When one feels strongly attached to a cafe, there is always the temptation – admittedly antithetical to the journalist’s code of conduct – to keep it entirely to oneself. Especially when said cafe is the very definition of cosy, accommodating only some two dozen patrons comfortably.This is how I feel about Lord Byron Art Cafe, which is tucked away in the once-quiet Rue des Chartreux in downtown Brussels.

Name-wise, the Sofitel Europe’s restaurant, BE Café Marché Jourdan, hasn’t exactly chosen the easy way. I fear it may remain known as ‘le restaurant du Sofitel’. What chef Marc Pâquet has achieved, however, is nothing less than phenomenal: prise the Eurocrats away from their comfort zone, and feed them Belgian cuisine, using Belgian produce.

Judging Le Frascati on the quality of its cuisine alone wouldn’t do justice to the place. Decor-wise, Le Frascati is pretty much your quintessential Brussels brasserie, all wood panelling, mirrors and warmth.  The clientele blends trendy southerners (that’s south-of-the-canal) with regulars, although it’s difficult to tell; everyone seems to receive the mine host treatment. On the food front, however, it’s a textbook example of quality and quantity – and then some.

It was legitimate to assume that, for Madness, 2012 had peaked already, what with playing the ageless Our House first on the roof of Buckingham Palace (“in the middle of One’s street”) for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee then at the closing ceremony of the Olympics. Their annual Christmas jaunt – which this year features a four-day House of Fun weekend at Butlins, no less – was meant to provide the usual chirpy coda to the calendar year, and that was that.