Duranton’s, on the Avenue Louise, is now “ run ” by Monsieur Pierre Strobbe, who took Duranton’s, a first prize at the Brussels cookery Avenue Louise exhibition. The restaurant is pleasantly situated, and 160 5 The Gourmet's Guide to Europe on Sunday, if you wish to go to the races in the after- noon, it is very convenient, being on the direct route to Boitsfort. There are three rooms on the ground floor, in which you can lunch. That on the right, a small narrow room, is considered to be the smartest, but the one on the left is the brightest. The charges are the same. The cooking for all the rooms is also the same, and it is good. Order your cab to be at the door half-an-hour before the first race. When the races are held at Groenendael, you should lunch or dine at the restaurant of the Chateau in the Chateau de woods there. You can order your Groenendael table by telephone. This is a very pleasant excursion in summer. The cooking is good, and the Moulin a Vent (1887) at 5 francs a bottleds I the wine to ask for. The Laiterie is in the Bois de la Cambre. In summer-time it is indeed the most pleasant place to t I Laiterie, Bois de dine in Brussels. In the Bois there la Camhre are several places that supply lunches, dinners, and light refreshments, but the Laiterie is the only one that is really first-class. For seventeen years it has been under the management of M. Artus and his son. The establishment is the property of the town of Brussels, and is well kept up in every respect. Here on a Sunday as many as 1500 chairs and 400 tables are often occupied. In the evenings the gar- dens are brilliantly illuminated, there being 1 100 gas lamps. Music is discoursed by a Tzigane orchestra, and the late Queen of the Belgians, who often used to stop her pony chaise at the Laiterie to hear them play, subscribed from her private purse 200 francs every year ’to these musicians. Dinners are served at separate tables, under Japanese umbrellas, and the cooking is excellent ; but it is as well to secure a seat as near to the main building as possible, to overcome that objection to al-fresco meals — cold Brussels 1 6 1 dishes. The wines are good, and M. Artus has always the best marks of champagne in magnums. There must be something about the cellars of these outdoor places peculiarly favourable to beer, for no pale ale in the world can compare with that drawn at the bars of the Epsom grand-stand, and in Belgium there is no bottled Bass so fresh and palatable as that which one gets at the Laiterie. Other restaurants in Brussels worthy of mention are the Taverne Royale, at the corner of the Galeries Saint Hubert, where some real 1865 cognac can be had at 75 centimes the glass ; the Freres Provengaux, in the Rue Royale; the Restaurant de la Monnaie (a large place, generally noisy, with not the most rapid of service) ; and Stielen’s, in the Rue de l’Eveque. At the Taverne de Londres, in the Rue de l’Ecuyer, there is generally a good cut of cold roast beef with English pickles. A new restaurant, “ Le Chapon Fin,” has been opened in the Rue Gretry. It has boxes like Simpson’s in the Strand. It is always crowded on Bourse days, and is specially patronised by visitors from Antwerp.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Duranton’s, on the Avenue Louise, is now “ run ” by Monsieur Pierre Strobbe, who took Duranton’s, a first prize at the Brussels cookery Avenue Louise exhibition. The restaurant is pleasantly situated, and 160 5 The Gourmet's Guide to Europe on Sunday, if you wish to go to the races in the afternoon, it is very convenient, being on the direct route to Boitsfort. There are three rooms on the ground floor, in which you can lunch. That on the right, a small narrow room, is considered to be the smartest, but the one on the left is the brightest. The charges are the same. The cooking for all the rooms is also the same, and it is good. Order your cab to be at the door half-an-hour before the first race. When the races are held at Groenendael, you should lunch or dine at the restaurant of the Chateau in the Chateau de woods there. You can order your Groenendael table by telephone. This is a very pleasant excursion in summer. The cooking is good, and the Moulin a Vent (1887) at 5 francs a bottle is the wine to ask for. The Laiterie is in the Bois de la Cambre. In summer-time it is indeed the most pleasant place to t I Laiterie, Bois de dine in Brussels. In the Bois there la Camhre are several places that supply lunches, dinners, and light refreshments, but the Laiterie is the only one that is really first-class. For seventeen years it has been under the management of M. Artus and his son. The establishment is the property of the town of Brussels, and is well kept up in every respect. Here on a Sunday as many as 1500 chairs and 400 tables are often occupied. In the evenings the gardens are brilliantly illuminated, there being 1 100 gas lamps. Music is discoursed by a Tzigane orchestra, and the late Queen of the Belgians, who often used to stop her pony chaise at the Laiterie to hear them play, subscribed from her private purse 200 francs every year ’to these musicians. Dinners are served at separate tables, under Japanese umbrellas, and the cooking is excellent ; but it is as well to secure a seat as near to the main building as possible, to overcome that objection to al-fresco meals — cold Brussels 1 6 1 dishes. The wines are good, and M. Artus has always the best marks of champagne in magnums. There must be something about the cellars of these outdoor places peculiarly favourable to beer, for no pale ale in the world can compare with that drawn at the bars of the Epsom grand-stand, and in Belgium there is no bottled Bass so fresh and palatable as that which one gets at the Laiterie. Other restaurants in Brussels worthy of mention are the Taverne Royale, at the corner of the Galeries Saint Hubert, where some real 1865 cognac can be had at 75 centimes the glass ; the Freres Provengaux, in the Rue Royale; the Restaurant de la Monnaie (a large place, generally noisy, with not the most rapid of service) ; and Stielen’s, in the Rue de l’Eveque. At the Taverne de Londres, in the Rue de l’Ecuyer, there is generally a good cut of cold roast beef with English pickles. A new restaurant, “ Le Chapon Fin,” has been opened in the Rue Gretry. It has boxes like Simpson’s in the Strand. It is always crowded on Bourse days, and is specially patronised by visitors from Antwerp.

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