Home Alone

We speak to the sole inhabitant of one of the busiest thoroughfares in Brussels

Home to the Belgian Federal Parliament, the office of the Prime Minister and the European Commission, Rue de la Loi is one of Brussels’ power addresses.  Yet tucked in between glass and steel office blocks, a solitary maison-de-maitre houses the Primus Lex Brasserie and its chef-owner, Nora Boudehane, who is as famous for being the street’s very last resident as she is for her carbonnades à la Chimay.  Though not for much longer if a major redevelopment project to bring residents back goes ahead.

“I arrived four years ago after selling my restaurant in Paris,” says Boudehane, “I saw lots of other places.  This was by far the most complicated, but I fell in love with the building.”

After buying the restaurant, Boudehane, who is originally from somewhere near Nîmes in the south of France, moved into the flat hidden upstairs.  If she compares the neighbourhood to living in Paris’ La Defense, she’s nonetheless happy with her lot.  “At one end of the road I have the Cinquantenaire, at the other the Parc Royal, which is like my own Jardin de Luxembourg.” 

Indeed, there don’t seem to be many downsides.  Whilst the street itself is thunderously loud, it’s barely perceptible inside the flat.  Come the evening or weekends the area empties out and the restaurant closes.   “It’s so quiet, so even the tiniest sound, a floorboard or a police siren, makes me jump!” says Boudehane, who adds that she has never had any security problems.

Yet Rue de la Loi is set to change.  An international competition to revitalise Rue de la Loi was carried off by the French architect, Christian de Portzamparc.  His plans provide for less traffic, more tower blocks, a tram, small parks and piazzas for recreation and over 100,000m2 of residential space. 

“They’ve been talking about this for a long time,” says Boudehane, who admits, “if it happens I will be the happiest woman in the world!” 

Primus Lex Brasserie,
Rue de la Loi 40
1040 Etterbeek www.primuslex.be