Nice selection of the classics, including lots of trappists. Typical impeccable Belgian table service. Great looking place

(Visited July 2012) Quite a nice beer café located in Saint-Gille, south of the city center. Magnificent interior in impressive art nouveau style. A few draught beers and a good selection of bottled beers. Not much rare stuff, but some well selected beers. Swift and efficient service and a calm and soothing atmosphere makes it worth a stop if you’re in the area.

Porteuse d’Eau’s a very nice brasserie located in St Gilles. I visited on the recommendation of some of the staff at DHVL. This isn’t a bar, it’s more a restaurant with a solid beer list. The ambiance is pleasant - it’s mock deco with a large spiral staircase. The service is Belgian. The selection’s pretty large, though power raters may struggle to find new things to try. Still, they sell Orval, so how bad can it be? The food’s the real selling point of this place. It’s fantastic, simple brasserie fare served at good prices. My boulettes were very tasty. They make their own mayonnaise, a nice touch. Overall, this is a strong option for lunch or dinner if you’re in the area.

We visited here whilst meandering from Brocante (probably spelt wrong) over toward Moeder Lambic (St Gilles version) We chanced upon this because we had the excellent ’Around Brussels in 80 beers Book’ written (jointly) by Joe Stange or as he is known on here JoeinEscazú one of the contributors below. Great interior even if it isn’t all original, the place was busy so we occupied two seats and a table perched unceromoniously under the stairs which didn’t bother us, though if I were of tall stature I may well have banged my head once or twice. We had Rochefort and Chimays in here and a very generously sized ’Croque Monsieur’ which made for a rather substantial snack. I found that the service was efficient, friendly I would happily pop in here again if in the area.

Nice cafe with interesting fake Art Nouveau and a decent selection of beer.

The building next door was buring down when I visited, making this place more of a Porteuse de Feu. We watched from the terrace while drinking a Saison Dupont. They have 70 beers, and I had had 69 of them - I must be spending too much time in Belgium! Very friendly. Worth a stop.

Beautiful architecture in this bar/restaurant. Had no problem grabbing a seat and beer and the waiter didn’t mind I wasn’t ordering food. Not the most extensive beer list but a pleasant spot nonetheless. A few lambics, trappists & saisons etc. Makes for a good pit stop walking over to Moeder Lambic.

Superbe endroit ! De bonnes bières, un bon service et une chouette petite terrasse en été.

This place is just great. The beer list only goes to about 60 or so, but there are some nice ones. Several I hadn’t had. Get there in the late afternoon, and get a table on the sidewalk. See the real world go by. Go upstairs to the WC and see some fantistic art nouveau glass. Not to mention the whole venue. Fantastique.

I was immediately sorry that it took me so long to investigate this place. Impressive art noveau decor and a beer list stacked with quality. Options included several from Dupont, Boon, de la Senne, Achel, La Trappe and more. Also a bunch of Wallonian ales in 75 cL bottles... perfect for sharing at a meal. The prices are very reasonable for a nice place in Brussels. Less than 12 euro for most of the main plates, includes carbonnade or sausage and stoemp. Also several steak or seafood dishes. But even if you can’t eat, definitely stop in for a beer and a look around.