À la Mort Subite

One of the oldest cafés in central Brussels, a long mirrored room near the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert where Jacques Brel was a regular and the waiters still work the tables the old way. The name means 'sudden death', and it shares that name with the Mort Subite lambic range poured here — order the gueuze or kriek and a plate of fromage blanc and you are drinking a very specific, unreconstructed slice of the city. Closed Sundays; the rest of the week it runs from 11:00 to midnight.