Le Pantin is a strange bar. It certainly is a bar run by beer lovers, but it is definitely a student bar as well. On the one hand, there’s a beer menu that ranges from boring blondes, to the latest beers of local brewers. On the other hand, a beer is rarely served in the correct glass here…
Addict Bar really was a lucky find. The Jupiler sign outside wouldn’t exactly lure us in, and a flickering gambling machine in the back usually is a warning to keep out… However, when one late night a friend dragged us to her neighbourhood bar, we discovered that these guys actually love beer! Local breweries on draught, and fridges full of beers from all kinds of independent breweries!
With the name Chez Lutgarde, it is not surprising they mostly serve beers from the young Lasne brewery Abbaye d’Aywiers, better known by the name most of their beers carry: Lutgarde. You could even consider this bar the downtown taproom of the brewery. What drew us in, however, were the advertisements for some Brussels breweries you don’t see in that many other bars yet, like Brasserie Vandekelder! Once inside, we discovered that actually all the beers they serve, are from small, independent breweries, and quite a lot of them even from Brussels!
Our visit to Le Wappers was long overdue, but we finally made it back to Schaerbeek for a visit to this tavern! Without even reading a word on the menu, its design by Jean Goovaerts immediately makes it quite clear: there will be plenty of De la Senne beers to enjoy!
Probably just as important as the beer, is the spaghetti served here in the evening, providing punters with a tasty and efficient way to line the stomach for a night of beers with friends.
A bit later than we were used to, but it’s almost time for the fifth edition of the biggest and best craft beer festival of Brussels: BXLBeerFest! On the 30th of September and the 1st of October in Tour & Taxis, you get once again the opportunity to try more than 400 beers—and some meads and ciders—from 60 smaller, artisanal breweries from Belgium, Europe and beyond. From a clean glass, of course!
At every beer festival you’ll find them: groups of friends playing a card or board game, while sipping on the available beers. That means there’s clearly some overlap between gamers and craft beer lovers, and for them there is Le Bar à Jeux! An excellent selection of beers, combined with a huge library of games to play, makes it easy to spend quite a bit of time there without even noticing. And when the rumbling of the stomach draws attention to the passing of the hours, there is some food available as well to keep you going!
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…
It seems Korean food is becoming more and more popular in Brussels, and some of them really make an effort to make their beer menu as attractive as their food menu. An excellent example of this is Bap and Dak, in the Rue Lesbroussart in Ixelles.
Not only do they offer a tasty selection of Korean comfort food inspired by the vendors of the steamy Gwangjang market, but they also showcase some of the best local craft breweries!
Liesse is a bit of a strange place: you could be enjoying some Alsatian cuisine like flammekueche and bretzel one day, and returning some time later, only to find a completely different, undefinable, eclectic combination of dishes on the menu, like a lentil dahl, mayonnaise eggs, and crispy pork belly!
What does seem to be a constant through all menu changes, though, is a motivated team helping the chef in residence to get the food to the hungry customers, the high quality of said food, and a selection of incredible Cantillon bottles!
The first beer festivals are reemerging again, but in Brussels not really yet. Luckily, like last year, when beer festivals weren’t at all allowed, Belgium Beer Week comes to the rescue, proposing dozens of beer-related activities from 23 till 29 August 2021. Last year, its scope was limited to Brussels and Antwerp, but this second edition also includes activities in Leuven, Bruges, Ghent, Mechelen, Liège, and Namur.