The Gare du Midi neighbourhood is seen by many as a seedy area where you don’t want to hang around if you can help it (and with a Eurostar ticket you can easily hop on a train to the smartly renovated Central Station). Yet this district has a certain melancholy charm – a bit like a story by Georges Simenon, creator of the detective Maigret – with its sullen station bars, retired Moroccan men playing dominoes and night trains rumbling overhead. The city is now improving the boulevard that runs from the station to the city centre, which is bringing new energy to the area. It’s not ever going to be like the chic Louise quarter, but it’s at least more authentic than the sterile European district or the tacky tourist zone.

Where to eat

L’Escale

This friendly neighbourhood brasserie on a leafy square near the station occupies a grand 19th-century interior with wood panelling, mirrors and chandeliers. The chefs work in an open kitchen at the back producing big pots of Dutch mussels (€21), Flemish stews simmered in dark beer (€11.50) and plump sausages served with generous helpings of stoemp (€12) – a Belgian version of bubble ‘n’ squeak).
• Square de l’Aviation 16, Anderlecht, +32 2 522 59 51, brasserielescale.com. Open Mon-Sat 7am-11pm

Houtsiplou

This is a relaxed restaurant with long, wooden tables and a huge cartoon mural featuring famous Belgians from Magritte to the Manneken Pis. The kitchen produces tasty burgers served on wooden platters along with chunky Belgian frites (€14.90). The staff are happy to speak English or Italian, as well as the two languages of Brussels.
• Place Rouppe 9, +32 2 511 38 16, caat.be/houtsiplou. Open daily 24/7

Antarctique
This exceptional seafood restaurant is one of the hidden secrets of the Midi station quarter. You create your own platter at a fishmonger’s counter overflowing with seafood from the Mediterranean and the North Sea, including fresh squid, octopus, crabs, shrimps, salmon and cod. It is then grilled or fried on the spot while you wait upstairs listening to Arabic music and sipping mint tea (they don’t sell alcohol). It costs just €20 per kg.
• Avenue de Stalingrad 67, +32 487 25 32 32, no website. Tues-Sat midday-midnight, Sun midday-8pm, closed Mondays

Where to drink

Moeder Lambic Fontainas
A 10-minute walk along the boulevards gets you to this cool, modern beer cafe, run by the same people as the homely Moeder Lambic behind St Gilles town hall. It has 35 Belgian beers on tap, including rare lambics brewed in the misty Zenne valley just outside Brussels. The knowledgeable staff will happily explain the merits of elusive Belgian beers with quirky names such as Jambe de Bois and Mad Helen.
• Place Fontainas 8,+32 2 503 60 68, moederlambic.com. Open Mon-Thurs, Sun 11am-1pm and 4pm-3am, Fri-Sat 11am-2pm, 4pm-3am

Potemkine
This striking new cafe opened a few years ago in an abandoned cinema near the faux medieval Porte de Hal. It was created by Frédéric Nicolay, who is behind more than a dozen cool cafes in run-down Brussels neighbourhoods. Potemkine is possibly his most impressive venture, with a whale skeleton by street artist Bonom suspended from the ceiling and a tiny upstairs cinema with 20 seats where you can watch forgotten classics and indie documentaries.
• Avenue Porte de Hal 2, +32 2 539 49 44, no website. Open Mon-Fri 4pm-1am, Sat-Sun 11am-3am

Must-sees

Cantillon Brewery

The last authentic Geuze brewery lies in an old industrial quarter near Midi station. This family-run brewery founded in 1900 uses an ancient brewing method that ferments the beer using microbes that breed in the Senne valley. The result is a sour beer that tastes like nothing else you’ll have ever drunk. It’s hard to find in Brussels bars, but you can sit down in the brewery’s bar among old oak barrels to taste one of the world’s strangest beers.
• Entrance €7, including a beer, Rue Gheude 56, +32 2 521 49 28, cantillon.be. Open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat 10am-5pm

Palais du Midi

The city has an ambitious plan to create a La Rambla along the grimy boulevards that run from Midi station to the centre. But don’t get too excited – things move slowly in the capital of Europe. However, the gloomy 19th-century Palais du Midi shopping arcade has now been restored to create a row of 40 shops – from a hardware store to a Moroccan tearoom – painted the bright primary colours of Parisian storefronts.
• Avenue de Stalingrad

Secret spots

Gare de la Chapelle

Trains out of Midi station rumble over a series of tunnels that have become hotspots for street artists. You can track down the best work near the abandoned Gare de la Chapelle, including a giant spider by the Brussels street artist Bonom and a lovely work featuring women with big, sad eyes by the Athens artist Sonke. Look out also for the bold urban art created in 1998 in the Rue de Terre-Neuve tunnel by two graphic artists working from photographs taken by children living in the neighbourhood.
• Rue de Terre-Neuve

Gare du Midi market
A vibrant street market is held every Sunday morning in the squares and tunnels around Gare du Midi. More than 400 traders set up stands selling cheap oranges, Moroccan olives, bargain socks and bulky suitcases. Not many tourists come here but locals love the multicultural crush, the yelling traders and the filled North African pancakes.
• Gare du Midi. Open Sunday 6am-1pm

Where to stay

Sweet Brussels

Sofie van Buggenhout has created an inspiring B&B in a big 19th-century townhouse on a leafy downtown boulevard. The guestrooms have typical Brussels interiors, with lofty ceilings, marble fireplaces and clawfoot bathtubs. A 10-minute walk along the boulevard gets you from Sofie’s front door to the Eurostar terminal.
• Doubles from €90 B&B, Avenue de Stalingrad 78, +32 486 25 91 37, sweetbrussels.be

A La Grande Cloche
This family-run hotel opened in 1840 on a neoclassical square facing the first Gare du Midi. The station was torn down long ago, but the hotel is still standing. It’s a friendly old-fashioned Belgian place with old photographs on the walls and some of the cheapest rooms in downtown Brussels.
• Doubles from €60. Place Rouppe 10, +32 2 512 61 40, hotelgrandecloche.com

Entertainment

Wiels
When the city turned the abandoned Wiels brewery into a contemporary art centre, it was hoping it would have the same impact that Tate Modern had on London – but this massive art deco building is in the wrong place to draw big crowds. Only a few dedicated art lovers ever find their way here, but that makes it quite special. You can look at edgy new art in empty white spaces and then sit down with a coffee in the stunning former brewing hall.
• Entrance €8, Avenue Van Volxemlaan 354, Forest, +32 2 340 00 53, wiels.org

Recyclart

The abandoned Gare de la Chapelle has become a hub for smart urban renovation projects such as the restored Brigittines chapel (now a dance venue). You can visit the station during the day to check out shows by wild artists or head here at night to catch an intimate jazz session or a concert of new French music.
• Entrance from €10, Rue des Ursulines 25, +32 2 502 57 34, recyclart.be

Derek Blyth is author of The 500 Hidden Secrets of Brussels and the mysecretbrussels.com blog