Brussels - June 2026

 

Grand Place, Brussels

It was another hot sunny day in Belgium on Sunday 21 June, the day we travelled from Antwerp to Brussels by train.

After checking in at our various hotels in Brussels, our group of five met up again near the Bourse.

Arriving first, Tim took advantage of 50cl Stella Artois for €3.50 at The Big Game sports bar.

The deep interior is lined with TV screens showing sports including World Cup football. Loud music at the back made a table near the entrance preferable. Keith was next to arrive and finding the noise too much, went to a nearby bar where there was a pavement table free. Around 5.30pm the red rope closing the stairs, near the entrance to The Big Game, was removed. There is a large room upstairs which also has screens for sports.

The many draught and bottled beers at Beer Capital Brussels are listed on the Untappd App.

Richard and Simon would soon join Keith and Tim at their pavement table outside this sister sports bar to The Big Game which Tim had first visited during Brussels Jazz Weekend in May 2026.

View from Beer Capital Brussels, 89 Boulevard Anspach

Boulevard Anspach was once full of motor traffic but pedestrianisation with planters and trees has made it into a pleasant street with less noise, fumes and danger.

See the post in Beers 'n' Bites Brussels for further Beer Capital details and photos.

Poechenellekelder, near Mannekin Pis, is less than 500 metres from Beer Capital and we arrived here around 7.45pm.

Keith, Andrew, Richard and Simon - Poechenellekelder

Courtyard tables were busy but we found a good table inside, near the bar, surrounded by puppets.

The draught beer we all enjoyed here was Legends Harmony.

Brewed by Brasserie des Légendes near Ath (Wallonia), the Blonde beer has tropical notes and matches hot weather well. One of Tim's favourite beers on this trip. We also ordered meals of lasagne or spaghetti, a long established tradition for our group.

Another tradition is to visit nearby GIST immediately before or after Poechenellekelder.

Draught and bottled / canned beers available are listed on Untappd. Tim was happy to find IV Saison by Brasserie de Jandrain-Jandrenouille (Wallonia) available on draught, another favourite beer on this trip.

Anticlockwise from right: Andrew, Tim, Richard, Simon, Keith

For Andrew's selfie, we raised our arms to match the Jacques Brel statue in the background.

Unfortunately, the new tradition of a visit to nearby La Fleur en Papier Doré was not possible due to an unexpected closure.

Instead, we walked to A L'Imaige Nostre-Dame, crossing the Grand Place at 10.45pm (top photo), on the way. This historic estaminet, recently refurbished, is situated at the end of Impasse des Cadeaux, a narrow alley reached from a gated entrance on Rue du Marché aux Herbes. 

Richard (+Hapkin), Andrew, Simon (+Juicy Bloody Berry) & Keith

There is a small bar near the entrance and Tim's 50cl glass of draught Hapkin (€10.50) was a third favourite on this trip. The Belgium v Iran World Cup group match was shown on a single screen but football fans may have preferred to watch this on a bigger screen at home or in a sports bar. 

For more photos of A l'Imaige Nostre Dame and Poechenellekelder see the Brussels Jazz Weekend 2026 post.

Leaving after midnight, Tim's long walk north to a&o Brussel Centrum passed Theatre Royale de la Monnaie opera house and Brussels Nord railway station on the way.

Monday 22 June was another hot day. After checking out, a walk back to Brussels Nord station was only partly in the shade. However, there was shade inside the branch of Capri Coffee located on the outside slope down from the tower at the main Brussels Nord station entrance / exit. (Recommended for coffee and filled baguettes). With time to spare before the late morning rendezvous in Parc de Bruxelles, Tim walked towards the canal to look at an interesting building that he had read about. 

The Ferme des Boues / Modderhoeve (Sludge farm) is situated on the other side of Quai de Willebroeck from the narrow Parc Maximilien. The corner tower is at the junction with Quai de la Voirie which meets the canal. Its function has changed over the years and outer walls on the west and north sides of the block now feature large murals.

There is multilingual plaque describing the Corto Maltese mural based on the work of Hugo Pratt which covers all four sections of the west wall facing the canal.

On the north wall there's a commercial mural for the Kanal district and a floral mural by Mishel and Nicol Feldman, Ukrainian twin sisters, signed Sestry Feldman.

A four-stop ride on the Brussels Metro from Yser to Arts-Loi was the easiest route to reach Parc de Bruxelles with a pleasant walk from an entrance on Rue de la Loi past the fountain and length of the park to reach the Woodpecker kiosk.

Andrew, Keith, Richard and Simon had arrived first and found a table with bench seating. Tim was disappointed with his lemony Brasserie de la Senne Witz beer (€4.20) but it was refreshing.

Tim was able to persuade the group to visit Billie next, having enjoyed beers and live music there during Brussels Jazz Weekend in May.

We walked back through the park to Parc Metro station for a four-stop ride to Sainte-Catherine. The 'Happy Metro to You' artwork (1974) by Marc Mendelson, at the entrance to Parc Metro is colourful and eye-catching.

Keith, Richard, Andrew & Simon at Billie

Billie Brussels Bar & Bolo, Rue Sainte-Catherine 42, is about 300 metres from Sainte-Catherine Metro station and we found tables in a relatively cool spot, near an overhead fan, beyond the long bar. Keith was cooled further by his own personal fan. We appreciated the furniture, mirrors and lamps in this brown bar, previously named À la Couronne and latterly Monk.

