Les branchés de la capitale: Maud Partouche, a woman who takes her passions all the way

Welcome to my column Les branchés de la capitale, where I meet the people who make Brussels vibrate.

Today, a meeting with Maud Partouche, an essential figure of Brussels nightlife. An entrepreneur, passionate, instinctive and resolutely free, she belongs to those women who live their projects with rare intensity. For more than fifteen years, her name has been inseparable from Madame Moustache, an emblematic venue of the capital. But behind the woman of the night there is also a passionate rider, who recently brought another dream to life: the Domaine des Lisières, a stable in Waterloo.

Two worlds that everything seems to oppose: music and the silence of nature, Brussels nights and mornings at the stables, dance floors and horses. And yet they tell the story of exactly the same woman: a woman who takes her passions all the way.

Brussels, her playground

When Maud arrives in Brussels, she wants to build, to create and above all to shape places that look like no other. She quickly falls for a human-scale capital, cosmopolitan, free and offbeat enough to allow every kind of daring.

After a first experience with Chez Mamie, on place du Jeu de Balle, she starts an adventure that will deeply shape her path: in December 2009, Madame Moustache is born.

Madame Moustache, a place in her image

From the start, Maud knows what she wants: “I wanted to create a place that matched who I am.” Not a classic nightclub. Not a formatted venue. But a place where people come as much to dance as to meet, where generations and styles mix and where nobody has to play a role.

Madame Moustache becomes a dance bar with an immediately recognisable identity: offbeat decor, a slightly funfair spirit, artists, concerts and a musical programme able to move from Lindy Hop to the 80s, 90s or 2000s. More than a club, Maud creates a universe. And fifteen years later, despite trends, changing habits and the upheavals of the night world, Madame Moustache is still there. Just like her.

Falling, getting back up, starting again

Maud’s path is not a long, quiet success story. Running a nightlife business takes considerable energy. Crises follow one another, habits change and Brussels itself transforms.

But with Maud there is one constant: she does not give up easily. She thinks, changes direction, starts again and reinvents herself. That ability to set off again is probably the common thread of her journey. When a formula no longer works, she does not cling to it on principle: she looks for what made the heart of the project beat in the first place. And today, that is exactly what she wants to do with Madame Moustache.

Back to the fundamentals

“Let’s go back to the essentials, to the DNA of Moustache.”

For Maud, the new chapter means returning to the spirit of the early days: a real dance bar, accessible, spontaneous and alive. One decision symbolises that change: free entry on club nights, except for concerts and special events. No need to think twice before pushing the door. You come for a drink, meet friends, listen to music and, a few hours later, you find yourself dancing.

From October, Maud wants to go further by opening Madame Moustache seven days a week. The idea is to recreate a true Brussels meeting point: a place where you can start the evening after work and end it much later than planned. A way, in the end, of putting people back at the centre of the night.

Another passion: horses

But there is another Maud, far from the lights and the music. A woman deeply passionate about horses. A passion we share. And as often with her, loving something is not enough: she ends up turning it into a project.

In Waterloo she created the Domaine des Lisières, a stable designed around horse welfare, nature and a different approach to riding. On the edge of the Sonian Forest, she imagines a place where horses can go out every day, live more outdoors, and where owners and riders can find a more natural relationship with their animal.

The contrast with Madame Moustache is striking. The night, the music, hundreds of people and the energy of Brussels on one side. Horses, meadows, forest and the calm of Waterloo on the other. For Maud, however, there is no contradiction: these are simply her two passions.

A woman who does nothing by halves

That is probably where the real personality of Maud Partouche lies. She does not know how to live a passion by halves.

When she loves the night, she creates a venue that lasts through the years. When she loves horses, she opens a stable. When a project goes through a difficult period, she looks for a new way to keep it alive.

Heading Madame Moustache for more than fifteen years and now the Domaine des Lisières in Waterloo, Maud builds her path without trying to fit into a box. Entrepreneur, rider, woman of the night and creator of places, she moves above all on instinct. A whole personality, impressive in her energy and her ability to turn desires into realities.

Maud Partouche takes her passions all the way. And when she deeply believes in something, one thing seems certain: she is not the kind to stop.

🔗 Sources & verifiable links

• Madame Moustache — official website: https://www.madamemoustache.be
• Interview of Maud Partouche by Carl De Moncharline, columnist “Les branchés de la capitale”: https://bxlpositive.com/partenaires/carl-de-moncharline