Restaurant review: Refoodgees of St. Gilles

Rue Émile Féron, 153

What’s good? A nonprofit staffed by four refugees, this is home cooking from abroad. Maté, the Georgian chef, makes a satisfyingly plump though nontraditional veggie khinkali: perfect dough, tender mushroom filling and luscious yoghurt sauce. Priscilia and Barry grew up with different versions of fufu, one Guinean and one Angolan, so they’ve settled on a gloriously chunky Cameroonian ragout of manioc, plantain and vegetables. The lentil salad’s origins are undefined — but packing feta, ginger sauce and butternut squash, it’s any globetrotter’s delight.

What’s not? My Brazilian carrot cake was delicious, but it tasted as South American as strudel (menos chocolate, cara!). The pasta al ragu comes from Mana’s love for Italian cuisine (which I would obviously encourage), yet it can appear dull in the otherwise exotic menu. The fact the staff are trainees means the service is understandably a little slow. Don’t pester the waitress for the WiFi password either — she’s hustling (I think she said “capital R,” though).

Vibe: Intriguing. The restaurant used to be a canteen, so think ceramic and concrete structures filled with oak and cotton furniture. Like a cross between your favorite brunch spot and your high school canteen. But in the best possible way.

Who’s picking up the check? Fair if somewhat elevated prices. A main is €15 to €18, and they recommend three for two people. Desert was €6.50. And for the time-pressed customer, they offer a fat range of takeaway sandwiches for €5 to €8. 

Spotted: The director of the Association of Parents of French-Speaking Hearing Impaired Children. Maybe (they have an office next door).

Insider tip: Get the 100 PAP bottled beer. It’s pleasingly hoppy and half the profit goes to refugee housing.

Fun fact: They have a second location at the Villa Empain cultural center devoted to Syrian food, which my colleague Elena Giordano reviewed last month.

How to get there: Take bus 95 from Place Lux or Trone deep into Saint-Gilles. That trip takes 40 minutes tops.

Review published on  February 28, 2024. Illustration by Dato Parulava/POLITICO