Favourite spots: Gare Maritime Food Market

With ten culinary concepts and a bar, the Gare Maritime Food Market offers a rich gastronomical experience, a flavourful affair that cannot be missed. Savour Brussels’ sights, smells, tastes and sips in a warm ambiance of the historic Gare Maritime station – a vast hall underneath metal, timber and glass structure of a former freight depot.

Opened in 2021 in the midst of pandemic, the food offering at Gare Maritime Food Market unites some of the region’s most dynamic artisans under one roof in a casual yet elegant setting. The Gare Maritime Food Market offers a unique destination for locals and visitors alike to embrace the city’s finest handcrafted food and drinks. It is a wonderful indoor space for spending one of too many Belgian rainy days or a wonderful place to enjoy warm, indirect sunrays. 

No further words are needed. Brussels is finally getting on the international scene of gourmet food markets. We invite you to enjoy our prospective of it on the photos below and we warmly encourage you to visit the food hall for yourself.  

The Gare Maritime – monumental place in the historic Tour & Taxis 

Gare Maritime  – part of historic Tour & Taxis – has been transformed into a real indoor neighbourhood with its own food market, offices and shops. It continues developing even further. This monumental structure comprises of covered passageways and squares intermingled with indoor garden that blooms with the seasons surrounded by beautiful timber, glass and metal structures. Another garden and a pond are being created outside. Since the opening of the food market in 2021, this vast compound now offers an all-day retreat for one of too many Belgian rainy days or a wonderful place to enjoy warm, indirect sun-rays underneath colossal metal and glass structure.

Once a rundown area close to historic docks, Tour & Taxis is one of Brussels’ up-and-coming districts.  A 20-minute walk from the city centre of Brussels and a 15-minute metro-ride from the EU Quarter, this area of industrial warehouses was built in early 20^th century and then abruptly abandoned in the 1980s and 1990s. Since then it has been neglected until the first wave of redevelopments took place in early 2000s. The latest redevelopments started in 2016, when the renovation of a former freight station, amazing Gare Maritime, started. The redevelopment lasted four years. Other developments are still taking place at the time of writing of this aricle – the aim is to make this neighbourhood  a place where people want to live, work and relax. It is becoming ever more connected to the city with major bridges and walkways in construction. 

We were also happy to see Tour & Taxis featured in our favourite Monocle magazine. In their The Entrepreneurs issue nr. 4 you can read their entire article. We fully agree with Monocle’s five reasons why the Tour & Taxis is a great destination: 

1. “Sustainable building: The Gare Maritime is climate-controlled with geothermal heat. Solar panels cover the façade and pavilions are built with cross laminated timber, which provides better insulation.
2. Feeding the soul: Art and culture are integral to Tour & Taxis’ renaissance. Maison de la Poste houses a picturesque private cinema, while the Royal Depot building welcomes those eager to learn everything from jewellery design to graphic skills.
3. Bringing people together […]
4. Greening up: In 2015, Tour & Taxis park was planted to clean the former industrial land and restore nature with trees, plants and winding walkways.
5. Eyeing the past: The popularity of the Tour & Taxis developments, past and present, is down to the beautiful 20^th century architecture, even when new uses are conceived.”

In June 2021, at the European Heritage Awards the Europa Nostra Award 2021 was awarded to the Gare Maritime. The Award recognised the high-quality transformation of this former freight depot on the Tour & Taxis compound into a lively urban hub that has employed environmentally sustainable solutions. Through the award, the European Commission commended the “remarkable achievement of conservation, enhancement and adaptation to new uses of the cultural heritage of Brussels”.

For the latest updates, follow instagram page of Gare Maritime Food Market and the page of Tour & Taxis.