Where to eat after visiting the Folon Foundation?

The Fondation Folon, the permanent home of the work of Belgian artist Jean-Michel Folon, sits inside the 220-hectare Domaine régional Solvay in La Hulpe. After a couple of hours among Folon's watercolours, sculptures and gentle blue silhouettes, most visitors want something equally generous from the dining angle. The closest reliable Belgian brasserie is Chez Clément, five to seven minutes by car, effectively at the gates of the same park, since the brasserie's front door is barely ten metres from the La Hulpe communal border.

The cultural alignment helps. Folon was a Belgian artist of international stature, and Chez Clément is, in its own way, a Belgian institution of international interest: founded in 1858 as the “Bruyère à la Croix” coaching inn, five generations later still run by the same family thread (currently Marie and Gilles Verleyen, with their daughter June informally counted as the sixth in waiting). Chef Vincent Frédéric De Laloy has been at the stoves since 1996, leading a brigade of thirty-two; the kitchen is fully house-made; the porter has been with the house for two decades.

For a British or international visitor doing the museum loop, the timing is natural: open Folon in the morning, walk back through the Solvay grounds, then drive less than ten minutes to Chez Clément for lunch (noon to 2:30 p.m.) or back to the park for the afternoon, then dinner (7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.). The brasserie is open seven days a week, which makes both the Sunday afternoon and the Monday evening configuration possible. The free car park sits ten metres from the entrance, and the bar runs continuously between services.

Beyond the dining, the contextual gain is worth flagging. Folon, the Château de La Hulpe at the centre of the estate, Chez Clément on the perimeter, and Lac de Genval five minutes further on form a small cultural triangle that locals consider the signature loop of Walloon Brabant.