Again today, Tim was disappointed with his chosen beer, a N-Zealand IPA version of Bouké brewed in Brussels by Belgoo Beer. This new beer had not yet been added to Untappd. However, it was refreshing and other Belgoo beers had been enjoyed here in May. 

For more photos of Billie see the Brussels Jazz Weekend 2026 post.

This was Tim's last beer in Belgium on this trip but the rest of the group had time to visit À La Mort Subite before catching later trains home.

Liege 2025

The curves of the new Liege-Guillemins station, designed by Santiago Calatrava have graced the city since it's opening in 2009. The major city in Wallonia is situated on the river Meuse, near Belgium's eastern borders with Germany (Aachen) and The Netherlands (Maastricht).

Views from the Namur to Liege train

Liege-Guillemins is normally served by two trains an hour from Namur taking 45-50 minutes for the journey that follows the north bank of the river Meuse. We arrived in Liege by train on the morning of Friday 31 January 2025. Passengers aged 65+ can make a return journey between any two Belgian cities for €8.50 with a Senior Ticket. Tram tracks now lie in front of the station but the start of the Liege tram service has been delayed until April 2025.

L'Aigle d'Or

Taverne L'Aigle d'Or is one of the few Wallonie bar cafes mentioned in Belgian Cafe Culture by Regula Ysewijn. Most of the iconic cafes in this handsome book are in Flanders.

Arriving here just before noon, we were able to find a table before customers began arriving at lunchtime. Blackboards list the lunchtime menu, large arches break the space into distinct areas, several tall fridges are stocked with a variety of beers, a partition separates the bar from the dining area with tables.

A bound menu includes details of 9 permanent draught beers and bottled beers. A further 11 variable draught beers are served.

Permanent draught beers include L'Aiglon, a 5.4% ABV Blonde brewed for the bar by Brasserie Minne. This was highly rated by Frank, a homebrewer from Aachen (humble_beer on Untappd).

Impressively, the menu page for Trappist beers includes 3 Westvleteren beers and Tynt Meadow. Music playing included Steppenwolf - Born to be Wild.

Museum La Bovarie + Madame Bovarie

After coffee at Aigle d'Or, we headed to Museum La Boverie (art gallery), crossing to the island part of Liege using the La Belle Liegeios footbridge which opened in 2016.

Artworks in the permanent collection include The Turnip Washer by Evariste Carpentier. 

The Museum La Boverie shop had a display of Brasserie Surrealiste beers for sale. 

The fridge at the Madame Bovarie 'sandwich shop' inside the museum building with views towards the river Meuse was well stocked.

For our first beers of the day we enjoyed locally brewed beers here. Blanche de Liege is a wheat beer brewed by Brasserie de l'Abbaye du Val-Dieu, 20 km north-east of Liege. Smash is a pale ale brewed with Mosaic hops by Brasserie (C) in Liege. A complimentary bowl of savoury snack biscuits was placed on our tray when we reached the payment point.

It was nice to see Le Plongeur et son arc in the distance, a 2000 replica of a 1939 artwork by Idel Ianchelevici featuring a diver on his hands on the tip of a white arc of a diving board on the opposite bank, as we walked northwards from La Boverie.

After crossing the Pont Albert 1 back to the west side of the river, we walked past the yacht harbour and then inland to Place Saint-Paul by the cathedral before continuing past the historic Taverne Saint-Paul to reach Le Pot au Lait.

Le Pot au Lait

A lengthy passage leads to Le Pot au Lait and there are exotic and colourful 3D murals to admire on the way.

The entrance to the bar is also elaborately and colourfully decorated.

Inside the lighting is dim and a variety of spooky and weird images and objects are displayed. There are plenty of different areas for seating and it was quite busy for an afternoon. Heavy metal music was playing. 

The beer menu offers good variety and value. Beers are ordered and paid for at the bar, which has a surface decorated with a colourful mosaic design..

Beers may be served in a standard stemmed glass as in the case of the Goliath Triple brewed by Brasserie des Legendes.

L'Annexe

To reach our final bar in Liege, L'Annexe, involved passing Au Delft by the university and recrossing the river Meuse on a footbridge - Passarelle Saucy.

L'Annexe is accessed from a narrow passageway (Rue Roture) that leads off a one way street (Rue Puits-en-Sock) and is situated across from Cafe Le Petit Bougnat. It's only open from 4pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Blackboards against an internal brick wall by the bar list bottled / canned beers, cocktails (not shown above) and draught beers. The bar was very quiet so there was an opportunity to chat with Kenny the barman, from Mauritius. He went to the cellar to look for a beer from Misery Beer Co (as featured in Breandan Kearney's book Hidden Beers of Belgium). 

He returned with his last can of English Porter (€7) but sadly there was no Harzington 'inspired by the brewers of Vermont'. 

Instead Hazy Pale brewed by Norm Brewing, less than 2km away proved an excellent alternative. Kenny also gave us a complimentary dish of crisps. Music playing was laid back in style e.g. Ross David - Fire Burnin. 

The bar was still quiet when we left and in a heartwarming moment, Kenny handed me the can of Misery Beer Co English Porter as a gift, refusing to accept any payment for it. Cheers!

From here we caught a bus that took us over the Pont des Arches and dropped us near the imposing Palais Provincial. A short uphill walk leads to Liege-Saint-Lambert station which was undergoing building work and had no functioning platform indicators. Happily the train we boarded was bound for Brussels via Namur and we would arrive back in Namur in darkness.

Obviously, half a day is inadequate to explore Liege fully and it is a city destined for a future visit!

A separate blog post Namur 2025 features bars visited in Namur on this trip.