Red Devils Brasserie & Football Experience — A Yelp Review

Reviewed on: June 2026 | Category: International Football / Fine Dining (Self-Described) | Price Range: €€€€ (You Will Pay, Emotionally)

Location: Group G, 2026 FIFA World Cup — USA, Canada, Mexico

I have been to a lot of restaurants. I have eaten at places that overpromised and underdelivered. I once ordered the "world-famous paella" at a hotel in Orlando. I thought I had seen it all. Then I went to Red Devils Brasserie, and I realized I had never truly experienced the gap between a menu and a meal. 1

Ambiance: 5/5. Genuinely cannot fault this. The dining room is stunning. Black-red-yellow décor, perfectly polished silver cutlery, photos of famous past dishes lining every wall. The maître d' (a tall goalkeeper named Courtois who briefly quit and then came back) carries himself with an authority that makes you believe, truly believe, something extraordinary is about to happen. You sit down. You open the menu. You lean over to your companion and whisper: This is going to be the greatest meal of our lives.

The Menu: 5/5. Again — flawless on paper. I have not seen a menu this good since I was last at Camp Nou Eatery or Bernabéu Bistro. The headliner is a 34-year-old Kevin De Bruyne, listed under Signature Dishes as "one of the most gifted midfield playmakers of his generation," available at the number 10 position after his transfer from The Manchester Café to Napoli Trattoria. He scored six goals in qualifying alone. 2 The man is a human tasting menu. You read his stats and you need a moment.

Supporting him: Jeremy Doku (Daily Special: 21 goal contributions this season, will destroy full-backs with acceleration that should probably be reported to the authorities), Leandro Trossard (Sommelier's Pick: left-footed, composed, assembled a 6,000-piece Lego Taj Mahal during lockdown, which tells you everything you need to know about his patience and his focus and also his free time), and Romelu Lukaku as the main course.

About Lukaku.

Romelu Lukaku is listed prominently on the menu. He is described as Belgium's all-time leading scorer. He has 124 caps. He is a legend of the establishment. He is, to be frank with you, the reason this review is three stars and not four. 3

Romelu Lukaku, entering this World Cup, had played 69 minutes of competitive football across the entire 2025-26 season. He scored once for Napoli. One goal. In the entirety of a season. He then scored again as a substitute in a warm-up friendly against Croatia, which the kitchen presented as evidence of readiness, and which I would describe as "a taste of something that used to be a full meal." 2

Coach Rudi Garcia selected him on reputation. This is the culinary equivalent of ordering the ribeye because the restaurant won a Michelin star in 2018.

Here is the thing about Red Devils Brasserie that you need to understand before you book your table: this restaurant has been promising a masterpiece for twelve years.

Belgium reached number one in the FIFA World Rankings in November 2015. They stayed there, on and off, for four years. They had Hazard. De Bruyne. Lukaku. Courtois. Kompany. Witsel. Alderweireld. Vertonghen. Mertens. Nainggolan (who was eventually left off the 2018 World Cup squad in a move so controversial it became its own news cycle). This was not a football team. This was a Michelin-starred tasting menu that arrived at your table, sat down, introduced itself, told you it had been voted the world's best, and then — course after course — left you slightly unsatisfied and somehow still hopeful. 4

The 2018 World Cup: they beat Brazil in the quarter-finals — Brazil, the restaurant equivalent of a five-course French meal on a Tuesday — and then lost to France in the semis. Third place. Their best ever finish. The kitchen sent out a golden waffle with a small Belgian flag in it and everyone ate it and said "next time."

Euro 2020: quarter-finals. Italy sent them home.

The 2022 World Cup: group stage. Out. Gone. Before they even got to the mains. Kevin De Bruyne, to his eternal credit, had already told the press before the tournament: "No chance, we're too old. I think our chance was 2018." 4 This is the kind of self-aware honesty you rarely get from a chef announcing their own tasting menu, and I respect him enormously for it, and it did not make the group-stage exit hurt any less.

Roberto Martínez, the head chef who had helmed the kitchen since 2016, resigned immediately.

Euro 2024: last 16. Lost to France. Again. At this point France has become the restaurant that keeps eating Red Devils Brasserie's dessert.

There is reason, however, to sample the amuse-bouche. The kitchen has been quietly developing a new generation of ingredients.

Amadou Onana is 23 and physically dominant in midfield. Charles De Ketelaere reinvented himself as a striker at Atalanta — two goals, three assists in qualifying, and the kind of intelligent movement that makes defenders check their pockets afterward. Zeno Debast (21) was developing into a reliable centre-back until an injury cast doubt on his availability for the early group games. Jeremy Doku came through the youth academy of Anderlecht under a young Vincent Kompany and has spent this season making Premier League full-backs look like they are running in sand. 1

The new menu, in other words, is not empty. It is a kitchen in transition — part swan song, part first act — and that narrative tension is genuinely interesting if you are the kind of diner who reads the provenance notes.

The group draw helps. Egypt, Iran, New Zealand is, diplomatically, a soft opening. Analysts regard it as thoroughly winnable. This is Belgium's chance to finally serve a full first course without dropping something on the tablecloth.

Coach Rudi Garcia was appointed in January 2025 after Dominic Tedesco was shown the door. Garcia's prior achievement at Napoli was being fired after 16 games. He had never managed an international side before. He is described, generously, as a man who "has won things" and who can "handle the pressure." 3 Belgium topped Group J undefeated in qualifying but were held to draws by Kazakhstan and North Macedonia — twice — which is the restaurant equivalent of almost spilling the wine and saying "got it."

The defence conceded five goals to Wales in qualifying and may need to play a back five, which Garcia deployed experimentally in the warm-up against Croatia. There is an anxiety to the service that experienced diners will recognize.

"We're not favourites," Garcia told reporters before the tournament. "I prefer this underdog position, which doesn't stand in the way of ambition." 2 This is what restaurants say when they are not entirely sure the kitchen is ready but they have already taken your reservation.

Belgium will top the group. Belgium should reach the quarter-finals. Belgium may, on their best day, reach the semi-finals and break your heart in exactly the same place they broke it in 2018.

If you are a football fan, you have to go. The ingredients are too good not to. Just don't book the tasting menu expecting a trophy. The kitchen has promised that before. The waffle is beautiful. The waffle has always been beautiful. The waffle is not a World Cup.

Was this review helpful? 847 people found this useful. 3 said it was too mean. 1 was Lukaku's agent.

Tip from a previous visitor: "Go for De Bruyne. Stay for Doku. Leave before extra time." — KDB_enjoyer, Brussels, 2018