Xu Hairong, a friend from my home province of Sichuan, recently made her first trip to Europe with her parents. Living in the European capital for more than three years, I was eager to show my friend around the tiny but picturesque Belgium if our schedules permitted.

After Xu landed in Rome, she and her parents went on a bus tour from one city to another. Xu said they would stay for two hours in Brussels on their way from Amsterdam to Paris. Fortunately, they were allowed to leave the group of 40 tourists for a while and to be with me.

How to pack the essentials of Belgium into a two-hour visit is a tough challenge. As they arrived at lunchtime, I first treated them to a meal in the crowded seafood street in the downtown, recommending traditional Belgian beers and mussels, which many Chinese call two of the four treasures of Belgium. It takes more than one hour to chat and eat.