At first glance, MangiaSempre is a shop, or more specifically, an Italian ‘bottega’. The shelves and fridge counter are stacked with high quality products, everything you need to cook up an Italian meal at home, and yes, even some beers.
But then you’ll notice the beer taps and the menu with the daily specials and sandwiches, and you’ll quickly realise MangiaSempre is so much more than just a shop! Although the terrace with Brasserie de la Mule parasols probably was a bit of a giveaway already…
Bars and restaurants all over Brussels have been busy over the past couple of days—maybe weeks—preparing for another attempt at opening the hospitality industry again. For now, only the terraces will be allowed to open, but it’s a start at least, and a very welcome one! Tomorrow, rain or shine, I’m sure the Brusseleirs will be there in great numbers, drinking draught beer from real glasses, eating food from real plates, with real cutlery…
And for this blog, this means the end of our hibernation!
UPDATE: La Tana has moved across the street, and the bottle shop has now moved into that space as well, so there are no longer two different locations.
Valerio’s love for beer was already obvious in La Tana 1.0, where the mostly Italian and Belgian beers served alongside the pastas and other Italian dishes, were a more than worthy accompaniment. To do a bit more with that passion for beer, he opened La Tana 2.0 just a couple of houses up the same street as the restaurant: a beer shop, where you can sit down—even on a small terrace, when the weather permits—and enjoy a cold one as well!
Super Fourchette describes itself as “Record restaurant, sustainable and comforting canteen, showcase for independent labels”. In this description, they neglect to mention that this ‘canteen’ also serves a nice selection of organic, Belgian beers to go with your lunch. Pick your seat carefully though, and sit at one of the ‘listening tables’, if you want to listen to your own choice of music on vinyl or cassette, while having your beer and bite!
You’ve probably tasted their products, even if you’ve never heard of La Fruitière: some of the best beer bars get the cheese for their cheese platter from this cheesemonger. Cheese and beer make a great combination, so it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that finally, a cheese shop decided to sell and serve beer as well, and even on draught! And not just any beer, but some of the best Brussels—or even Canada, as it happens—has to offer!
We’ve sat outside a couple of beer shops enjoying a freshly bought fresh beer before, but there are only few beer shops that actually encourage this. Luckily, Les Fleurs du Malt does—at least in summer—and it has set up a nice little terrace on the square in front of the store. This was an excellent opportunity for us to spend a bit more time on the metro to get to Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, as it turns out, for the first time for this blog.
UPDATE: Closed permanently…
A well-known, centuries old, derisive term to describe the inhabitants of Brussels, is “Kiekefretters“, which translates to ‘chicken devourers’. However, with a name like that, there are remarkably few chicken restaurants in Brussels. La Pouletterie en Ville is one of the more recent restaurants trying to fill that gap, and very successfully, we must say!
Is one main ingredient—roast chicken, of course—and one beer on draught—Bertinchamps Blonde—really all you need?
It makes so much sense to have a beer with your chips, it is just crazy nobody thought to open a craft beer chip shop in Brussels before. Bintje stepped up to the plate, and opened their chip shop in the Chatelain area of Ixelles last December. Not only do they serve two draught beers — currently both from De la Senne — with their organic chips, there are dozens more of excellent bottled and canned beers — both Belgian and foreign — to choose from, certainly a lot more than any other bar in the neighbourhood, as far as we know!
We’ve always liked the members of the Peck family: the original Peck 47 of course, but Woodpecker and Streetpecker as well. All of them have at least a couple of beers from De la Senne available, either on draught, or in bottle. Apart from that, their menus can vary quite a bit. At Peck 20 you can enjoy an evening meal, like in 47, but some menu items you won’t find in the centre. Take that Vietnamese style pulled pork burger, for instance…
UPDATE: The shop in Jette has closed, but Fermenthings moved in with La Source, now mainly focussing on workshops and fermented food.
Beer is the — sometimes very beautiful — result of fermentation, but so are coffee, cheese, cider, kombucha, miso, and many other delicacies. At Fermenthings, you’ll not only find many of these products, but also the necessary tools and ingredients to make your own at home. Beer — from Belgium and far abroad — features heavily in the store, and we’re not sorry about that at all! Quite a few of those beers are even chilling in a fridge, so you can have a taste, before stocking up on beer and other fermented products.