kwak on draft

One of my favourites,also my first proper Belgian bar, back in 1997 when I first arrived in the country. Kwak on draft is the novelty of the house but don’t overlook a fine selection of Gueuzes and other local brews. Well worth checking out if you R in downtown BXL.

Although in the heart of the touristy Brussels this place is not super-easy to find. Located on one of the many small alley, you just don’t expect a beer bar at this particular location. Beer menu is nothing to write home about. Nicely hand-written on a black board. Not that many beer. Oude Beersel, usual trappists, some shitty but unusual InBev (Vieux Temps, etc.), and more. We walked in because the girlfriend wanted to see the puppets. The inside is a bit surreal as far as a beer bar is concerned with all kinds of marionettes everywhere. A little patio in the back to enjoy the sun. Worth walking through for the unusual atmosphere but with Delirium Café so close I don’t see a reason to drink a beer there.

Toone has two bare brick walled rooms flanking the pièce de résistance – a central room with a puppet theatre. When it’s not in use, two cavaliers are left in a duelling pose on the “stage”, behind a safety net; opposite is a bank of what I can only describe as wooden drawers which slide out to form a tier of seats with threadbare cushions. It’s a delight (but less atmospheric than it could be if they didn’t have the radio blaring at volume 11). The entrance is from one of the main pedestrian streets or through a cobbled alleyway and garden area off Grasmarkt. I say garden but it’s actually just a space, not very well tended, from which some mediaeval buildings seem to have been cleared. Chris has already mentioned the large black chicken we saw clambering around in the tree last time we visited – together with the pub cat, it made the garden feel like a ramshackle farmyard in the countryside rather than a bar courtyard in the centre of Brussels. (Visited 2 October 2012).

Another rickety old Brussels institution with atmosphere aplenty. However, on our visit, the atmosphere was somewhat compromised by rather loud music from the radio. Unlike Poechenellekelder, which has a few marionettes on display, this place is an actual, functioning puppet theatre. The middle room has a sliding tiered seating arrangement that is presumably deployed when there’s a performance taking place. There is some seating outside in the yard on the side of the alleyway leading to Grasmarkt (Toone can be entered from two sides) but they don’t really make the most of the potential there. Bizarrely there was a black chicken climbing about in a tree in the yard on our visit. There are a few respectable beer offerings but nothing very rare; this is really a bar to visit more for the place itself than the beer range.

A real vintage place, this. I gather it was (is?) a marionette theatre, and many of the trappings still persist. There’s a decent if not outstanding bottle list with some 30 or so options, including all the classics. I had an Orval (young, quite young) while the missus had a Kriek Boon (sweet, quite sweet). The music was interesting, diverse. The value is pretty average for the area. There’s a really nice, laid-back vibe to this place. I wouldn’t stay here for more than one drink, but it’s worth stopping in here for that one.

Three rooms, each different, yet very ’the same’. I have sat in each of them and the one with the bar is the best for me. This review is of a lunchtime to early evening session between Christmas and New year, December 2007. The guy behind the bar could cope, but the only waitress couldn’t, too many parties of people with children who were visiting the Christmas Markets. The poor lass was rushed off her feet. Draught Kwak is the reason I come here, not the sinister looking puppets that hang by their necks from the ceilling. Nor the weird middle room with its raised staged seating and little lit-up box thing/puppet stage. The third room is just a wooden square, so I don’t sit in there unless I have too. Day time, it seems full of people with children (not just this time), in the evening it changes. The children are taken away (by the puppets maybe?), as are their parents. A younger set arrive without kids and the whole place is transfixed, it becomes noisier and busier, luckily there are more staff too. If you like your bars down an alley then this is for you, otherwise use the mainstream bars in the city.

Very nicely decorated. It has a nice ambiance.

romantic hidden place in the center of brussels near the gourmet street! it is an old theater for puppets. very cosy, also has a quite terasse at the back entrance

Nice beer garden outside, woody and old inside. Not much of a selection, but a nice enough place.