reacted with enthusiasm.They have Email at cottage@pronet.be

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