As of February 2024, a panoramic restaurant will be opening its doors in Brucity, the hub of Brussels’ administration services. Initially scheduled to open in September 2023, the Rooftop Panoramic Eatery is now finally getting ready to open its doors. Nonetheless, the general public will have to wait another two weeks before getting a bite as City of Brussels personnel will have dibs on the restaurant.
“All for technical reasons. The restaurant was initially simply a shell: just concrete and glass. We had to do everything ourselves: the walls, the floors, the furniture, the kitchen… that took us six months”, explained André Van Eecken, director of 58, the consortium running the restaurant and rooftop bar, about the rescheduling of the restaurant’s opening from September to February.
Starting from the beginning of February, staff at Brucity, the administrative centre of the City of Brussels, gain admittance first. For a couple of weeks, they will enjoy sole access to the premises which will function as their canteen for lunch. “Two weeks later, there will be the grand, festive opening of the restaurant for the general public,” said Van Eecken. “It’s a restaurant anybody can visit. Two hundred people will be able to dine and enjoy the 360-degree view.”
The panoramic restaurant isn’t the only hospitality feature of the Brucity building. Last year already, 58 opened a rooftop bar on the top floor of the building. Spanning over 3,000 square metres, the bar already proved its success during the summer months of 2023. With its great views over Brussels and its sunny disposition, it quickly became to be the ideal after-work spot. Over the cold winter months, the bar was closed but it should reopen starting from April.
The rooftop bar is open air, which is why its opening always depends on the weather and why it remains closed during winter. However, Van Eecken promised that, by next winter, a “cosy and chic bar of the cocktail type” will open as well. The permanent, sheltered winter bar will be able to accomodate up to 50 people, rain or shine.
