The best bars and cafés Bruxelles - Brussel

Jackie uses coffees from Wide Awake roaster in Anderlecht. Quality is the key to success! The coffees are fresh, tasty and smooth. They come from different producing countries (Brazil, Ethiopia, Guatemala) but most of all, they come from small independent producers and are roasted by them. The teas are not left out and at Jackie's, you won't be bored while enjoying your beverage: a whole series of independent magazines that you can't find in every bookstore. It's a change from being glued to your smartphone!

The first reaction when you enter this microbrewery is: "Wow! This former banana warehouse from the 1930s offers enormous volumes! We enter by the winter garden which gives on the place, filled with plants and furnished with chairs and tables in tin covered with big velvet cushions, before reaching the main space where we are more in the spirit of "minimalist abbey" with all this furniture of church. The long bar proposes a dozen beers of their own production as well as some guests. You can also eat there.

Café La Pompe opened its doors in an old gas station and garage, the door of which is the last vestige. The furniture comes from a school and gives it a nice vintage look. One stops there willingly for their very nice terrace, their thirty or so beers (including nine beers on tap). In the morning, the regulars stop there for breakfast. At noon, they come for a soup or a toast, an aperitif or a hot-dog (their specialty). And in the evening, the atmosphere rises. Nice, to discover...

Behind Bisou is Chloé Sengier, designer of Coco Donut and Crème, already featured on our pages. It's pretty much the same all-day eatery concept as Crème, but with a different decor, featuring a long orange banquette that spans most of the room, and an astonishing faceted counter. The special thing about Bisou is that it opened on the site of the legendary ice cream parlour Le Framboisier Doré, so alongside pastries, cookies and avocado toast, you'll find ice creams whose recipes have been handed down from generation to generation. To be enjoyed on the terrace!

In a cosy and refined atmosphere, Le Cercle des Voyageurs introduces you to a world tour. Phileas Fogg would feel right at home here! In a back room, freely accessible, a library has been set up for fans of faraway landscapes, eager to discover new things and get away from it all. You'll find Belgian-French catering spiced up with a touch of the exotic, as well as a range of teas with dreamy names. There's also a well-chosen selection of world wines. A fine blend of travel agency and tea room.

Lombric defines itself as a neighbourhood bar, like the one at Altitude 100 in Forest, but it's a bit more than that! It's a wine bar where you can eat to better enjoy the treasures of their cellar. Their wines are natural wines but you can also find ciders and local beers. Until 7pm, you can eat appetizers and then they give way to more elaborate dishes that can be shared, drawn from a limited but well-mastered menu. Not hungry? Choose a wine by the glass from their selection. Sober, warm setting and terrace.

Created in 2012 by Frédéric Nicolay on a street where the party was not quite instituted yet, Barbéton has become a sure bet. Nicolay advocates purifying architectural lines to the extreme. At the centre of the decor, a bar with a very "monolithic" style: the bar is a single concrete casting, literally. To warm up the atmosphere, the ceilings are decorated with racks, beautiful lampshades and red cedar. We go there to start the day with a breakfast, to start the weekend or for the happy hour on Thursday. Enjoy, especially on the nice terrace.

Located in the Saint-Géry district, this café offers, in addition to a rather impressive drinks menu, petiscos, the Portuguese tapas. Hot (feijoada, Madeira cubes...), cold (Portuguese cheeses, tuna mousseline), sweet (pasteis de nata), there is plenty to enjoy. Without forgetting a whole choice of very caliente cocktails (a good fifty). You can also simply enjoy the warm and relaxed atmosphere of Floreo or go and browse through the collection of board games for a little game with friends.

What a great café! With its old bistro interior, vintage black-and-white tiling, wooden furniture, slate above the counter and small terrace facing Place Van Meenen, one of Saint-Gilles' most popular squares. You can drop in from morning to night, and there's always something good to drink: coffee and breakfast, homemade lemonades, a good beer (the menu features a selection of Brussels microbrews) and, for those who are hungry, a croque or spaghetti to settle the stomach for lunch or dinner.

A canteen, a terrace, a meeting place for an eclectic mix of people, Le Soleil is one of the must-see places in the city center: noisy and warm. As soon as the weather is nice, the terrace overflows on the neighboring houses: everybody sits on the ground or dances in the street. And the atmosphere is always good. Unfortunately, by law, the terrace has to close at midnight, but those who can get in continue the party inside. The daytime attracts almost as many people, thanks to good simple food (cottage cheese, spaghetti...).

To have a boentje, in Brussels, is to have a crush, and we have it for the first zero waste café in Brussels. Local suppliers, recuperation on all levels, including for the decoration, home-made preparations, recycling of organic remains... everything is done to avoid the slightest waste. You can come and have a coffee or a bite to eat in the morning, with dishes based on seasonal products (salads, toasts, omelettes, cookies...). And if you are interested in zero waste, you can also attend the workshops organized by the café.

A real neighbourhood café is located in a discreet (but bustling) corner of the Place de Saint-Job in Uccle. Warm in winter with its log stove and in summer on the beautiful terrace, news from the neighbourhood is exchanged elbow to elbow with a coffee or an aperitif, and at table time, with breakfast, lunch, snacks or evening nibbles. Dishes based on quality products from small local producers are displayed on the blackboard from midday. Inside, the chalet-style decor is reminiscent of the alpine imagination. Nice wines, also by the glass.

Who said veganism wasn't gourmet? At Buddy Buddy, they make dried fruit-based treats: almond butter, hazelnut butter, peanut butter... everything is roasted and toasted in their workshop, and organic. You can either buy them to enjoy at home, or take the time to sit down and sip an oat milk foam cappuccino with a savoury toast or pastry. The look of the café is surprising: it's as if cut in two by one corner painted hazelnut and the other creamy white. Daring, like their nut butters!

If you want to soak up the Brussels culture that is so dear to our hearts, this would be the one. It's hard to remain unmoved by the glibness of the puppeteers, who revisit the great classics of the French, English and Dutch scenes. The Brussels accent is proudly proclaimed here and one is delighted to be able to spend a colourful evening in a place that has almost disappeared several times. A true institution, Toone has been handed down from generation to generation, so much so that today it is Toone VIII that is in charge.

A good place to eat a good vegetarian meal. A meeting point for the Dutch-speaking youth of Brussels, it's also a nice place to meet an international clientele. Everyone can enjoy a drink, a bite to eat and the activities (exhibitions, poetry, debates or activities for the kids) of the cultural center where the café is located. Urban terrace under the plane trees on the edge of this pretty square next to Sainte-Catherine's.

The concept of this establishment is the following: multitudes of comics, board games available to guests as well as cultural and artistic books. Organic teas, organic juices and soft drinks are also available. Catering (plenty of fresh salads for the summer, for example), a multitude of special Belgian beers, eleven beer pumps as well as cultural and associative beers, themed evenings, as well as a free book box outside without obligation to buy an item, etc. Their slogan is "culture for all"!

Roaring Twenties atmosphere in this cocktail bar near Josaphat Park! When you see the muffled light and the velvet armchairs in the room, you just want to dive in and not move. This will allow you to detail the cocktail menu. There are classics of course but also signature cocktails. Let Romain, the mixologist, advise you if you hesitate. There is also a small menu of appetizers and goodies to nibble on, so that these concoctions don't go to your head.