It has been a while since we’ve visited the very first smash burger restaurant in Brussels, and even Belgium… Many more have popped up since, but few qualified for our blog. The burger joint Smash in the Flagey area however, went the extra mile, and exclusively serves beers from Brussels breweries with their pressed patties.
A Syrian restaurant wouldn’t be the first place we’d look for beer. However, after spotting L’Ermitage branded parasols outside one of the restaurants of My Tannour, we had to put it on the list for a visit. When we then went for lunch in their Rue de la Brasserie outlet, a selection of their beers was indeed available to enjoy with our lamb wrap and falafel dish!
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!
Everybody knew Brussels Beer Project was building a big new brewery with a taproom near the Biestebroek dock, but the opening of BBP Bailli actually came quite unexpected for most of us. On Saint Patrick’s Day, the Michael Collins pub on the corner of the Rue Bailli and Avenue Louise was still very much an Irish pub—albeit closed, like every other bar in the country—but just three months later it opened with the bright BBP colours painted just about everywhere, and a whole lot more beers on draught!
The smash burger is one of the newest trends in burgers, although strangely enough, it has quite a long history already. This trend finally descended upon Brussels, when in January this year, Rambo opened its doors. At the time you could only order them to go, but even then, long lines ensued… Fortunately, you can now also sit inside or on the terrace, to enjoy your burger as fresh and crispy as possible. And as they once stated themselves: “A fine cheeseburger deserves a great beer”, so you’ll have that smash burger with a beer of course!
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!
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.
Bia Mara, didn’t we write about that one already? Well, the one in the centre was one of the first venues appearing on this blog indeed, but recently, they opened a second restaurant in Ixelles, mostly offering the same menu. So why bother writing another article? Because Bia Mara – Place de Londres has one thing the one in the Marché aux Poulets hasn’t: beers on draught!
We were a bit hesitant to write about JeanBon on our blog: there was only one beer in the fridge, and it wasn’t even a great one… However, the delicious baguettes made more than up for this shortcoming. On the store shelves, there was a choice of better beers available — like a Geuze Boon, or Bertinchamps‘ La Prose — some of which would have paired nicely with our lunch in the windowsill. Could you please put some of those beers in the fridge as well, Jean?