Features

Eating out in Brussels

1 Oct 2006 by business traveller

Belgium does not have the climate for wine and so has traditionally brewed beer. Today there are over 100 breweries in Belgium, and over 1,000 different beers. Apart from The Netherlands, Belgium is the only country in the world to produce Trappist beer (brewed in Trappist monasteries) – the oldest is Orval monastery, which started brewing in the 11th century. There are only seven Trappist breweries in the world, and six of them are in Belgium (Orval, Rochefort, Chimay, Westmalle, Westvleteren, and Brouwerij de Achelse Kluis).

Belgian beer is brewed using four different fermentation processes. The first is bottom fermentation, which is used worldwide for beers such as Pilsners and other lagers. Top fermentation is used to make Belgian special beers, ales, white beers such as Leffe, and Trappist beers. Spontaneous fermentation or "methode Champenaise" is where the beer is fermented three times to make gueuze, lambic and other fruit beers; and lastly, combined fermentation is used to make South Flemish beers.

Just as the French cook with wine, beer plays an important part in the Belgium kitchen. Traditionally beer has been used worldwide to preserve food (almost like a pickle because the hops act as a preservative) or to cover up the fact meat was off, or in some cases even raw. But surprisingly, in Brussels, which is renowned for its cuisine and has over 1,750 restaurants, there are very few that specialise in cooking with beer.

Jean Rodrigues, manager of specialist beer restaurant In't Spinnekopke, says his interest in beer grew from visits to his father who worked in a brewery. He liked the smell and the atmosphere. Rodrigues says: "You can cook anything with beer: pork, veal, fish, mussels. You can fry and boil with it. For beef [you can] just add the beer to a big pot and reduce and sauté the beef or you can pour [beer sauce] over salmon. Lots of people come here for this sauce."

But with over a thousand beers to choose from, which beer is best to cook with? Rodrigues uses a lot of Trappist beer ("it is special because it has such a tiny production and is made locally"). Another of the most significant beers in the Brussels region is Lambic beer, which is brewed only in Payottenland (southwest Brussels).

Alain Fayt is manager and head chef of Brussels restaurant Restobieres and started working with beer in 1979. He excitedly gets up and down from the table, bringing over armfuls of different bottles. Fayt likes to cook with gueuze – a kind of lambic beer – for its sweetness, but also praises the blonde, or white beers, saying he often uses La Chouffe for its spiciness. However, it is also bitter, which makes it harder to reduce. He opens a bottle of Le Bink Jours (another blonde beer). "I use Bink Jours with an egg dish." He explains. "Eggs whipped into an omelette with fish and blonde Bink."

Antoine Pinto designed and runs the Belga Queen in Brussels, as well as another Belga Queen in Gent. He opens a bottle of Rodenbach Grand Cru, which tastes more like champagne than beer. He says: "My interest is in the cooking of quality and the contemporary. The cuisine here is modern and the beer is also of today."

Only a small amount of beer is needed to flavour and complement the chosen food. It's not quite the same as dousing a steak in Stella Artois or Hoegaarden. Fayt says: "When Belgian beer is exported, it has more sugar put into it [to appeal to a wider audience]." He frowns at my reference to drinking Stella. He says: "I sell special beer here. You won't find this beer anywhere else."

Restobieres

32 rue des Renards, 1000 Brussels
+32 2 502 72 51, restobieres.be

Set on a quiet side street with small shop fronts full of retro art and antiques, the five-year-old Restobieres certainly has character. The whole window front is stacked with empty beer bottles and the long tables are set closely together with simple checked tablecloths. The King of Belgium stares out from plates covering the walls alongside row after row of asparagus dishes, cheese graters and beer trays.

Restobieres has a large dining room for private functions and is surrounded, bizarrely, by old bar games such as throwing a coin into a frog's half open mouth, and a spinning ball which sends bottles flying. Soft jazz music played as I sat down to eat and by around 2pm the place was alive with chatter and clinking bottles as people tucked into huge portions, with glasses of beer. I drank Mortal, a lemon-flavoured beer, with my meal and Watous, a white beer.

I tried the €18 Fondu au fromage renandou with bean sprouts and red cabbage followed by Blanquette de veau (veal). Fayt cooks with 20 different beers. He says: "When I make a creation it is always original and I have the best beers – I want quality not quantity." Fayt's own brewery can produce 3,000 litres of beer. It was difficult to leave Restobieres, it was so homely. I wished I could stay for dinner too.

OPENING HOURS
Wednesday to Sunday for lunch 12pm-3pm. Thursday to Saturday for dinner 7pm-10pm.

