Address - Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Jingumae 1-10-23 Opening hours - from 5:30 pm to 2:00 am. Closed on Sundays Map - No Telephone Jinbocho 3233-4247 Kagurazaka 3235-1890 Harajuku 3403-3972 Menu - In English CC -OK
Like other names in this site, Brussels is a place where you drink more than eat, but I figure I might be doing you people a disservice if I didn't give you the option of paying one of its branches a visit.
The world of beer might not be as interesting as that of wine, but it does have its charms and a bigger variety of tastes and colors than most Japanese (or Americans, for that matter), used to just a few brands as they are, can imagine. Beer can be dark, black, red, white, cloudy, thick, watery, or rich and yeasty. Every country has its peculiarities, and all have something original to offer. Great Britain, for example, has just ales, and practically no beers. The difference is technical, I am told. What difference the name makes in practice, I don't know. Microbreweries, so popular now in the States, have long been the norm in Germany, where often even a bar has its own home-brewed brand. Belgian beer is very, very strong stuff with a unique texture unlike anything available in other countries. The only place where all this wealth of flavors is freely available, though, is Europe. Beer in other continents, and I say this with confidence born out of two decades of excesses, does not offer half as much in terms of both quality and variety.
The best chance non Europeans have in Japan to get acquainted with this universe and learn about the great European beer culture is Brussels. Brussels specializes in excellent Belgian beer, but that's not all it has (once I even had there a bottle of an excellent American beer called Brooklyn). The beer menu at Brussels will keep you busy for a while and cost you some hard-earned money, but it will be well worth it. In my opinion, the right place to start your tour is probably a white Hoegarden on tap. That will explain to you in a second what Belgian beer is about. After a while, playing with names like Biere de l’Abbaye de Bonne Esperance, La Biere du Diable, Westmalle or EKU 28 will become sheer fun, and you will see that in Europe you can tell beers apart without having to look at their label.
This review wouldn’t be complete however without mentioning the food. I wouldn't have dinner at Brussels because the food is what you would expect from a bar. Since what they have, for example typical Belgian French fries with Mayonnaise, sausages and the like, does go well with beer, the best solution would be to go there after a light dinner, for example at Carmine's if in Kagurazaka or at Topkapi in Harajuku, with still some room in your stomach.