The Brusseleir dialect that’s still spoken in much of the Marolles dates back to the middle ages, a symbol of the independence of this proudly working-class neighbourhood in central Brussels. Located between the Palace of Justice and Halle Gate, it’s always been an inclusive refuge for immigrants from Europe and north Africa. The must-see Brussels tourist attractions of the Grand-Place central square and Mannekin-Pis statue are within walking distance, but the Marolles offers a very different experience: fashion, antiques and bric-a-brac shopping; alternative creative centres and provocative graffiti; characteristic estaminets (hybrid pub, cafe, bistros) specialising in hearty local dishes; and artisan breweries.
Where to eat
The splendid art nouveau Les Brigittines is a Belgian culinary institution, where chef Dirk Myny has overseen the kitchen for 35 years. He daringly reinterprets classic Flemish recipes with dishes such as smoked eel mousse and succulent pork belly with a tart cherry ale vinaigrette, or pig’s trotter, coddled egg, capers and gherkins. The three-course €38 lunch menu is a steal.
Don’t miss the experience of a traditional estaminet, either for breakfast coffee with a speculoos (spiced biscuit), or lunchtime pistolet (crusty rolls) with cheese, a hearty plate of stoemp (vegetable mash) and meatloaf, or chicons (endives) braised with ham. Estaminets such as Volle Brol and Au Mouton Bleu are fun spit-and-sawdust locales, but nothing beats the historic La Clef d’Or, which looks out over the daily flea market on Place du Jeu de Balle. Its owner, Eddy Aslan, sums up the Marolles as “a friendly cosmopolitan village where everyone is made welcome, and unique in that it is outside Belgian politics, neither Flemish nor Walloon but genuinely Bruxellois”.
A more modern estaminet is Mazette!, a cooperative microbrewery of 900 members who make more than 20 beers, mill an organic flour and bake their own bread, pizza and focaccia. Cantillon, on nearby Rue Gheude, is the last Brussels lambic (traditional wild-yeast fermented) brewery and worth a visit for its gueuze beer.
The Marolles is proudly multi-ethnic. Try My Day, opened by Iraqi refugee Yousif Alsaleh, which serves home-cooked dishes such as maqluba, a pilaf-style spicy rice dish with chicken, lamb or roasted vegetables. Alternatively, there’s Flower Food for a Moroccan beldi breakfast of semolina crepes and flatbreads with eggs, smoked beef, honey and dates. For vegetarian menus, the plant-based diner Lucifer Lives serves tasty soups such as broccoli and garlic, while the community cooperative L’Eau Chaude offers simple organic dishes such as coconut curry for €9.50.
At night, the Marolles can be a wild place to party. Start off playing pinball and table football at the brilliant bar Le Petit Lion and you could still be there at 2am, dancing with a packed crowd to local DJs. Just up the road is Fuse, a legendary techno dance club since 1994, where weekend gigs carry on till sunrise, when the Jeu de Balle bars are just opening up.
What to see and do
While the headline Magritte and Fine Arts museums are in the centre of Brussels, the Marolles offers a vibrant and challenging counter-culture scene. Dotted around the backstreets, street art enthusiasts can track down 16 of the city’s iconic comic strip murals; sadly, no Tintin, but rather local heroes such as Spirou, Blake & Mortimer, and Le Chat, a beloved cat cartoon. Wander through the streets and tunnels around the old Chapelle train station and Ursulines skate park and you enter an unofficial graffiti gallery, constantly being repaired and updated.
More formal cultural centres are the Octopus Heart art centre, which exhibits and offers residencies to local artists, and the Centre d’Art Mont-de-Piété, a 17th-century charitable organisation whose gallery hosts everything from photography and textiles to fashion shows. Be sure to go right to the end of Rue Haute, to discover the remarkable Art et Marges museum, which for 40 years has been a cutting-edge centre presenting art brut, outsider art produced by self-taught artists outside the contemporary circuit.
Where to shop
The Marolles is vintage shopping heaven, attracting fashionistas hunting down rare outfits, interior design fans looking for art deco lamps and Murano mirrors, and bargain hunters searching for collectibles in the sprawling Jeu de Balle flea market. Bernard Gavilan is the neighbourhood’s undisputed fashion guru; he opened his first boutique here in 2011, an Aladdin’s cave of vintage clothes and accessories. “Retro fashion has become much more important in the Marolles over the years,” he says, “but there’s a difference between the by-the-kilo stores popping up everywhere, which sell basic, recent secondhand clothes, and shops like mine, whose quality items can go back to 1900.”
The two key streets to explore are the parallel Rue Blaes and Rue Haute. Don’t miss Passage 125, an ancient textile warehouse that has been transformed into a labyrinthine antiques emporium selling everything from jewellery and stained glass to crystal chandeliers and rare arms. Meanwhile, Haute Antiques is housed in the old art nouveau Rialto cinema, where 25 collectors tempt shoppers with high-quality pieces, from furniture to lighting.
Don’t miss
The vibrant heart of the neighbourhood is the Marolle’s monster Jeu de Balle flea market, open 365 days of the year but with the best bargains on Sundays. At midday, head to Centro Cabraliego, a social club for generations of immigrants from Spain’s Asturias, where local people cook up a copious lunch of chorizo, ribs and calamari with wine or cider for under €20. Walk over to the Place Brueghel, on Rue de l’Epée, where a free glass lift whisks you up to the entrance of the landmark Palace of Justice, with panoramic views over Brussels. Finish off with a walk down Rue des Tanneurs, past the Palais du Vin, now an organic food market, till you arrive at the stately romanesque Notre-Dame de la Chapelle church, where the 16th-century painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder is buried.
Where to stay
On bustling Rue Haute, La Maison Haute is a chic boutique place with room-only doubles from €120. A budget alternative at the edge of the Marolles is Ibis Brussels, with spacious doubles from around €90, right opposite the Eurostar station.
The meal at Les Brigittines was provided by Visit Brussels