Food places keep popping up in Brussels all the time, introducing cuisines from all over the world. We’ve seen Mexican or Tex-Mex on some restaurants before, but so far, they haven’t been able to impress us. Cali-Mex, or Californian Mexican however, was new to us, and I believe to Brussels.
After having tried this Cali-Mex food for the first time at CHEZWaWa, we’d say: welcome, and bring on the giant burritos, the soft tacos, and the hot salsa!
When writing about beer in Brussels, it’s impossible not to mention Moeder Lambic in Saint-Gilles, or as it is affectionately known since a second Moeder-bar opened in the centre of Brussels: Moeder Lambic Original. When we started this blog however, the famous bar was actually closed for about a month, for improvement works. It just opened its doors — and taps — again, and we went there to see the result and to enjoy the Swedish Beer Weekend.
Update: Out of business…
Viva M’Boma is not your typical restaurant, since it is specialised in offal dishes: livers, kidneys, tongues, intestines, cheeks, udders… For the less adventurous eaters, there are more familiar Belgian dishes on the menu as well, like stoemp saucisses and carbonnades Flamandes with chips.
We decided to have a mixed starter dish, consisting of boudin blanc, dry pork sausage, and bread with rillettes, followed by the ‘safe choice’ stoemp saucisses, and the fried liver with cream sauce and bacon. We thoroughly enjoyed al dishes served, and are curious to try some more!
You might have noticed, and if you haven’t, you soon will: Goose Island is taking over Belgium. Last week, the Chicago based brewer organised a series of events in Brussels to introduce bars and restaurants, the press, and the general public to their beers.
A couple of Goose Island beers (Goose IPA and the 312 beers) were already available at Albert Heijn (a Dutch supermarket chain sadly not in Brussels yet), but apart from that, beers from this American brewer were hard to find. It probably didn’t help that Goose Island was bought by InBev in 2011, thereby losing the interest of (a part of) the craft beer community. However, they claim this acquisition has had no influence on the brewing process or ingredients. Let’s taste then!
When you pass by Fin de Siècle in the evening, there are usually a couple of people standing at the bar. They’re not there just to have a drink, but they’re waiting to be seated. It’s a logical result of their no reservations policy, but it’s always a good sign if you see people are willing to put up with the wait, isn’t it?
We were lucky when we went for dinner there this week, we only had to wait for a couple of minutes before being shown to ‘our’ table. ‘Our’ between quotation marks, since you’ll rarely have the table to yourself here: you’ll be seated where ever there are some places left at the long, communal tables.
Beerstorming is most definitely a brewery: al the necessary equipment and ingredients are there. However, their main goal is not to sell beer — although they do serve and sell beer, rest assured — but they’re all “about creativity in brewing, about being a part of an experience, about tastes, memories and stories you can share over a beer.”
It might sound like a lot of marketing speak, but I guess that is inevitable if one isn’t trying to sell just a product, but an experience.
Currently, the following experiences are on the menu:
“Eat more fish” is the motto of Bia Mara. “Good luck with that”, was my first thought, when in 2013, I first walked past the now famous chippie. And foreigners from a soggy chip country selling chips to Belgians?
I’m not a fish eater at all: in most restaurants I usually just skip the seafood section of the menu. But after the first time I tried the Classic at the lively fish and chips shop on the Marché aux Poulets, I was hooked — pun intended. Because of Bia Mara, I’ve eaten more fish in the last three years, than in the preceding thirty years!
The fish and chips at Bia Mara — seafood in Irish Gaelic — are nothing like the fish and chips you might have eaten in the UK. Simon and Barry made their own version of the classic dish, using herbs and spices from all over the world and Japanese tempura or panko for the fish, making it more crispy than usual. The chips are more like potato wedges than ‘normal’ chips, and nicely seasoned with seaweed salt. If you really want vinegar, just ask for the spray.
We weren’t quite sure which venue to start our blog with, until we noticed a tweet from a friend, picturing a beer menu with a long list of American beers. As it turned out, she was at Le Barboteur where they were having an American themed week, called “Craft Bless America”. So of course, the next day we went there ourselves.
Le Barboteur essentially is a beer store, where you have the opportunity to taste a couple of beers as well. Against one wall you’ll find the unrefrigerated beers on sale to take home. The rest of the little corner shop is filled with tables for the customers who prefer to have a drink right there, a couple of fridges with bottled beers, and a small bar with five beer pumps. Next to the bar, there is a doorway leading to a cosy backroom, where you’ll also find a tiny but interesting beer book selection for sale.
Welcome to “Beers ’n’ Bites in Brussels”, a brand new blog about places to eat and drink beer in Brussels!
Another blog about food, you might think? There are plenty of food blogs indeed, and plenty of blogs about beer as well. The combination of food and beer is not uncommon either, but those are often focused on ‘beer and food pairing’, which is nice, but not what we’re trying to do here.
With this blog, we’d just like to show you places in Brussels where you can have a nice meal, preferably with a good beer, or places where you can go for just a good beer.