The story
Old Boy is a South-East Asian grill at Rue de Tenbosch 110 in Ixelles, Brussels, and the Michelin Guide listed it as Recommended in 2026. After four months of renovation, the kitchen now cooks around an open fire.
Xavier Chen and John Prigogine spent ten days eating their way through Bangkok before they rebuilt the place. The result is a room inspired by urban Asia, with a grill at the center of the kitchen that recalls the city's markets. Gault&Millau gave it 13.5 in 2026 and noted the push toward authenticity.
Le Fooding singled out Brasvar pork skewers and asparagus skewers glazed in nam jim jaew. The steak tartare with lemongrass uses Rouge des Flandres beef from the Dierendonck butcher, and it arrives properly spicy. Mussels are stir-fried in a kra pao sauce of Thai basil, garlic, oyster sauce and chili.
The menu follows the seasons and the daily arrivals, and every curry paste is made in house. Nam prik and relishes cut through the grilled richness. In the evening, a set menu is served to the whole table. For dessert, there is Thai tea condensed milk ice cream with coconut cream and caramelized pecans.
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Old Boy’s all fired up! After months of renovations (and a brief pop-up brasserie), the relentless duo of Xavier Chen and John Prigogine (a former sales engineer and legal expert) have taken their Asian eatery to the next level. The main attraction? The sacrosanct holy fire worthy of Bangkok’s street food scene, turning every dish into a smoky, sizzling spectacle. Things were certainly hotting up the day we went for lunch; juicy and tender Brasvar pork skewers and asparagus skewers glazed in a delicious nam jim jaew sauce, to kick things off; followed by a magnificent, albeit very spicy steak tartare with lemongrass, made with Rouge des Flandres beef from the Dierendonck butcher’s; before being blown away by the mussels stir-fried to perfection in a devilishly good kra pao sauce – an irresistible blend of Thai basil, garlic, oyster sauce, sugar and chili (which we opted for over the braised duck panang curry). To round off the never-ending feast, it was a fight-to-the-finish for the last spoonful of the Thai tea condensed milk ice cream, with coconut cream and caramelized pecans. Stunning! · Billie Relish
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