Belgian Beer Cafe Brussels

Belgian Beer Cafe Brussels is one of my work's usual after hours drinking venues. Its a bit of a wordy name, but luckily there aren't too many Belgian beer establishments in the Brisbane CBD, so you can't really get confused.

Of course the main attraction here is the excellent selection of Belgian beers. Lets face it, Belgian beer is great, and its always nice to knock back a few after a long week. You know a place is serious when they have a beer menu. If you're looking for somewhere to spend $27 on a Chimay Grande Reserve, then this is the spot for you.

But if you wander in here for lunch one day, they also serve a decent selection of food. I had lunch here recently. The menu has a few starters, which didn't really take my fancy. But we were only here on a quick lunch, so there wasn't time for two courses anyway.

For me, Belgian food means frites with mayonnaise, chocolate and mussels. They were the things I couldn't go past in Belgium, so there wasn't really much to decide here. The only decision was which of the mussels to go for. Belgian Beer Cafe Brussels serves mussels Provencale, mariniere, poulette and Creole (all $26.50). It was a tough choice actually, but in the end I went with the Provencale. All of the mussels are served in big pots with frites and mayonnaise.

I didn't have high hopes for the mussels, but they were great. Tasty, plenty of mussels and the frites were excellent - chunky, crunchy and served with addictive mayonnaise. I'd rather eat a pot of these mussels any day over many of the overpriced $30 main courses which are unfortunately now the staples of far too many CBD eateries. Between the mussels and the frites, this was a pretty decent meal.

If you aren't a big fan of seafood, there are of course other options, including pork and fennel sausages with mash ($24.50), eye fillet ($35), chicken breast ($30), oven baked barramundi ($34) or the basil & pumpkin risotto with seared scallops ($24.50). One of my friends had the risotto with scallops, which also looked appetising.

If you are still hungry after your mussels, frites and beer, there are also a few desserts, including of course a Belgian dark chocolate mousse ($13). Unfortunately we had to get back to work, so a long afternoon in the bar was out of the question.

Service was acceptable, but not particularly friendly. Our waiter appeared to have more pressing things on his mind than our table. Still, everything came out without any dramas, so the were no problems there.

As I only had one meal here, I won't be listing out the usual ratings. But if you're looking for a good pot of mussels, or even just some excellent frites to munch away on next time you are having a few beers, then give the Belgian Beer Cafe Brussels a try.

What does all this mean? A good spot for lunch if you stick with the Belgian specialties - mussels, beer and frites.

Belgian Beer Cafe Brussels
Corner of Mary & Edward Streets
Brisbane 4000
P - 07 3221 0199
W - http://www.belgianbeercafebrussels.com.au/