CAFE BRASSERIE GRIMBERGEN
Brasserie Grimbergen has been there for as long as I can remember, sitting on a prominent corner of the Sainte Catherine district. It is on the ground floor of a very attractive old Flemish red-brick building with smallish windows and so looks more like a pub, and the name does not indicate that it serves much other than beer. So I was quite surprised when I found it housed a pleasant spacious restaurant inside, thanks to Zed and Mike Da Hat who were celebrating her (cough)th birthday in Brussels.
A bit of history. Zed is largely responsible for my online presence. Back in 2005 when I had just pitched up in this fair city I was looking for a way to continue my restaurant reviews and life lessons. In the Sunday Times I read an article about women bloggers, and one of those featured was “My Boyfriend is a Twat”, which, if nothing else, catches your attention. This blog had already won an award and was written by a British woman who, it turned out, lived in Brussels.
So I left a comment on her blog, she left a comment on mine (that was bloggers’ etiquette back in the day) and we exchanged phone numbers. She phoned me out of the blue one night. We met up, she introduced me to other Brussels bloggers and before we knew it there was a whole gang of us. We even went out for a Brussels Bloggers’ Christmas Dinner.
The title of her blog was the result of a bet between her and her then fella, known as Quarsan for reasons best left unsaid. He was not remotely a Twat to be honest. She wrote about him and his slightly idiosyncratic northern comments, and their life with her three teenage kids, in a witty and comical way. Her blog won the Best European Blog award (the “Bloggies”) three times in a row. She even published a book of their conversations. The Guardian did a piece on her. Blogging was the new rock ‘n’ roll for about a year or two. Some female bloggers such as Petite Anglaise, Girl with a One Track Mind and Belle de Jour, became internet sensations. There were some blogs that were inspired, such as Gorilla Bananas (male), who stayed in character as a gorilla commenting on human behaviour, or Guyana Gyal who blogged in Guyanese patois. Many of us adopted a “persona” through which to blog. (Spoiler: I am not really a posh English widow in a flowery dress). Some got published, some self-published. A blogger called Mike Atkinson compiled a book of blog posts for Comic Relief in which I was flattered to be featured with one of my best blog posts if I say so myself. I was a prolific blogger and dare I modestly say it some of my posts were quite funny, poking gentle fun at my employer, my soon to be ex husband, my friends, and the Belgians, all under whimsical pseudonyms. I also wrote a regular restaurant review in a Brussels monthly freesheet.
But as is the way of fads, people ran out of things to say, others had busy lives, years went by, blogging gave way to Facebook and Twitter, and we all drifted apart, although many of us are still friends on Facebook to this day. Zed and the Twat split up, the Twat moved back to his native Cumbria, Zed later moved to England too, and started up a new blog called “Learning English Again”. The Twat sadly got cancer and died.
Zed was often back in Brussels to visit her three kids and then her grandchildren but apart from a brief encounter at the Christmas market a few years back, we never managed to hook up, until yesterday, when by a fortuitous alignment of the stars, we managed to rendezvous in a bar downtown. After a few jars we decided to go and eat together. Zed had her sights set on Brasserie Grimbergen, which I knew vaguely from outside but thought it was just a cafe-bar. It turns out it’s quite a smart restaurant with an extensive, very Belgian menu. Nothing innovative but some good old Belgian staples which hit Zed’s nostalgia button. It seemed fitting that I should write a blog restaurant review in the presence of my mentor. Although this has turned out to be more about blogging than about the restaurant.
Unfortunately we were nattering so much that I clean forgot to take photographs of the food, so I’m using stock photos here. Zed and Mike had carbonnades flamandes with chips. I ordered “fish and chips” which turned out to be large cod fillets in a sauce with mashed potato. Nothing like fish and chips, and we had to order extra chips. Belgian surrealism at its best. Not the cheapest place in town - we were shocked to see under the heading “snacks” a portion of cheese or charcuterie at 17,50 euros, almost the price of a main dish. Wine was expensive by the bottle but they do a house wine in carafes. This is a restaurant aimed at tourists in my opinion but is always a pleasant place to drink an Abbaye beer on the terrace in summer.
