http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/ Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love, live in or have just visited - are what make this guide. http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/35076 Jean-Claude and Christiane’s rum bar behind Place Sablon is a loving homage to several years spent in the French Antilles: banana plants, banana leaves, unobtrusive steel pan music and a glowing fruit-adorned bar. There is a food menu that features recipes from Martinique, Réunion, Guadeloupe and Mauritius, but more than anything it features rum.
But first, Christiane suggests I try an aperitif. She hands me the drinks menu and leaves me to peruse it for some while. There are 250 cocktails to choose from: enough for weeks (years?) of cocktail drinking.
While we sip our delicate creations and allow the rum to creep up on us, Jean-Claude is cooking. Not the intriguingly-named “poisson à la sauce chien” this time; but parrotfish in a creole sauce of lime and coconut milk, and the same fish prepared in absinthe. Not only do these turn out to be delicious, but it is also the first time I’ve eaten such a photogenic fish.
Our chef is an experimenter. He tells us he’s currently trying out a variation of the staple deep-fried Belgian croquette, but with chicken inside and accompanied by a mango sweet and sour sauce. “I tried it out on my friends”, he says. We nod encouragingly and say it sounds good. “Yes, that’s what I thought”, he muses.
Later on Friday and Saturday nights, Jean-Claude sheds his chef’s clothes for something more comfortable, and joins in with the group of musicians and drums in the corner. Fridays and Saturdays from around 10:30pm is the time to pitch up: there’s no need to eat, just pick a cocktail (at random?) and make the most of it all. A place that should appeal to everybody!]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/35076 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/35075 We are generally young, cradling glass shakers protectively as we huddle around copper- topped tables. Meanwhile, the pulsing 90s dance mix is discouraging us from lapsing into conversation (even on a Monday), and why would we want deep conversations anyway while the blackboard has a list of around 40 cocktails to peruse, a twitchy dancing barman, and the television in the corner, inexplicably showing an evening chat show with my least favourite person on French channels, Laurent Ruquier. Every day between 20:00 and 23:00 except the day of rest, Coaster offers the appealing prospect of two 10cl or 15cl shakers for the price of one - it’s Happy Hour seemingly for most of the time the bar is open, or at least the hours when you’re most likely to want to frequent it. Well, I exaggerate: I haven’t yet hung out here until 6am! But I have slunk into the office wearing my hangover in a secret smile. Like a proper self-respecting Belgian bar, Jupiler is on tap. And of course the cocktails (be they mojitos, jet sets or teddy bears) are generous and colourful. And definitely not wimpish.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/35075 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34627 For too long this historic bar had wallowed in its own smoky grime, trading on its reputation of years of epic chess matches, rumours of original tiled bathrooms, and its most famous customer, René Magritte. Coming back I’m astonished at the transformation: it’s almost too new, and so shiny that Magritte would probably not recognise it. It’s certainly no longer a place where I can imagine any scruffy artist at the window trying to sell paintings. I haven’t yet spotted any chess players, either.
It took a private Dutch investor and some regional subsidies to finally save this listed building from leaks and bring it up to modern standards. Sitting in here you feel like a drinker in the first class lounge on the Titanic. I’m told by one of the waiters that Magritte used to sit in the right hand window viewed from outside - in any case, that table is always occupied! Drink one - drink three - but I think the food is better elsewhere - best to head next door for that (or try one of the many other restaurants nearby).]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34627 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34150 When he is not on tour, they are joined by whiskered virtuoso violinist Roby Lakatos , who keeps us all transfixed with his nimble bow work and finger plucking frenzy, while my poor tapping feet can barely keep up. In Lakatos’ hands the violin is variously a percussion instrument, a guitar and mandolin, and he weaves traditional gypsy tunes and then surprises us all with a variation of “La vie en rose”. A good selection of wines is available by the glass or bottle, and there are tapas and desserts so you won’t go hungry. You can be sure that everyone: staff, players, customers, folk dancer, will be having a good time.
If you’re too early for the concert soak up a beer – and witness Brussels’ Bohemian, alternative side at bar Le Murmure, no.18.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34150 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33531 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33531 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32202 opening party on 16 September with band and DJ to mark the return-to-work in Brussels. The bar is known for its evening apéritif: breathe in and squish up for a glass of wine or Venetian Spritz and enjoy with some light appetizers on the house.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32202 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32084 Lenin, Hitler - all with brazen red lips and lacy fabric on their heads. Only Magritte’s head has an apple instead, “I thought that surrealism was already strange enough!” Chuckles Bucquoy. Moving over to take a closer look at one of the exhibits, I read the solemn notice:
“Please complete the aforementioned coupon and return it together with your pants.”
So here I am in Brussels’ anti-Museum of underpants, which has persisted in various locations since its creation in 1990, fanning the infamous reputation of its already infamous creator. Of course it’s an anti-museum because it doesn’t just represent dead things: the owners of some of the pants are very much alive! And for Bucquoy this is not art for art’s sake, it is reminding us that we all wear underpants, that we are all ... equal! Giggling aside, perhaps there’s some truth in the juxtaposition
of power and lace: stern portraits of Sarkozy, Clinton and de Gaulle all seem less intimidating with a pair of frilly ladies’ smalls on their head. And what of Bucquoy? “No, the Director doesn’t wear pants”, he says, mischievously.

