The Solo Scale:

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It might be strange to say that one of the best dining experiences you can have in Brussels is at an Italian restaurant outside the central area, but it’s true. At Da Mimmo, you’ll have a Michelin-star experience from genuine Italian chefs who have put together an impeccable tasting menu.

Da Mimmo is great because while it’s not central, it’s accessible by subway from the middle of Brussels. The stop is a short distance away, which makes it easy to get there and return back to your hotel without worrying about driving. There isn’t much parking in general, so if you don’t plan on using public transportation, a taxi or rideshare drop off will be your best option.

The restaurant area is fairly intimate. There’s only about twelve tables, but even with that, I had no trouble getting a reservation. Because it’s a fairly long tasting menu, you won’t see turnover on these tables.

The waitstaff here are trilingual and expertly so. They speak English, French, and Italian with ease, and shift based on the preference of the language. The table beside me preferred Italian and the other side preferred French. While I do have a passing knowledge of all three, I find that with fine dining, I lack some of the vocabulary around the food ingredients and opted for English. And yet, the entire time, the ability to switch with ease impressed me. You do meet the chef at the end of the dinner, and this is where I did switch to French to speak with him, but any language would have done.

As you settle in, you can order sparkling, still, or tap water for your meal. They’ll also ask if you want a bubbly glass of something to start.

When it comes to the menu, there are a few tasting options. The options on each menu may change for the season, but come with three options to choose from. Degustazione (5 courses), Sensoriale (7 courses) or Fragranze (9 courses). I opted for the Fragranze as it had a few items that I was dying to try that weren’t on the other menus. In addition, I chose the wine pairing, which was an additional 105€, but came with nine tasting pours of wine through the dinner.

Amuse Bouche

As with many fine dining experience, the meal begins with an amuse bouche. The table is set with a few green olives for tasting and a bulb of olive oil that will stay with you through the dinner. Then, the first bites will arrive.

The top left is a marshmallow consistency that feels very odd when you’re expecting something crunchy. On top is a red sauce, topped with charcuterie. It tastes great, but the mental dichotomy of the marshmallow was definitely a little odd.

The second amuse was a little cacio e pepe inspired dish. This had a meringue crust, flaked with black pepper. The best amuse bouche was a version of a “beignet” made with ragout, oxtail and green pesto on top. This packed a flavourful punch and was my favourite of the three amuse bouche bites.

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The Bread Service

Throughout the night, there’s a consistent bread service that continues to bring you fresh bread to your liking. I picked the focaccia from the platter, which had lots of olive oil flavour and tasted like something my Nonna would have made. The personal bulb of olive oil at the table gave a great opportunity for dipping. In addition to the focaccia, they had a lovely rustic bread option to choose.

The wait staff will frequently return with the bread tray if they notice that your bread plate is empty, right up until the desserts. I think I went through three rounds and never wanted for any bread the whole evening.

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First Course

Like many progressive menus, the first courses focus on seafood. I had purchased the wine pairing with my meal and so, the first wine was a Marangone Lugana Tre Campagne which was light and crispy and had just a hint of salt that went nicely with the fish. It was the best white wine I’d had in a while.

As for the food itself, it was a work of art that I felt bad about digging into to eat. This will hold true of a lot of the courses at Da Mimmo. They really believe that you eat with your eyes before your mouth.

This dish features razor clams with notes of kiwi and chartreuse. The razor clams are fanned out beautifully in a green bean extraction sauce. On top are caviar and gold leaf (helping to justify the overall price). Thanks to the chartreuse, this had heavy floral notes, but the razor clams absolutely shone and the green bean sauce was super fresh and flavourful. Even better, the wine paired absolutely perfectly with the salt of the caviar. It’s a fantastic start to the progression!

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Second Course

For the second course, the wine was a Ciro Picariello, Corp 906, made with a fiano grape. This wine had mineral and volcanic notes.

To pair with this was a cuttlefish dish. Once again, this aims to trick the eye. It’s squid, but prepared in thin ribbons, tagliatelle style, to appear like pasta. The wine really highlighted the dish and brought the flavour forward to the tip of the tongue. However, there’s lardo in the dish that adds some fat and parsley to give it freshness. It’s a super unique preparation, but the balance of flavours was spot on!

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Third Course

The third course came with a 12-month aged wine from the Adriatic region — aged in a stainless steel barrel. This had a much longer finish, indicating that the wines were getting a little more body and richer, just as the dishes were building in flavour.

This third course was an absolute revelation of taste. This dish is a risotto with gamberi rossi from Sicily. The first thing you notice is the smell. The fresh lemon scent practically punches you in the nose as it hits the table. The gamberi are sliced thin, carpaccio style, with pepperone chips on top. The risotto had an amazing super creamy finish, but the chips gave it texture. The lemon scent? That was a lemon gel that tasted just as good as it smelled (helped along by being Amalfi coast lemons). If that wasn’t enough, they used fresh basil on this and the very smell made me feel like I was back in Italy.

Truly, this was a five out of five star dish.

