A panoramic restaurant at the top of the Brucity administrative centre in downtown Brussels opens next month. The opening occurs in several stages: in early February Brucity staff will gain admission. A fortnight later anybody will be able to visit. By next winter a permanent bar will open on the 9th floor rooftop of this Brussels landmark.
The opening of what has been named the "Rooftop Panoramic Eatery" has long been awaited. The restaurant was initially going to open in September last year. That slipped to November and now it is February.
"All for technical reasons," explains André Van Eecken, director of Bru58, the consortium running the new restaurant and rooftop. "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."
In early February, staff at Brucity, the administrative centre of the City of Brussels, gain admittance first. The restaurant will serve as their canteen at lunchtime, although visitors will later also be welcome. No exact opening date for the general public has yet been announced.
"Two weeks later, there will be the grand, festive opening of the restaurant for the general public," says Van Eecken. "It’s a restaurant anybody can visit. Two hundred people will be able to dine and enjoy the 360-degree view."
The entire floor of the "Rooftop Panoramic Eatery" is surrounded by windows.
Permanent rooftop bar
Higher still, on the ninth floor, an outdoor bar on the rooftop will probably open in April, weather conditions permitting. The public will also have access to the rooftop only. That bar is closed during the winter months because it’s pretty gusty up there making it unpleasant.
"But by next winter, we want to open a permanent, sheltered winter bar with 50 seats," says Van Eecken, who describes it as “cosy and chic bar of the cocktail type".
