De Rare Vos

Classic Pajots restaurant annex pub - that is to say, the front room is like an old-fashioned ’volkscafe’ forgotten by modern times, whereas at the back, there is a spacy hall where the restaurant part of this business takes place. We were enthusiastically served a Rare Vos from the house upon entering and immediately felt welcome. The place is old-fashioned, but spacey and pleasant, child friendly, with a fair selection of beer, though no special offerings apart from Rare Vos itself and Ghulden Cop which they just happened to have in stock. Food was old school as well: simple, but of good quality and in copious portions, well taken care of and clearly made with devotion - the horse steak was memorable enough. Recommended, if you happen to be in the vicinity and want to have a decent, restorative meal, but not so much a beer place per se.

visited this cafe to tick some beers and have snacks after a long day. The food was just okay, the beer was also just okay and service was okay. Friendly people, nice menu but if you are coming for food, you need some time to get things going. The tap and bottle list seemed okay. very much a local cafe for community, not for tourists.

Short drive from other lambiek destinations as is the case with every other place in this area. Whilst I didn’t check, it is likely impossible to hit with public transport. Front of the place is a neat very local old school BE pub full of locals. In the back there is a surprisingly big restaurant area which is totally soulless. Plastic, cheap etc. Beer-wise they have obv. the Girardin house beer & nothing else noteworthy, bunch of stuff you will find everywhere else and some very basic lambiek options. Service was very nice. All food options except possibly the fries and side salad had either huge quantities of cheese and/or meat. There was nothing here that I could force myself to eat, I was really hungry at that point. Which honestly frustrated me. Whilst I was happy to finally to try their house beer, I didn’t care at all for this place. Barely worth visiting nearby just for the house beer which is just okay.

Awesome place! Located close to Brussels and all lambiek blenders, this is a must stop for lambiek lovers! Very old, authentic interior. Atmosphere is nice and the service very friendly. The home beer: Rare Vos from Girardin (blend of lambiek and their Kriek) isn’t overly impressive, but a must taste! Also young lambiek from Girardin on draught. The food is very good. I had the rabbid in geuze... wow! Even better than the one in the Nuetnigenough! Awesome home-made french fries as well! Value for the food is along Belgian prices, drinks are cheaper. Overall, get your ass over there, it’s fun!

Visited on a Sunday early afternoon. Went for lunch: I had a few garnalencroquetjes -shrimp croquette - with some glasses of the Girardin Rare Vos.
More than decent restaurant with a nice lambic selection. Outside terrace in the back with a nice view over the garden. Friendly service. Lots of locals in the pub area in the front, didn’t linger there myself - seemed like fun though, might have to come back for it. Nice with a distinctly old fashioned feel to it. For the ticker there is the Rare Vos tick (only blended for this place).

I sat in the small cafe, but there is also a somewhat larger restaurant out back. I came here to try their own unblended lambic on tap, which is a major plus to this place. The friendly bartender spontaneously gave me a sample of it as we sat down at the table. Their selection of lambic is good without being fantastic. Prices are low.

Small little place for mostly locals it seems, with a spacious interior. Servers barely spoke English so communication was sparse. Their house beer made by Girardin is really weak and not worth the trek unless you really want the tick. Bottle list is pretty standard too, but nothing to scoff at. Just off the N8 highway with the 128 bus - takes 5 minutes from Grote Dorst, then a 7 minute walk.

Restaurant behind the old bar. Not the nicest place to sit but the service is very friendly. Also very good no nonsense food. Very large portions, nice meat, nice fish, very good fresh made fries. Friendly service. A nice selection of geuze and lambic.

Visited October 2012.

Oh man. Service in Belgium sucks and this really exemplifies that. Granted we stopped in the middle of the day, after getting shut down at de Heeren (they were on vacation for the two weeks that we were in Europe, ugh), but there were only a couple of other patrons in the restaurant and we still couldn’t get any service. I can’t hold it against the server for not speaking much English but he understood what we were saying and was just pretending to not understand. He ignored us for a while, took forever with the food, and wouldn’t bring a bill. I got to try the house beer made by Girardin and the Girardin lambik (which tasted like a hoppy homebrew by the way) and after 30 minutes of waiting for the little 3 euro side dish that was ordered by one person in the group I really wanted to leave. Seriously, just go to the pot in the back, scoop some of it into the bowl and be done with it. I put my money on the table but those guys didn’t want to be improper, or what ever the hold up was. Screw this place and screw this country. The upside is that this is in a nice town and on the way between Brussels and Poperinge. They also seem to have some connection to Girardin which is a good thing.

Stopped there on my way back from my bike tour of Grote Dorst + In Den Haas + De Cam Volksafe. This pub is in the middle of nowhere. An charming old beaten up big white house located on a small steep street. Inside you will find a very warm old fashion pub-tavern style. The type of places that you can only find in small villages. No music. Patrons are in the 35 to 60 year old range. Far from touristy, this is local hangout only. Not a party place either, this is a traditional village pub. We just made a quick pit-stop when biking our were back to Brussels so we didn’t eat there but I think they have food. Very friendly service even though you can’t help but to feel like everybody is staring at you with the “who’s that stranger?” look. As for beer selection, you’ll find a usual array of lambics with special attention to draught Girardin. They have a “house beer” which I now believe is the very same thing as the Girardin Dominicus, at least they really tasted the same to me. All in all for the beer geek it is only worth a pit stop between Brussels and de Grote Dorst. The place is charming but not a place I would spend a full day or night. The Girardin tick is nice although I suspect that investigation would eventually reveal that this is the Girardin Dominicus. So if you can find a bottle a Dominicus (although admittedly pretty rare) then there is not really any reason to stop at De Rare Vos.