TOPIC:

I booked my flights at the weekend. I'm going at the end of August with my girlfriend. We're going for about 3 nights and I must say I'm very excited. I intend to bring a camera and a notebook and if I consider my trip sufficently interesting, I'll write something up for this site.

Does anyone have any recommendations of things to see, drink, sleep and do? We're hoping to cheap sleep, take in a bit of art (my bird is classy) and eat nice food and visit some nice bars

Superb. You'll have a ball.

This is basically a repetition of stuff you'll find in any guidebook to Brussels, but here it is anyway:
For starters there are three classic Brussels pubs down side alleys which are worth visiting: Toone (which has its own puppet theatre), Au Bon Vieux Temps and L'Image de Notre Dame.

Le Cirio is another must-drink, in the grand café style, with your aproned waiters and all that. A terribly civilised place to hammer through half a dozen new beers from the extensive menu. A classy bird would love it, I'd imagine. I don't know any.

One of the weirdest high-kitsch pubs I've ever been in is Le Cercueil, in which the tables are perspex-topped coffins and the (overpriced) beer is served in skull-shaped mugs. It doesn't open until 8, presumably because that's when its clientele awake.

If you still have any tolerance for gimmickry after that, there's the Delirium Café[/url:2iwtu6zk]. I've not been, but it's on my list for my next trip to Brussels. The gimmickry lies not so much in the pink elephant theme, but that in 2004 it claimed the Guinness record for the most commercial beers available - 2004. They claim to keep the selection at around 2000 beers at any given time.

If you're in the area, L'Ultime Atome is quite a nice modern beer café, though not really worth a special trip. I only mention it because it's where my avatar picture was taken.

Possibly my favourite pub in the whole wide world is A La Bécasse, near the Bourse. The house beer is Lambic Doux, made for them by Timmerman's, and served in earthenware jugs. I could drink gallons of it. Yum.

And lastly, make sure you visit the Lambic Museum, which is also the Cantillon brewery. There aren't many commercial breweries around that are as open as this one. And the tastings are very generous. And the beer is amazing. When you get there, if it looks closed, just push the door and march in.

Cheap, cheerful and surprisingly decent touristy food is concentrated on Rue des Bouchers. I quite like Chez Léon, near the bottom of the street. It's a big, brash, bright family restaurant which does its bit to answer the eternal question: just how large can a pork chop be?

I want to go to Brussels now <!-- s:( --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_sad.gif" alt="" title="Sad" /><!-- s:( -->

&amp;quot;TheBeerNut&amp;quot;:xmubbm2a wrote: Superb. You'll have a ball.

This is basically a repetition of stuff you'll find in any guidebook to Brussels, but here it is anyway:
For starters there are three classic Brussels pubs down side alleys which are worth visiting: Toone (which has its own puppet theatre), Au Bon Vieux Temps and L'Image de Notre Dame.

Le Cirio is another must-drink, in the grand café style, with your aproned waiters and all that. A terribly civilised place to hammer through half a dozen new beers from the extensive menu. A classy bird would love it, I'd imagine. I don't know any.

One of the weirdest high-kitsch pubs I've ever been in is Le Cercueil, in which the tables are perspex-topped coffins and the (overpriced) beer is served in skull-shaped mugs. It doesn't open until 8, presumably because that's when its clientele awake.

If you still have any tolerance for gimmickry after that, there's the Delirium Café[/url:xmubbm2a]. I've not been, but it's on my list for my next trip to Brussels. The gimmickry lies not so much in the pink elephant theme, but that in 2004 it claimed the Guinness record for the most commercial beers available - 2004. They claim to keep the selection at around 2000 beers at any given time.

If you're in the area, L'Ultime Atome is quite a nice modern beer café, though not really worth a special trip. I only mention it because it's where my avatar picture was taken.

Possibly my favourite pub in the whole wide world is A La Bécasse, near the Bourse. The house beer is Lambic Doux, made for them by Timmerman's, and served in earthenware jugs. I could drink gallons of it. Yum.

And lastly, make sure you visit the Lambic Museum, which is also the Cantillon brewery. There aren't many commercial breweries around that are as open as this one. And the tastings are very generous. And the beer is amazing. When you get there, if it looks closed, just push the door and march in.

Cheap, cheerful and surprisingly decent touristy food is concentrated on Rue des Bouchers. I quite like Chez Léon, near the bottom of the street. It's a big, brash, bright family restaurant which does its bit to answer the eternal question: just how large can a pork chop be?

I want to go to Brussels now <!-- s:( --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_sad.gif" alt="" title="Sad" /><!-- s:( -->[/quote:xmubbm2a]

Thanks for your help. The Cantilon brewery is one of the reasons I want to visit Brussels.

I really enjoyed Brussells aswell, and not just for the beer. The city is absolutley beautiful, and the food is deliciously traditional and served in large portions too.

Cantillion is well worth a visit, and you can pick up their range at the brewery shop too. I'd suggest coming here to stock up on 75cl bottles before leaving Brussells or else you'll regret it!! Remember, 20 kgs free until you pay €8 per kilo over that on Aerlingus. I brought back nine 75cl bottles, mostly Cantillon!! Be warned that 9 bottles is over the limit!!

I had a hard time getting served in Cafe Delirium and it spolied my experience somewhat, very crowded the day I visited anyway. There's no denying the attraction of a 2000 beer selection though!

Across the road from the famous Manequin Pis boy statue is a great restaurant with a good selection of beers. Order the Hercules Stout, one of my favourite Belgians!

Make sure to pick up the 'Good Beer Guide Belgium'
for a thorough debriefing on all things 'beer' in Belgium. A fantastic read as you sip one of the authors '5-star' beers..

Enjoy the trip Wobbler...

.

Oh, yes. The empty bags. I remember distinctly that I took 8kg into Brussels last time, and 19kg out. God bless Rodenbach for selling their beer in lightweight aluminium cans.

As is typical of all my trips to Belgium, my time in Brussels was also ruined by that geebag George Leekens.