Heading up the AKAI kitchen is chef Tibor Repa, who has worked at Zuma, Aqua Kyoto, The Ned London and The Ned Doha. The menu celebrating the fusion between Asian and Mediterranean is only in English, the aim being to link this venue to top-class contemporaries in London, New York and Tokyo.

Indeed, the carte oozes premium delights, from buns, baos and nori tacos to daring dessert combinations like yuzu cheesecake and matcha tiramisu. Meat specialities include Wagyu ribeye A5 (the highest grade of Wagyu beef) steak with truffle miso, roast chicken with miso Hiroshima sauce and roast duck. Fish lovers will rejoice at exquisite miso black cod, scallops steeped in green curry, cilantro and salmon roe and seafood including squid, crab and umami-glazed lobster.

All dishes are made with the highest quality ingredients, are supremely fresh, and carefully selected. Service is with a smile, and even the cutlery and tableware are beautiful. I was particularly taken by the delicate bronze mug that housed my delicious raspberry mule. My daughter’s virgin pina colada came beautifully presented with flowers.

After spicy, rock salt edamame beans to whet our appetites, I enjoyed a delectable ‘Nasu Dengaku’ (glazed aubergine with sweet miso and sesame). My daughter tried zingy miso soup with smoked tofu, shitake and wakame seaweed and the shredded duck bao with cucumber and hoisin sauce.

To follow, she chose sirloin beef and teriyaki sauce. I debated over delights such as seabass ceviche or teriyaki salmon and finally opted for the sublime Mediterranean sea bass with spinach and a delicate sesame sauce, with comforting rice and charcoal-grilled broccoli with umami dressing.

Keen to try AKAI’s original ice creams with an Asian twist, my Lilipink red chocolate-covered raspberry and vanilla mousse with a raspberry compote heart, madeleine, lemon and kaffir lime zest was to die for. My daughter tucked into a Japanese take on the French classic nougat glacé – a ‘vanilla nut entremet’ with pecan and white chocolate.

At AKAI you can go à la carte or be tempted by special four-course ‘taste of AKAI’ menus at €49 (€59 including a glass of wine or cava brut). Set lunches are also available from Tuesday to Saturday.

AKAI further boasts an extensive ‘signature and classic’ cocktail, wine and champagne list, including four key brands – Laurent Perrier, Dom Pérignon, Ruinart and Louis Roederer – to suit every occasion. Sakes even feature in AKAI’s special ‘Hakka’ cocktail, in keeping with AKAI’s Asian roots.

We will return to test AKAI’s amazing sushi, prepared by chefs on a grand sushi bar. We watched transfixed as delicate slices of tuna o-toro, salmon teriyaki and nigiri were created, not to mention sashimi, Futomaki and maki, including California snow crab and truffled beef rolls.

AKAI’s décor is exceptional: voluptuous velour seating, marble-topped tables, and a mirror-glass ceiling to bathe your dining experience in a warm gold glow. The design suits anything from skyline drinks and mid-morning coffee to festive celebrations, with at least four birthdays celebrated as we dined.

The party atmosphere increases as the night goes on, with electronic sounds changing to disco beats. AKAI also features live DJ sets every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening, playing house, R&B [rhythm and blues] or hip-hop.

AKAI’s lounge ‘club’, complete with plush velvet armchairs and sofas, is perfect for a glass of sake or after-work apéritif. High tables and chairs suit drinks, meals with friends or romantic dinners à deux. A more formal dining area is ideal for business meetings and birthdays alike.

Whatever you choose, you cannot miss AKAI’s undisputed claim to fame – the amazing view of downtown Brussels from its wall-to-ceiling windows. In short, this Japanese and Asian restaurant, which has shaken up Brussels’ culinary scene since its opening, may attract first for this show-stopping 100-metre high view. But you will also return for AKAI’s breathtaking, mouthwatering food served in a cosmopolitan, modern ambience.

L’article AKAI: Dining on top of the world est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

A visit to this absorbing exhibition shows why this is so. From the menacing music in the vast opening train hall to the fascinating film with original 1930s and 1940s footage just before you leave, the overriding question is the same. Between 1941 and 1944, records indicate that Belgium’s train operator, the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Belges (SNCB), transported at least 25,490 Jews and 353 Roma to concentration camps. Some 189,542 Belgian forced labourers and 16,081 political prisoners were also taken east. But could train workers have prevented this happening?

“During the German occupation, the SNCB continued to run trains in the interest of the country and, despite internal resistance, also participated in the deportations to Germany and the camps, which exposes a deep moral dilemma between collaboration and resistance,” the train museum’s website states.

Denuit argues that Narcisse Rulot (1883-1978), appointed director general of the SNCB in 1933, felt he did not have another option. Moreover, the deportations were not even talked about at SNCB board meetings: “Trains continued circulating during World War II, because the SNCB continued carrying out its essential role for the Belgian economy and the provision of food to the Belgian population,” Denuit said. “In doing so, the SNCB was forced under Nazi occupation to also carry out military transports for the Germans, among which deportation trains of forced labourers, political prisoners, Jews and Roma.”

