- If you want to eat really well for not too much money, ask the local people or the hotel manager (that is, supposing he does not have a brother restaurant-manager) to give some advice for a good restaurant.

- There is a price for everything: expensive food like lobster or turbot will always cost a lot of money at any restaurant. But you can also find some local and simple dishes, rather cheap and still very tasty (e.g. sausages, potatoes and spinach).

Specialities

A number of dishes are considered distinctly Belgian specialities and should be on every visitor's agenda.

Mussels are a firm favorite and a snack of mosselen met friet (mussels and fries) are to Belgium what fish and chips are to England. The traditional way is to cook them in a pot with white wine, then eat them up using only a mussel shell to scoop them out. The top season is September to April, and as with all shellfish it's best not to eat the closed ones. Belgium's mussels always come from nearby Holland. Imports from other countries are looked down at.

Despite the name, French fries (friet in Dutch, frites in French) are proudly claimed as a Belgian invention. Whether or not this is true, they certainly have perfected it — although not everybody agrees with their choice of mayonnaise over ketchup as the preferred condiment. Every village has at least one frituur/friterie, an establishment selling cheap take-away fries, with a choice of sauces and fried meat to go with them.

Waffles (wafels in Dutch, gaufres in French) come in two types: a light and airy variety that Americans are more familiar with, or a heavier variety with a gooey center known as Gaufres de Liège/Luikse wafels. They can be found at stands on the streets of the cities.

Last but not least, Belgian chocolate is famed around the world. Famous chocolatiers include Godiva, Leonidas, Guylian and Neuhaus, but arguably the best stuff can be found at tiny boutiques in the Flemish cities, too small to build worldwide brands.

Drink

Beer

Imagine you've only been drinking red and yellow lemonade with a bit of alcohol thrown in all your life, and then suddenly you are introduced to the best varieties of wine available. This is what it can be like for people from countries like the US or other ones which mostly have industrial production blond lagers on offer, who then come to Belgium and are introduced to what is arguably the richest beer culture on the planet.