TBS Taste goes to Brussels: Humphrey, where Belgium meets the East

This week’s TBS Taste is the first one to fly out of Milan, so fasten your seat belts, we are going to Belgium! Yes, our weekly date is moving to Brussels this time, where Giulia and I were lucky enough to be invited to try out a truly unique place. The restaurant is Humphrey, which has only been open for a year, and already has a large following of fans. Its strong point is its way of mixing Belgian tradition with Filipino influences, creating something really modern, a mix of cultures that won our hearts as well as our palate. But let’s get down to business, namely, let’s talk about food. Before we do that, let us also tell you that the restaurant’s motto is sharing is caring: that’s what Giulia and I did, happily ordering raw vegetable rolls, sweet potato, sea bass with grilled vegetables, and duck with a sauce that came straight from paradise, with small bits of pork.

You might be thinking, did they die at the end, after eating all of that? No we didn’t. Even if we felt a little full, we really didn’t want to leave this magical place without testing their desserts, especially one that we had spotted on other people’s tables. We had been eyeing it for too long to give up on it… So, we ordered two desserts, to share, clearly. Too bad we were in such a rush to taste our desserts that we made a mistake, and realised that while the sweets we ordered were absolutely delicious, they weren’t the ones we’d been staring at on other people’s tables throughout dinner. Alas, hope lies eternal, and while Giulia and I were exchanging friendly insults, blaming our mistake on one another, the owner magically showed up with what we wanted, and yes, he was walking in our direction! There it was: a chocolate ball, covered in golden glitter powder that, with the help of a little hammer, revealed a heart made of many little chocolates, rigorously made in Belgium.

It was an unprecedented pleasure, I tell you. Alright, I know, I might have been talking about desserts for way too long here, but trust me, it was really worth it: if you want to understand my excitement, have a look in the gallery. Humphrey totally won our hearts! And we will definitely go back there, also since we discovered that there is a space for concerts right next to the restaurant. The room houses concerts of the bands belonging to the indie label that the owners of Humphreys have launched, they were very kind and let us visit the space, but sadly, there were no performances that night. That’s why we promised ourselves to head back there soon: Humphreys, this is a promise: see you again soon!