In't Spinnekope

Place de Jardin aux fleurs, 1000 Brussels
+32 2 511 86 95, spinnekopke.be

In't Spinnekope is set on two floors and spills out onto a terrace overlooking a small square. Inside, the restaurant has four separate dining areas and can seat 100 people. In one of the front rooms there are checked red and white tablecloths on long tables (they were all reserved on my Saturday night visit). On the other side of the bar is another space with primrose decor, which is more sophisticated and a little more private. There are two further rooms upstairs, past the small open kitchen. I chose to sit outside on the terrace in the late evening sun.

Manager Jean Rodrigues explained there are over 135 beers on the menu. "I recommend all the dishes," he says. "That is the main thing about In't Spinnkoke; there is not one favourite and if you don't like beer, then there are dishes without beer too."

The food and beer served at In't Spinnkoke are sourced from all over the country. Rodrigues sat and chatted over beer, Betchard–Tubize, made in his own brewery. It's a dark beer, which complements mussels and beef but Rodrigues always adds sugar to take away the bitterness. He recommended Moule à la biere de maredsous €19.95 (the mussels are cooked in Maredsous beer, another dark beer). The portion was served in a huge bowl with thick beer sauce poured all over it – delicious, if a little rich – although I still managed to reach the bottom of the bowl quickly, while the empty shells piled up beside me. The mussels were accompanied by a cone of chips, and dipping chips in beer sauce was a novel experience.

I also tried the salmon with white beer sauce (saumon à la biere blanche), which was tender and creamy and slightly sweet, served with new potatoes. As a side dish I had spicy snails (moules à L'escargots €12).

OPENING HOURS Mon to Fri 12pm-3pm, and 6pm-11pm (midnight on Fri and Sat); closed Sunday and Saturday lunchtimes.

Belga Queen

Hotel de la Poste, rue Fossé aux Loups, 32
Brussels, +32 2 217 21 87, belgaqueen.be

The Belga Queen is impressive – which is clear from the moment you cross the threshold. The 18th century building used to be a bank but is now Hotel de la Poste. It has always drawn characters through its doors, welcoming Queen Victoria and European intellectuals into its grand rooms. Immediately on the left is the pearl Oyster Bar, and on the right the bar with shiny shelves of bottled beer. The interior is by Antoine Pinto, a giant in the design world and a passionate chef too.

Pinto says: "I have two passions: design and food. As a student I worked in three-star Michelin restaurants in Paris. I was the 11th best chef in Europe in 1982 but now my main interest is design."

The two go exceptionally well together. Pinto designed the whole hotel from the bedrooms down to the unisex toilets in the restaurant, worth a mention for the glass doors, which only turn opaque when you lock them. There is a stunning stained-glass window in the ceiling, throwing a glowing kaleidoscope of light over the white-clad tables. The restaurant is modern and spacious but the focus of the room has to be the large silver horse commanding everyone's attention.

The menu at Belga Queen is seasonal, and everything is made in-house by the seven chefs. Pinto says: "My own creation is salmon marinated and rubbed with Rodenbach beer with herbs. And then béarnaise sauce made with beer."

I had this (the Rodenbach was sharp and refreshing, the acidity makes it good to cook with) and the feast that followed. Scallops with spinach accompanied by strong, 8.5 per cent golden Duval beer (coquilles st Jacques fraiches reduction de Duval au beurre fraise ardenne, €22). Then white and green asparagus with eggs and black pepper – a simple treat with the slightly sweeter gueuze (6.5 per cent). The Trappist Orval beer (6.2 per cent) was beautifully spicy with the Belgium Charolous tenderloin, although by the end of the meal I struggled with the delicate display of desserts, having indulged so much on the rest of the irresistible offerings.
Pinto says: "This restaurant is the first of its kind in Belgium with the beers and its stature. This is really classy." I'd have to agree.

OPENING HOURS Daily from 12pm-2.30pm and 7pm-11pm.

Getting there

London-Brussels Served by high-speed train operator Eurostar from Waterloo. Return fares with Eurostar: from £59 for standard, from £125 for first class (restricted) and £319 for first class (flexible). Flights with BA and Bmi depart from Heathrow, with SN Brussels from Gatwick and VLM from City. Travelocity (travelocity.co.uk) quotes lead-in economy fares of £69 with BA, £74 SN Brussels, £77 Bmi and £103 VLM. Lead-in business class rates are £245 BA, £424 SN Brussels, £425 Bmi and £533 VLM.

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