This small sample of Bucquoy’s extensive collection is displayed in De Dolle Mol, a weathered Flemish bar re-opened after rising rents forced it to close; and now supported by the Flemish community, sometimes hosting musicians and cultural events. Linked to the liberation of women, the birth of the Flemish Amnesty International movement and the B-generation, this place has always been the home of dreamy revolutionaries and self-styled outlaws, and seems to be attracting fans from the school-age generation as well. On Thursday or Friday evenings you may even bump into Bucquoy.

21 May in Belgium used to be the day for Bucquoy’s mock “Coup d’état”. There’s no need for that at the moment, as Belgium has no elected government, no mandate for raising taxes, and for Bucquoy, things are working rather well. So his focus is on future projects: touring the Musée du Slip to New York or London; sending out another 1000 letters to solicit new exhibits; directing the second part
of his film “Camping Cosmos” (which will again feature Noël Godin, perhaps the original and most successful “entarteur” ever – cream pie throwing tormenter of public figures such as Bill Gates and Bernard-Henri Lévy). But, Bucquoy grins, “I always come back to the pants.”]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32084 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32083 References to Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, fraying momentoes and blues music wrapping you in a cocoon: here it is personal, like a bedroom left behind in a family home and not touched since.
The jukebox will accompany your evening, when it’s working. Likewise Fakir Hindou, the fortune
telling box on the bar, might provide an erratic prognosis of your future for 20 cents. Two attempts produced the same result: “everything will go according to your wishes”. I’m not sure it’s a good thing to have everything you want!
Booze n’Blues has been family-run for the last 13 years. The owner lives upstairs. Downstairs you could almost imagine yourself somewhere in rural America. But the owner has never been. “There’s a meeting of blues fans in Los Angeles every year”, his sister tells me. "I’d love to send him there, but he doesn’t like flying.”]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32083 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32013 Delecta is another of my favourite small Brussels bars, an intimate after-work venue both in summer and winter, where you can share bottles of wine and plates of antipasti or huddle round the stove when it’s cold. There is a good selection of beer and light meals: more interesting variations on the ubiquitous croque monsieur, quiches and lasagne. Thursday evenings host the popular “les apéros
du Delecta”, complete with DJ.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32013 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31345 not fond of the sweet fruit wines).]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31345 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/30994 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/30994 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/19451 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/19451 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14947 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14947 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14694 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14694 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14664
Inside, the subdued lighting and tables made from coffins give every impression that you're sharing your drink with Dracula and in the midst of Transylvania! All the drinks have dark and horrifying names and there is a cathedral-type hush in the place. Very atmospheric and a great place to take your girlfriend for the first time!]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14664 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14655
Or, if beer's not your thing, visit The Green Fairy opposite, which sells over 2000 kinds of spirits and liquors!]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14655 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14637 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14637 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14633 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14633 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13749
Does the best carbonnade des Flamandes in Brussels by a country mile.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13749 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/12723
There are roughly 80 regular beers on the menu as well as monthly specials, some of them unusual (for example, Het Anker's Gouden Carolus Triple on tap - what a night that was!).

Service is efficient and friendly.

Poechenellkelder means "mannekin cellar" in the local Brussels dialect and you'll find that your bill is also in that dialect, which is similar to Dutch.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/12723