Restaurant favored by Brussels bubble damaged in blaze

The Maxburg schnitzel house is ‘the only place in Brussels where you get proper German beer,’ said one regular.

Maxburg has long stood out as the one institution in Brussels where German influence is cheered not feared.

The storied schnitzel house — long a haven for functionaries in need of a midday slab of fried pork — now faces months-long closure though, after a fire ripped through its building late Monday.

No one was hurt, but the blaze knocked the restaurant out of commission just as Germany fans are gearing up for the crunch final group games in the World Cup.

“The fire started in the kitchen and went up through the [cooker] hood,” Andrea Hauptmann, owner of the German restaurant at the corner of Rue Stevin and Rue Saint-Quentin, told POLITICO. Together with her team, Hauptmann tried to stop the flames, using fire extinguishers and a fire blanket, “but we couldn’t.”

About 20 minutes later the fire department arrived and put the fire out.

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Maxburg is not just a restaurant. For many MEPs, officials and diplomats, especially Germans, it’s been a major institution since it opened in the heart of the European Quarter in the late 1990s. “It’s the only place in Brussels where you get proper German beer, a real Schnitzel and fried potatoes,” said one regular German patron, who didn’t want to be named.

Many politicians use the Maxburg for a “Stammtisch,” a regular roundtable to discuss political (and non-political) topics. “[European Budget Commissioner] Günther Oettinger comes here from time to time,” Hauptmann said. “But so do many others.”

In December 2004, then German foreign minister Joschka Fischer invited his U.S. counterpart Colin Powell to dinner at the Maxburg. After the visit, the restaurant named the veal cutlet after Powell.

For now, Hauptmann is sweeping up after the fire and focusing on getting the business back up and running.

“We won’t make it in time for the World Cup final,” she said. “I guess it will take us two or three months to get the Maxburg back to life.”