On 22 June 1940, only a few weeks after Belgium surrendered to Germany on 28 May 1940, Rulot said railway workers must return to work to ensure Belgian services continued and people were fed. Staff felt they did not have a choice, especially in difficult wartime conditions. They needed to keep earning and feed their families. And stopping the deportation trains was not the main priority of the resistance workers, Denuit said. This was mainly “countering the German effort to shorten the war”.

The two key exceptions played a central role in the exhibition. The first was the stopping of the 20^th deportation convoy, carried out by three young resistance fighters. Secondly, there was the famous ‘phantom train’. This was meant, on 3 September 1944, to transport people from Saint-Gilles prison to concentration camps in Germany. But, because of sabotage acts, it only shunted 30 kilometres from Brussels before being ordered to return by the Allies, saving 1,500 political prisoners from deportation.

The exhibition uses original photographs, artefacts, clothes, maps, and even prisoners’ journals to detail the SNCB’s biggest challenge in its history, with some sections detailed in the trains themselves. Personal highlights are the photograph of a seemingly endless line of Belgian forced labourers waiting outside Etterbeek station to board a train to Germany to help the Nazi economy run, for example, to work in factories; the poster proclaiming ‘Daddy’s help in Germany has allowed Saint Nicolas to visit’; and a basic “sabotage manual” used by SNCB resistance fighters.

There are poignant testimonies of some of the Jewish and Roma families who perished in the camps. But Denuit said the museum chose not to display the harrowing photos of concentration camp inmates, mainly as: “We wanted to make the exhibition as accessible as possible for young people.”

Indeed, to align with SNCB’s commemorative actions following the January 2025 Groupe des Sages report recommendations regarding ‘truth, transmission and reparation’, Denuit stated free access to the exhibition for the under-18s was important. The museum also features extensive information about the SNCB’s role in the war on its website, with the exhibition’s accompanying programme including talks by Holocaust survivors and World War II experts and myriad educational activities for children and schools.

Belgian Railways Under Occupation – Between Collaboration and Resistance. Until 28 June 2026. Train World, Prinses Elisabethplein 5, 1030 Schaerbeek. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10.00 to 17.00, last entry 15.30.

L’article New Train World exhibition highlights SNCB’s dilemma under Nazi rule est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Covering a combined area of 1,200m², these galleries will showcase exceptional artworks, many displayed for the first time. The highlight is the restored and reassembled winter garden of the Salle Cousin with its superb stained glass windows, wooden panelling and marble fireplace designed by Belgium’s ‘father of Art Nouveau’, Victor Horta (1861-1947).

“This was the only work possible to renovate out of the three Horta buildings destined for destruction,” the museum’s curator Werner Adriaenssens told journalists at the 10 June press visit, with the  Maison du Peuple and Maison Aubecq tragically destroyed.

The Art Nouveau section of the gallery is designed to show that Belgium’s contribution is “not just concentrated on Horta”, Adriaenssens continued. As well as the beautiful furniture of Henry van de Velde, whose Bloemenwerf villa in Uccle is often open to the public, other big names include Paul Hankar, Paul Hamesse and Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, who contributed a beautiful gold grandfather clock to the collection.

Moving to Art Deco, the museum focuses on artists like Belgium’s Constant Montald and Oscar Van de Voorde, with exquisite jewellery from designer Philippe Wolfers. He was a key part of the 1925 Paris International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, where one highlight, recently rediscovered in the museum’s plaster workshop and now on display, is Pieter Braecke’s imposing sculpture ‘The Decorative Art’.

Other notable designers and firms in the period, that were as much about industrialisation and progress as luxury, “a marriage of reason,” Adriaenssens said, include Charles Catteau (exquisite vases from the Boch factories, La Louvière), Val-Saint-Lambert glassware and De Coene Brothers wooden furniture.

While Belgium is famous for Art Nouveau and Art Deco, its 19^th-century prowess is less well-known. But the 19^th-century gallery with a wealth of treasures from all aspects of daily life, from lighting to leisure, exudes Belgian gems including Brussels Hard porcelain, Vonêche Crystal luxury glassware and a beautiful Brussels/Havana wedding dress.

This gallery also excels in its depiction of changing times. Children were no longer ‘mini adults’, and benefited from charming toys, games and easier-to-wear clothes. The 19^th century also saw the development of electric lighting, telephony, transport (do not miss the Grand Bi/Penny Farthing), photography, fashion – inspired by magazines like ‘Au Bon Marché’ from the famous Paris store – and the art of dining.

Just one fascinating piece of information, describing the beautiful free-standing iron bath with feet, was that in the 19^th century bathing more than once a week was considered “excessive”, and that it was safest to wash with your (white, voluminous) shirt on.

In short, a trip to these stunning galleries, in the words of one early review of the museum which first opened in 1889 as the Cinquantenaire Museum, is “the essential addition to a visit to Belgium and Brussels”, or take advice from one of the charming 20^th Belgian Railways travel posters (1913), proclaiming: “In Brussels, first go to the Musées Royaux du Cinquantenaire”.

