I always felt that a place serving Belgian beer, and especially mussels and fries, was sorely missed in Beijing. There are fantastic options in HK for example, with great atmosphere, great beer, and - most importantly - great mussels! They are always crowded not only with expats.
When we first heard about Brussels we were really excited. We have been there a couple of times since, but I must say that they somehow, something feels wrong with this place.
Atmosphere: The set-up and furnishing feel like a mix of a cafe (downstairs) and a canteen (upstairs). Both do not make me feel like I stepped into a Belgium bar or restaurant at all. It looks like this place was put together in a rush, without character.
Concept: Brussels wants to be both bar and restaurant. In my opinion, it does both half hearted. For a restaurant, the food has not enough variety (1 option of mussels), and does not reach a sufficient quality level to make me want to come back.
I also do not understand the often praised value of the 100RMB all-you-can-eat mussels. If you order one portion, you pay less and get more than enough (of course if you do not want any other food, and just want to eat yourself silly with mussels, go for it).
Mussels are so easy to prepare, and there are so many great possible flavors, why not offering a bit more variety?
For a bar, it looks too much like a café, not a place where I want to hang out and have a beer with friends.
A casual restaurant, where you can have a decent dinner, but also feel like staying after your meal and continue with a few beers, would be perfect in my opinion.
People/Service: I think it has been mentioned before, but their staff is – to say the least – a bit blur.
On most evenings I have been there (and often walked past), there are actually more staff than guests in this place. Always one westerner (owner? consultant?), who seems to be using the place as a hang out with his own friends, smoking his cigar while you try to enjoy food at the next table.
The place has been very empty every time we went, the 2nd floor even closed, which adds to the odd atmosphere.
This week we wanted to give the place one more chance to watch the EURO semi-finals, as I thought the big screen would be perfect.
On Wednesday evening we checked out the place (again, only 4-5 guests in the bar). Although the staff was not able to communicate to us in a convincing manner that much would be happening (we enquired how many people had watched the last few games), we thought we would give it a try for Thursday (oddly there was no mention about Spain/Portugal, only the Germany/Italy match was advertised the night before). Half an hour before the Germany/Italy match on Thursday night, there was absolutely nobody in the bar. Although we were a large enough group ourselves, we quickly decided to head over to Sanlitun and watch the match there instead.
Overall, the location, and the place itself, have great potential, but as it is now we will probably not return. If you have ever been to a bustling Belgian bar/restaurant, you will know what I mean.
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