Brussels and Bruges

LOL at the stupid comments in this thread.
if you think that area is scary or smells like shit, i'd like to pay a visit to your homes and see how pristine they are.

Paris, the beautiful city: smells like piss in so many areas.

sorry that Brussels isn't paved with gold and cheese. it ain't London, that's for sure, but that's why I don't go back to London.

 

Open invite, I have plenty of beer to share and my house doesn't smell like shit. When were you last over here? There have been piles of trash up and down the streets every time I've visited the Midi area since I moved here two and a half years ago, and it does smell like shit. I love Belgium and Brussels, but that area has some hygeine problems.

 

London DEFINITELY smells like shit, in many, many parts (lived there and around there for around 20 years).

 

all of these people living in their pristine utopias. i'm jealous.

uptown toronto smells like feed and parmegian during the dog days of summer. yum!
Chinatown? don't even get started.
downtown? we had a slaughterhouse operating (on prime-ass real estate) until this year. nothing like summer days that smelled either like burning bacon or hog shit.

i could go on and on, but perhaps living in towns with populations in the thousands is best for some of you.

 

Don't even get me started on Alberta...

 

@CLEmark Cantillon & Moeder for sure. Me & my gf get scared easily. We stayed on walking distance to Cantillon from Dec 25 to 30th (2014). Walked up and down to Moeder Fontainas, Cantillon, Grand Palace area many times at different times. The most scary situation i had was a menu with a €200 beer on it. Damn dat Millennium. I'd suggest to use the main road if you walked down to the midi area, i believe it's called 'Boulevard Maurice Lemonnier'. If you use Public Transportation to Midi is a short/easy walk.

If you like sea food check https://www.facebook.com/Noordzee.Merdunord AMAZING! You will have a great time. Cheers!

PD: I didn't get to visit 3F as they were closed but i hear the resturant is stellar. It's not super far away from Brussels. Altought, it may not be a good idea if you only have a day.

 

My wife and I absolutely LOVE this place! It's our first stop when we arrive in Brussels and our last meal before we leave!

 

The handy tip used to be that you could take your Noordzee (St. Catherine location) purchases into Monk across the street for a great beer to go with. Not that a glass of wine is problematic. But anyway now that Monk serves food, I'm not sure if they're still down with that. Anyone know?

 

Monk was probably our favourite bar in Brussels and the area around St. Catherine was one of our favourite locations.

 

It's still there, rest assured. I'll check the take-food-I'm policy sometime.

 

Monk lost tons of atmosphere when they tore out the old bar. It just doesn't look or feel the same.

 

Irony is that they found the classic look by tearing out the previous old bar and interior. So it goes. Definitely not the same. I'd just hoped that the bar change would make it work better as a service area, at least.

 

Can anyone recommend a good, old pub? I'll definitely be going to Moeder etc but is there anywhere that feels historically authentic in Brussels with a good beer selection? How is Brocante? Considering visiting Mort Subite just as it looks so traditional but I haven't been a fan of their beers that i've tried.

 

I would suggest three places...

Het Goudblommeke in Papier
Le Poechenellekelder (look it up for pictures....lots of puppets hanging everywhere. Very cool place)
La Porte Noire

All are great but you MUST go to Le Poechenellekelder

 

Thanks for the advice!

Somewhat off-topic, but chances of finding Armand Spirit anywhere for either servings on premises or off sales? And has anyone tried it?

 

La Becasse, L'Imaige Nostre-Dame, Au Bon Vieux Temps are all close together and are relatively quiet and cozy. I also enjoyed Toone. Mort Subite was a bit underwhelming on the beer front but I enjoyed the atmosphere and the snacks were cheap.

 

This.

 

Go to Mort Subite. You are correct that most of their beers are underwhelming, but their Oude Geuze is pretty darn good. Also, their food is pretty reasonable, especially their Steak Tartare (or Cannibal, as it is known there) which is downright cheap. As an added bonus the ambiance is really top notch and they have the single coolest waiter I've ever met in my travels around Europe. He's a middle aged guy who acts like he doesn't give a crap about anything, is impeccably dressed, and in between waiting tables goes behind the bar, pours himself 5 oz of lambic, takes it down in one gulp, and goes right back to work (he did that 3 times while he served us). You'll dig this place, just remember its tricky to find.

 

How is De Kelk compared to De Garre? Realistically only going to have time to visit one or the other. Will be visiting Cambrinus for dinner.

 

From reading the reviews of De Kelk and having visited De Garre, I would go with De Kelk unless you *really* want to have the house tripel at De Garre. I'd also say that it sounds like De Garre is way more low-key (or at least can be, if you're at a table) than De Kelk.

edit: Time is another factor as De Kelk doesn't open til 7pm.