Heritage Belgian Beer Cafe

From the team who inserted "beer cafe" into our restaurant vocabulary (with Epoque in Cammeray) come the soaring ceilings and mahogany panelling of this booming Belgian-style brasserie, a brilliant reproduction in a one-time Catholic girls' school hall.

I reckon school patron St Pat would have liked the long marble-topped bar, the gleaming beer taps and foaming balloon glasses in which each drop is expertly served. After all, monks started Belgium's great brewing tradition, using everything from wheat to malt to hops and even cherries - as in the deep red lambic (natural fermentation) drop known as Kriek, my top girlie beer.

There are litres of fascinating on-tap and bottled beers (from $6.50). Match them with an enormous charcuterie platter ($19.50), carbonade (a beer-braised beef stew, $23.50) or a groaningly heavy black enamel pot of fabulous pinky-orange, freshly steamed mussels ($22.90) - the Belgian national dish - with crunchy fries and mayo on the side. Try the mussels simmered in celery, parsley and Hoegaarden (a light, lemony, white beer). And if the beer list makes your head spin, there's always Stella on tap.