BBG: Belgian Beer and Then Sum in CBD

Jessica Rapp | Aug 28, 2014 6:00 pm | Add a comment | 2205 reads

What do you get when you mix dim sum with Vandergeeten? A Belgian beer bar, of course. Not what you were expecting? BBG, or Belgium, Bar & Bistro, had us stumped too.

Its location is well placed for those looking to kick back with a few after a day at a CBD office, and its thoughtfully-decorated interior is one that unmistakably emulates a love for beer, dogs, and the King of Pop. Just across from Michael Jackson’s shiny silver record replica is a large projector screen which is hooked up to satellite TV so that you can catch your favorite sports.

The real draw, no doubt, is the Belgian bottled brews. To drink these and leave BBG with cash still in your pocket takes some strategizing – for instance, we noted the Hoegaarden Forbidden Fruit is an 8.5% howitzer that will cost you RMB 10 less than getting a large glass of the regular stuff on draft. Beer cocktails are on special every afternoon for RMB 40. We also liked seeing Stassen Rose Cider (RMB 45) on the menu, a raspberry refresher we have yet to see in Beijing.

Then there’s the dim sum. BBG’s owner hails from Guangdong, which is why you’ll find a selection of durian cakes, pork rolls, and custard tarts in a oddly placed, albeit cute, country fair-style food cart on the patio instead of the usual pub grease pool that defines most sports bars. A few of these familiar items – chicken wings, a burger and fries – are hidden among the listings of Chinese food and two or three dishes questionably tagged as “Belgian” (an educated guess tells us the Belgian fries are actually simply French fries), but the pictures and prices made us pause. Never was there a better excuse to skip the dessert and go beer all the way.