Putting the mussel in to Belgian beer
Belgo Restaurants have played a key role in helping to promote the concept of food with quality beer. Nigel Huddleston reports
Interest in speciality beers has spawned dozens of pubs where you can sample authentic Belgian lambics and fruit beers, but if you want to experience the Full Monty of Belgian cuisine and beer then London’s Belgo restaurant group is still up there as one of the main places to go.
Despite being immersed in Belgianness, Belgo’s was founded by the cosmopolitan pairing of French-Canadian Denis Blais and Anglo-Belgian Andre Plisnier.
Inspired by the eating halls of Brussels, the first Belgo opened in Camden in 1992, although legend has it that the pair hatched the plan while sipping a Trappist brew or two during the Belgium-Russia World Cup match six years earlier.
After some difficult corporate times in its early existence, Belgo has settled into being the populist arm of the Signature Restaurants group that owns swanky joints like J Sheeky, Caprice and the Ivy, under the stewardship of one-time Pizza Express boss Luke Johnson.
Aside from two Belgo restaurants there are three sister style bars that go under the name Bierodrome, with a heavier emphasis on over-the-bar drinks than food-leaning restaurant service.
Bierodrome’s beer range includes commercially-driven Dutch intrusions such as Heineken and Amstel, but Belgo remains an authentically all-Belgian affair, with around 70 of the country’s finest listed at any one time.
There are up to eight beers on tap and the rest in bottle, including a dozen Trappist ales, a bumper crop in the ‘fruit beer orchard’ section and one-of.....
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By Nigel Huddleston
Section : Beer Spotlight
Page number : 56
