Beer, Pom Frites and Brussels

I have to confess, I'm not a huge beer fan. In fact, I voluntarily try and avoid beer if given a choice. But this summer, a short trip to Brussels changed it all.

Day 1: Enter 'Delirium Village',  a bunch of bars spread along a tiny lane in the heart of Brussels ( Impasse de la Fidélité). We sit at one of the basement bars, pink elephants staring down at us from low ceilings, and the bartender hands us the menu (which resembles a telephone directory more than a bar menu). Delirium boasts more than 2004 varieties of beer! So you can imagine how lost I would have been if they hadn't color coded it to make it easy for first-timers to find - fruit beers. Ah!! and boy did they have choice! From banana, apple, raspberry, cherry and pineapple to chocolate, honey, ginger and peaches. You name your favorite fruit/flavour and they have it! Check out the bedazzling menu here: Cafe Menu

Delirium Cafe

We also found Manneken Pis's sister - Jeanneke Pis right opposite the cafe 

Some 5 different flavours and a very strong 9% honey blonde beer later, we stumbled into Auguste Ortsstraat looking for food. I would highly recommend the Viet Thai restaurant on the street (beside Le Coq) for some spicy oriental cuisine. The staff is friendly and accommodating and were happy to cook up some yum vegetarian options in-spite of not having them on the menu. Happily fed, our next stop was Cobra Art Gallery on Rue des Chartreux, a regular hang out for our local friends in Brussels. Here we tried some extremely well made Whiskey sours and a Bloody Mary (made with Tequila, NOT Vodka, on my request).

Whiskey Mary :)

On our way back to our hostel on Grand Place (this is the best located hostel I've ever stayed in. If you are planning to visit Brussels and don't have a host, you stay here: Hostel Grand Place), we entered a random bar to get some water and use their restrooms, but the music was so good,we ended up on the dance floor and wouldn't budge for an hour or two! Needless to say, the first night in Brussels was a dream... and this was just the beginning!

The beautiful Grand Place at night

Day 2: Super amazing crepe breakfast at Maison de Crepes (on Zuidstraat) 

Day 2: Flemish architecture in Brugge

Day 2: Secret hidden hotels and restaurants in Brugge

Day 3: Saturday nights do not get better than in Cafe Depot. I've noticed how the Belgians like to camouflage their bars and clubs as 'cafe', and as a tourist I would have probably passed it over, but thanks to my local friends, we spend some amazing nights in there. Dancing, drinking and partying like true rock stars.

Scotts Bar (left of the cat) is the coolest place to hang out...

...Then head to Depot Cafe to show off your dance moves

Day 4: No visit to Brussels is complete without some traditional pom frites! Head to Maison Antoine for the best frites in Brussels! 

Address: 1, place Jourdan. 1040Bruxelles (Etterbeek)