With a name like Les Brassins (The Brews), we had to visit this restaurant in Ixelles. An old sign against the wall facing the entrance promised us lambic by the pitcher, but unfortunately that was all it was: an old sign, amidst many other old beer commercials, not quite representative of the current beer offer… Luckily there were some other beers available — even some from the newest generation of Brussels breweries — and a baker’s dozen of meat dishes to choose from, some fish dishes, salads and pastas.
Distracted by the lambic sign, we somehow completely missed the beers of the month available at Les Brassins. Judging by recent Untappd checkins, they must have included some beers by De Dochter van de Korenaar, and some more recent ones by Brussels Beer Project — only their first, outsourced beer Delta appears on the menu. Instead, we opted for the Taras Boulba on draught — other draught choices would have been a Silly Pils or Caulier Blonde, both listed with an incorrect name on the menu — and a Jambe-de-Bois instead… Some of the other more interesting names on the menu are Cantillon, Dupont and De Ranke.
The food menu consists mainly of Belgian dishes, like the familiar stoemp, meatballs in tomato sauce, Flemish stew, and chicons au gratin, but also a couple of dishes like burgers, and swordfish steak. We had the latter, and from the suggestions board — we didn’t miss that one — a lamb skewer. Both came with a serving of chips, and a rather uninspired salad consisting of a couple of lettuce leaves and a tomato slice. Both the swordfish and lamb dish were fine, but nothing memorable, and for us — we were quite hungry — a bit on the small side.
The place seemed to be quite popular with an international crowd though — EU staff and tourists — but it being located in a street with no other bars or shops nearby, you can’t help wondering how they ever found it.
tl;dr
Beers
- 3 beers on draught
- Taras Boulba
- A rather classic list of bottles beer, but including some of the newer breweries
- Brasserie de la Senne: Jambe-de-Bois & Zinnebir
- Brussels Beer Project: Delta
Bites
- A large selection of Belgian dishes
Les Brassins
Rue Keyenveldstraat 36
1050 Elsene
+32 2 512 69 99
http://lesbrassins.com
What have people been drinking here recently?
- Elisa Vireca is drinking a Triple at Les Brassins
- Sebastien Batteur is drinking a Jawa IPA at Les Brassins
- Ylva Bråten is drinking a Curieuse Neus at Les Brassins
- Vincent Newell is drinking a Triple at Les Brassins
- Martin Gundersen is drinking a Cristal at Les Brassins
- Gilles Méténier is drinking a Tanteke Saison 7% at Les Brassins
- Jorge is drinking a Super Fresca at Les Brassins
- Miguel Lopes is drinking a Jambe-de-Bois at Les Brassins
- Rickard Rörberg is drinking a Brugge Tripel at Les Brassins
- Rickard Rörberg is drinking a Tripel Karmeliet at Les Brassins