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!
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…
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.
After a short dip, the temperature is in the high twenties again, so it’s a perfect opportunity to check out another al fresco drinking establishment. Being centre based, we had to travel quite a distance for our previous visits to park buvettes. Luckily for us, the Guinguette Royale is in the Parc de Bruxelles or Warandepark, the largest public park in the centre of Brussels. Our visit to the buvette in the Bois de la Cambre in mind, we didn’t expect our beers to be served in glass, so we grabbed our reusable cups, and headed to the Parc de Bruxelles for a lunch in the cool shade.
UPDATE: Closed permanently…
“Restaurant – Shop – Bar – Brewery” it says in the logo of Chez Bobonne, and at first I thought that last word was just a wrong translation of the French word ‘brasserie‘, the type of restaurant. But lo and behold: on one of their Facebook photos, there was a real — albeit small — brewing installation! Not only that, but they displayed a great love for beer as well, and even before the official opening, we could see a couple of bottles of Dochter van de Korenaar pictured. A visit was inevitable…
It’s almost summer, and in the past month, we even had a little heatwave already. A shaded terrace in front of a bar can be a nice spot when that happens, but it’s even better to get away from all that heat retaining brick and concrete, and find some shade under the trees in one of the many public parks of Brussels. In more and more parks, we now see buvettes (re)opening, serving cool drinks on those hot days. In the park of Bois de la Cambre, it’s the team of Woodpecker that keeps us hydrated, serving pints of Zinnebir and Jambe-de-Bois.