In 1926, Joseph Niels opened the Canterbury, a hotel-restaurant on boulevard Jacqmain in Brussels. A century and five generations later, his family runs four brasseries under the name Maisons Niels: Au Vieux Saint Martin, Au Savoy, Au Grand Forestier and Claridge. The dish he brought back from London is still a signature at all four.
Some addresses outlast trends and generations without losing who they are. Behind Au Vieux Saint Martin on the Grand Sablon, Au Savoy on place Brugmann, Au Grand Forestier in Watermael-Boitsfort and Claridge in Waterloo stands one family, and one idea of what a Brussels brasserie should be: generous, precise cooking, carefully chosen produce, rooms designed down to the last detail and, above all, close attention to the people who come through the door.
Joseph Niels and the filet américain
The story begins in London. Joseph Niels, a contemporary of Auguste Escoffier, worked at the Savoy, where he rubbed shoulders with the French chef. It was there that he came across a recipe that would stay in the family for a hundred years: steak tartare.
Photo by Boris Debusscher
Joseph brought it back to Brussels in the mid-1920s, reinventing it as a dish that Belgians now commonly refer to as filet américain. It firstly became the house dish of the Canterbury, the restaurant he opened on boulevard Jacqmain in 1926, and later a signature in each brasserie the following generations would open.
The filet américain has been made to the same recipe ever since. When it turned 100 in 2024, a book was published to mark the occasion. It remains one of the main dishes at all four Maisons Niels restaurants.
Belgian brasserie classics, made in each kitchen
Next to the filet américain, the menus carry the standards of the Belgian brasserie: croquettes de crevettes, fondus au parmesan, bouchées à la reine and carbonnades flamandes. What looks simple on the plate rests on a firm decision behind the pass. Maisons Niels has no central kitchen: each restaurant cooks with its own team in its own kitchens, and makes its own stocks, mayonnaise and the ice cream used in its desserts.
The group’s four addresses share the same way of working, while each takes its character from the neighbourhood around it.
- Au Vieux Saint Martin, Grand Sablon, Brussels. Created by Albert Niels in the late 1960s on the site of the former café de la Justice. It turns 60 in 2028.
- Au Grand Forestier, Watermael-Boitsfort. On the edge of the Sonian Forest (Forêt de Soignes), open since 2015.
- Au Savoy, place Brugmann, Ixelles. Opened in 2018.
- Claridge, Waterloo. A rôtisserie, founded in 2022.
What ties them together is a family that leaves nothing to chance, and gives each place a spirit of its own.
Furniture tested at full scale, art from the family collection
When Albert Niels took over the café de la Justice on the Grand Sablon at the end of the 1960s, he called on Christophe Gevers, a major figure in 20th-century Belgian interior architecture. Choosing handsome furniture was not enough for him; he wanted to check it was comfortable. Every piece was tried out at full size, on a 1:1 scale, before it was adopted.
That attention to detail still runs through the group’s restaurants. The original works on the walls, by Karel Appel, Pierre Alechinsky and Walter Swennen, come from the Niels family’s own collection. Contemporary artists are also invited, on a regular basis, to design a wine label or the matchboxes handed to guests.
The vision of hospitality
Something that we noticed on our regular visits to Maisons Niels restaurants, the service counts for as much as what is on the plate. It may seem strange, but these are simple acts: recognising a regular, welcoming a new guest as if they were expected, or simply giving the dog that comes in with its owner a proper welcome too.
Rooms, recipes and certain gestures can be handed down, but in the family’s view hospitality cannot be fixed in place. It has to be found again at every service, with every team and every guest. Another curiosity about the house: the restaurant directors are former chefs de rang.
The fifth generation
A century after the Canterbury opened on boulevard Jacqmain, the filet américain is still made to Joseph’s recipe, and a fifth generation of the family has taken up the story. Since 2025, Maxime Niels, Joseph’s great-great-grandson, has been part of the business, alongside his father Frédéric and his grandfather Albert. Their stated aim is simple: keep what deserves to be kept, and let the rest evolve.
The next important date for the Maisons Niels comes in 2028, when Au Vieux Saint Martin turns 60. For the occasion the family is preparing a book of nearly 150 pages, built from anecdotes and memories gathered from relatives, people in the neighbourhood and the restaurant’s guests, with many archive images. It is the story of one brasserie, and of a piece of Brussels history told by those who lived it.