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Fourth Course

For the fourth course, the wine turns to red with a Valtellina Nebiollo from ArPePe. It’s got a super dry bite, but still manages to taste fruity in a way that seems impossible. It’s not the only amazing thing about this course, because the tagliolini served with truffles was amazing. The wait staff stood there shaving truffles and it felt like they just kept coming. Every time I thought they were done, I got more. Truly, a great bang for my buck.

It isn’t surprising then that the pasta had a strong mushroom-forward taste, but they didn’t overpower the dish. On paper, this dish is extremely simple, but the flavour packs an amazing punch. Truly, this was one of my favourites of the night.

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Fifth Course

Next, the wine served was a Nosiola from Salvetta. It’s a bit surprising as they bounce back to a white wine after the red. This had honey and burnt sugar notes. In comparison to the course before, it was extremely sweet.

It helps to counteract some of the bitterness, acidity and fattiness of the next dish — red mullet with foie gras and a consommé of rockfish and Amalfi lime. The sweetness of the wine is the element missing to balance all the ingredients, so it’s a clever pairing. The fish is actually a delicate bite, but the red mullet is perfectly crispy. Meanwhile, the fattiness of the foie gras is balanced by bitter dark greens and the salty richness of the consommé.

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Sixth Course

The wine stays red with a Montepulciano, Toscana Rosso. This had some balsamic notes, and the combination of dryness and slight bitter was needed to cut through the fattiness of the duck in the next dish.

This was another favourite of the night. It was a piece of duck with watermelon marinated with campari. To finish it was a duck sauce combined with black garlic. The campari bitterness also helped the wine in cutting through the duck’s fattiness, but the dish was heaven. The watermelon taste was so unique and the duck was cooked perfectly. On top of that, it was absolutely beautiful. However, while the watermelon was good, the black garlic was great and absolutely my favourite part.

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Seventh Course

The next wine was from the Piedmonte/Tronchetto Island region, which was spicy and sweet and paired nicely with the mustard in the next dish. It had dry notes that also cut the richness of the piglet.

The piglet itself had a beautiful zucchini flower. This came with pork inside and was coated with sauce made from rendered pig fat and marinated with chamomile and limoncello. It’s that last ingredient you really taste. This was one of the dishes that only came with the extended menu and it was delicious, though maybe a little fattier on the pork that I usually like.

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Before they serve you the next course (and the sweets begin), you can also add items from a cheese platter. Unfortunately, given that I went with the extended menu, I had no space for it and had to give it a pass. However, I was able to stare longingly as they sliced it up for other tables, and deciding that if I’m ever back in Brussels, I’ll make room for it next time.

Eighth Course

With the richness of the pork course over and the cheese given a pass, the sweets begin to arrive at the table — with more wine, of course. The wine turns to a Recioto from the Veneto region. This is sweeter which balances the acidity of the coming dessert, and because it’s a late-harvest grape, it makes it incredible easy to drink.

The dessert is a great bridge from savoury as it features beets and beet root prepared in multiple ways. As I mentioned earlier, any strong notes of acidity were reduced by the wine.

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Ninth Course

There’s more wine to come with a Casimira from the Brachetto grape. This one has very light alcohol content and is lightly fermented, which delivers some very fun celebratory bubbles! This pairs with my absolute favourite of the desserts, which was a surprise. For me, I never quite like tiramisu, but this version of it was a star.

This was savoyarde biscuits soaked in coffee and whiskey, with a coffee gel ice cream. The mascarpone was meant to have orange (though I didn’t get that much from it), with a cocoa topper. The dessert not only tasted incredible, but it was a fantastic work of art. Each component balanced nicely, which is typically my complaint with tiramisu — that there’s always one element that just dominates. Plus, since I’m not a coffee drinker, I really dislike when it’s the coffee that wins.

Here, that wasn’t a problem. It was a blissful balance that I could enjoy again and again.

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Mignardises

To wrap up the meal at Da Mimmo, there are a handful of mignardises to sate your sweets appetite. During my meal, there were three offerings — a cocoa truffle, almond cookie, and a tiny custard tart. My favourite of these was the almond cookie, which had lovely notes of orange zest in it. The truffle was super dense and rich, so even though it was a small bite, it really packed a punch. The tart was the opposite — light and fluffy. All together, they were perfect little bites to finish the meal.

While sometimes restaurants will send you away with a to-go option, that wasn’t at Da Mimmo. However, at the very end of the meal, I did get to meet the chef and speak with him a little about the menu and offer my compliments. The service, the food, the atmosphere, and the drinks were all top-notch.

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I can’t recommend Da Mimmo enough. It’s worth saving up to have a fantastic experience if you’re in Brussels. I know that if I’m back, I’ll definitely be visiting again. At 198€ for the nine-course and 105€ for the wine pairing, you truly get your money’s worth in both the food, the quality of the wine, and the fantastic service. Obviously, the menu I had is not the menu you will get, but it speaks to the artistic flair, the quality, and the expertise in working with ingredients that you can expect, no matter the menu.

Are you ready for your own experience? Check out the website for their latest menus and to book your own spot today!

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