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…
After many months of anticipation, the pieces of the administrative puzzle fell into place, and Mazette could finally open its doors and beer taps. Mind you, having a brew kettle, a kitchen, a huge wood-fired oven, and a comfortable space for the customers, all in one open space, was never going to be simple. But since the fire department gave its final go-ahead a little over a month ago, we’re able to enjoy all the products this utterly loveable cooperative brewpub in the Marolles has to offer: freshly brewed beers, straight from the tank, homemade sourdough bread baked in the aforementioned oven, and seasonal food.
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!
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 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?
The Pecker family just keeps expanding. And after the outdoorsy Woodpecker, the much more urban Streetpecker opened on the still-not-quite-finished Place Rogier. The concept is more like the slightly older Peck 47 and 20 though: a great selection of — often very eggy — breakfast, brunch and lunch dishes, which can be washed down with one of the local beers, in a trendy but still welcoming setting.
In a fancy area like the one around the Sablon square, one would expect a champagne bar rather than a beer bar. Now, we wouldn’t really call Chez Richard a beer bar, but it did manage to surprise us nevertheless. First of all: they have Jambe-de-Bois on draught. That’s a good start, but not too uncommon anymore nowadays. Noticing BrewDog‘s Punk IPA on the menu made us happy, only to be disappointed when we were told it was temporarily out of stock. The unexpected alternative offered however, made more than up for the discomfort: Cali from Tiny Rebel!
Although you’ll find people working on their laptops in most bars nowadays, at Le Phare du Kanaal this is an even more common occurrence than elsewhere. This isn’t surprising, considering Le Phare is a co-working space first and foremost. However, none of the offices I ever worked at had such a selection of beers from Brussels breweries to enjoy once the laptop closes…
Les Brasseurs is a bar that could easily go under the radar of beer lovers. At least it went under ours, until we discovered their lambic beers, and in particular, the 2-Year Unblended Oude Lambiek by Boon they have available on draught, served in earthenware jugs in different sizes. A note for Untappd geeks like us: some of the bartenders are even quite happy to check which foeder the currently served lambic is from!
Add three beers of the month — one gueuze, one draught, and one bottle — to the mix, and you end up with enough options to keep you tasting — or just enjoying — beers for a while!
As much as we like our barley based drinks, we usually start our day with a bean based hot drink: coffee. Moka – Coffee & Beer predates the third wave of coffee by many years — or at least its traditional Faema E61 espresso machine from 1964 does — so don’t expect to be able to choose from many single origins or all kinds of fancy brewing methods. The house blend is fine, though, and by adding modern beer to the menu, however, the venue suddenly becomes a kind of place Brussels needs more of!