BRUSSELS

I took trips of various length between 2005 and 2007 to Brussels, Belgium. That was around the time when I started exploring international restaurants.

Brussels, being the ‘capital of the European Union’, offers a lot to try. And all those people of similar mindset made it easy to discover most of that.

The buildings, the cultural versatility speak for themselves. Although I never even considered moving out to Belgium, the way people live here is attractive, in a way. Despite all that bureaucracy, I remember, they introduced the skate Friday – which meant closing some major roads in the city, making them available to in-line skaters and skateboarders. Two things that were truly done at a high niveau in Brussels, no doubt about it.

The other remarkable thing – as I already hinted above – is the cuisine. By 2007, I got more comfortable with eating seafood, and tried much of that in Belgium.

All those trips were actually great, giving me a lot to discover. As hinted, these were taken in groups and we had fantastic eat-outs at nights. This period was actually a weight-gain wonder to some of us. But that was attributable to desserts and beers, both having been fantastic and worth trying.