We, or should i say I, decided to order a half litre of the house white wine for a bargain price of €9, it was very pleasant and highly quaffable. Shortly after my last glass, i was completely away with the fairies and managed to take very little photographs, yet the food still stuck in my mind. The very friendly waiter quickly sat us down and shortly after we got talking to our neighbours, who had this restaurant recomemded to them by a friend.
Some toasted ciabatta with an intense garlic bruschetta topping was brought to us at no extra charge, and as simple it may have been, it was incredibly fresh and actually very good. Everything here is very well priced, especially for Brussels, and while online review talk about small portion sizes, we never experienced this.
I chose a dish from the specials board, stuffed aubergine ravioli in a heavenly rich, tomato sauce, a good dash of olive oil, a few sun dried tomatoes and some chopped parsley. The food presentation isn’t great, but all the pasta is homemade here and you can really tell. It’s cooked well and both the texture, and flavours are spot on. I love it when i stumble across unfussy Italians like this, which for now seem to be undiscovered by tourists.
We couldn’t leave Papillon without trying a classic, spaghetti bolognese. It tastes completely different everywhere you eat this dish and every family run Italian restaurant will have its own secret recipe, and it was no exception here. Perhaps the actual pasta was a little on the thick side, but the ragu sauce with a pork/beef mixture made up for that. It was very rich and had a real depth of flavour that was probably achieved by a slow, delicate cooking. A lovely hearty dish.
By the time tiramisu arrived at our table there was barely any conversation left from me and i was most probably dancing round a table soon after. Photo of course forgotten of this Italian classic, but my memory serves well and it was very traditional, but charming in its own right and had a good balance of coffee, sponge base and cream without being too heavy or sweet
We payed for our meal, and fell out of the restaurant, full up on good food and wine. In the heart of brussels, right in the centre of the tourist traps, who knew there was a such a hidden little gem. If you crave Italian and don’t want to break the bank then Papillon will serve you very well, as it did me.
7/10
