In the new edition of the map of Brussels, I was delighted to see: “Brussels is ugly, and we love it….So don’t be surprised that we built a terrible apartment block next to an Art Nouveau jewel or a pseudo-classical monster in front of Central Station.”

Fortunately for Use-It, their new office is located next to De Munt opera house, a jewel rather than a monster. To celebrate their new digs and their new edition of the Brussels map, the tourist organisation is staging a Waffle Binge at 17.00 on 1 April. One local, one tourist in a waffle-eating face off. Who can eat the most in 10 minutes?

The local is “Pitch”, one of Use-It’s volunteers. “He’s not very big, but he can eat like a horse,” says Use-It’s Nicolas Marichal, with confidence. “The tourist we still have to find because, you know, they don’t stay very long. On the day, the biggest Australian or American who comes in, we’ll ask if he wants to compete against Pitch.”

And one will surely come in. Use-It gets many visitors a day to its Brussels office, which provides maps and advice geared towards young people. “The difference between us and a normal tourist office is that we really do have young people here who know Brussels like the back of their hands,” explains Marichal. “If you go into a normal tourist office and ask where you can go to find a drum-bass thing tonight, they won’t know. But we will. Some people in Brussels tourist offices don’t even live in Brussels; but we all do. And locals know better.”

The latest map of Brussels has something new: tourist walks that take you outside the centre and into the neighbourhoods, which Marichal says are unique among European cities. “In the North Station area, you have the Manhattan quarter, with skyscrapers and briefcases. Go to the next street, and it’s the red light district. And if you turn the corner, it’s one big Moroccan scene, the biggest North African shopping street in Brussels. All of those are just a street’s distance from each other! Other cities don’t rub shoulders like that.”

www.use-it.be