L’article Brussels Art & History Museum unveils masterpieces from Art Nouveau to Art Deco est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

The show is organised by the King Baudouin Foundation as part of ‘Art Deco Brussels 2025’ – the event marking the 100^th anniversary of the 1925 Paris ‘Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes’. BELvue is proud to present, for the first time ever, the Foundation’s stunning Art Deco pieces together, as art historian Cécile Dubois, who co-curated the exhibition with museum curator and art history professor Werner Adriaenssens, explains.

“These unique works are now accessible to everyone; it’s no point if no-one sees them,” she says, adding: “Unlike some free exhibitions, it is not just posters, it shows priceless pieces and also presents places from the period you can visit, like the Palais des Beaux Arts.”

Indeed, visitors are treated to outstanding works from a gleaming black and gold Val Saint Lambert ‘Cardinal’ glass vase to Belgian artist Oscar Jespers’ ‘Head of a Woman’. Beautiful photographs of Art Deco gems include the “iconic, total work of art” that is now the Museum Van Buuren, Joseph Diongre’s streamlined Flagey INR building and the world’s biggest Art Deco church, Koekelberg Basilica. Private homes include Uccle’s Maison de Verre and the geometric, clean-lined Villa Berteaux.

The exhibition’s three rooms: ‘Exclusivity in Art Deco’; ‘Series production – Art Deco for all’; and ‘Modernity – the speed of change’, put Art Deco in context. It links this artistic style to developments of the time, focusing on how society changed and reinvented itself in the period. After the First World War, women continued to work, they demanded the vote and new freedoms in general. At the same time, technology, notably new transport like the car, was seen as the future.

In Room 1, stand-out pieces demonstrate that in the late 1920s, luxury and glamour for the elite was paramount. Elegant Val Saint Lambert (Seraing) glassware was produced using sophisticated techniques and materials. Sculptures to suit the finest living room include Jespers’ marble ‘Perle fine’ and Marcel Wolfers’ ‘Victory with Laurel Wreath’. The latter, with its female athlete waving her prize with pride, exemplifies women’s changing role. No longer adjuncts of men, they wore less constraining clothes and were portrayed in powerful, modern ways. 

Room 2 makes clear artists and designers were also keen to win over the middle classes. Art Deco – a movement embodying much more than luxury – lent itself well to mass production. Belgium was a key player here, with pieces from La Louvière’s Royal Boch ceramics factory, that went bankrupt in 1985 but now expertly reincarnated as the Keramis museum, still grace the Hainaut town’s homes today. Designers like Charles Catteau created bright patterned ceramics decorated with exotic animals such as monkeys and pelicans, that could be produced on an industrial scale.

Furniture designers and graphic artists adapted their styles to suit mass production too. Prominent Belgian designers included husband-and-wife team René Baucher and Sylvie Feron, and Huib Hoste, whose squat, modernist-painted stools are particularly striking. Belgium also had a thriving decorative tile industry, with examples displayed in a stunning centrepiece. Ornate book bindings were increasingly in vogue as seen in Paul Bonet’s bright and beautiful leather and enamel inlay work.

Room 3 emphasises the importance of progress and speed in the 1930s. New technologies such as cars, planes and trains were influencing the everyday lives of people, inspiring designers in architecture and in the decorative arts accordingly. The dynamic lines of Art Deco suited this trend perfectly. Posters show how important Brussels was to the rise of the car, with Minerva making iconic luxury models rivalling Rolls Royce, and the Citroën garage the epitome of Art Deco ‘Paquebot’ (steamboat) style.

With paid holiday now permitted, sport post-World War One was seen as a leisure activity, instead of something purely promoted for hygiene reasons, Dubois explains: “the ‘healthy body, healthy mind’ mentality”. Many public swimming pools were built, and Brussels still boasts Art Deco gems, with Saint-Josse a perfect example. On the luxury front, the indoor gem in Michel Polak’s Résidence Palace and the outdoor pool at Ixelles’ Villa Empain/Boghossian Foundation stand out.

Original period photos also shine in this part of the exhibition. A personal favourite is a charming view of beautiful Art Deco ‘Les Bains de Schelle’ open-air swimming baths (now the Glacières in Saint-Gilles), complete with bathing beauties in suitably modest attire. Sadly, as Dubois explained, these open-air institutions that sprung up in this period including pools and solariums in Molenbeek (Daring Club) and Evere closed in the 1950s and 1970s respectively, as their upkeep was too costly. 

This must-see exhibition, complete with a programme of guided tours, workshops and family activities, also challenges the viewer to see the works in comparison to today, posting questions including: “Can we live in a world where beauty no longer plays a role?” and (referring to African-influenced works and Art Deco’s fascination with Egypt), “Can globalization strengthen, not destroy, local traditions?”

The exhibition Art Deco – Style in a Changing Society runs until 4 January 2026 at the BELvue Museum. The museum is open Tuesday to Friday from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm, and on Saturdays, Sundays, and throughout July and August from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.

L’article BELvue celebrates Art Deco in style est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.