Buvette Sint-Sebastiaan

Beer gardens are not a very Belgian thing, and to my knowledge, in Brussels there are no real ones, the kind with large communal tables under the trees. So where to go then, if you want the luxury of proper seating and freshly poured glasses of beer — instead of bringing a growler and a blanket to a park — but you’d still like to sit in the shadow of trees, instead of that of parasols and buildings, and with a better view — and smell — than just cars? Our recommendation is Buvette Sint-Sebastiaan, in the Parc Josaphat.
You even get to see archers shoot at ‘birds’!

The hard to translate word buvette is used to describe a small bar with little or no indoor seating, so basically a counter from where the beverages are dispensed. And indeed, the Buvette Sint-Sebastiaan is just a very small building, with inside just a few, in summer always empty tables. But the buvette is all about the outside! Right in front of the building is an admittedly very ugly terrace — complete with chain-link fencing — mainly to accommodate and secure an outdoor kitchen. The buvette is surrounded however, by the grassy fields of the Parc Josaphat, and lots of tables and chairs. You can even borrow a traditional wood-framed and fabric deckchair — adorned with the logo of the buvette, another creation of Jean Goovaerts— to sit anywhere in the parc!

So what’s up with the saint and the archers? Well, Sint-Sebastiaan actually is a guild of archers founded in 1598, making it the oldest association in Schaerbeek. Sint-Sebastiaan doesn’t practice modern competitive archery, with those targets with concentric circles, but pole archery, or popinjay, hence all the strange masts in the park.
Right next to the buvette, there is a mast with an attached cage over the target, that can easily be lowered to attach the ‘birds’. The cage will catch the (blunt) arrows after hitting or missing a bird, so they basically fall straight down again, then to be fetched by children, apparently. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to see an archers at work, while you’re enjoying your beer.

Seeing the recognisable drawings of Jean Goovaerts everywhere, usually means you can be sure of one thing: lots of De la Senne beer! Zinnebir, Brusseleir and Jambe-de-Bois are indeed available on draught, and the beer of this month is Schieve Tabarnak #4. The draught pils served is Manneken Pils, by Lefebvre. The bottle list isn’t very long, but includes highlights like gueuze and kriek by Cantillon, Girardin and Boon.

On a ‘normal’ day, the food offering is restricted to the usual sausage & cheese platters. However,  if you like fish, there are two days quite a bit more interesting.
On Thursday Isabel serves up paella, and you can see her making the dish from scratch. The day after, it is time for the Friday Fish Party: seasonal fish, fried or prepared a la plancha. It’s quite popular, and usually sold out already a couple of days in advance, so better e-mail now if you want to join this Friday!

So, to survive the upcoming heatwave, just go to the Buvette Sint-Sebastiaan, although you probably won’t be the only one with that idea!

tl;dr

Beers

• 5 beers on draught, mostly De la Senne
• Bottles of Cantillon, Girardin and Boon

Bites

• The usual selection of cheese and sausages
• Every Thursday Viva Paella
• Friday Fish Party (usually sold out a couple of days in advance)

[venue id= 5368cbb811d27c12028a5bad]

What have people been drinking here recently?