"Is that picture of a little boy peeing?’ squeaked some West Coast girl as I entered Brussels Bar. ‘Ugh! Yuck.’ And she was right. The logo of this Belgian-themed hangout is Manneken Pis, Belgium’s famous urinating statue. This clueless onlooker presumably thought it was some sort of joint homage to paedophiles and golden showers; maybe she would have preferred Hercule Poirot.

Don’t let the ignorance of others prevent you from proudly enjoying Brussels, though. While its bistro vibe is still a work in progress and the furniture is fairly standard (although comfortable), it does have three aces up its sleeve.

The first is its range of Belgian beers: think Westmalle, Kwak and Lindemans. Most of these 33cl bottles go for 40RMB, but you can buy three for 100RMB or seven for 200RMB. There are a number of French and German bottled beers too, plus draught lagers (Stella for 30RMB; Tiger for 25RMB), house wines (35RMB a glass) and a range of cocktails (40RMB).

The second is the huge – nay, massive – projection screen. This is a great place to watch sport. It may currently lack a killer buzz, but for those who simply want to watch and drink, it’s perfect: the team here are keen to please and can seemingly show anything (laws permitting)Which brings us to the third reason to get behind Brussels: it already feels like somewhere that Knows What It’s Doing.

This is, no doubt, thanks to former Fubar duo Kenn Bermel and – for the launch phase only – Chad Lager. To borrow the old Field Of Dreams adage, ‘If Chad helps build it, they will come.’ Or fans of sport and Belgian beer will, at the very least. Adrian Sandiford

Details

Open: 6pm-2am daily

Telephone: 6591 9525

English address: Inside the Yuanjidian Research Complex (opposite 1949), 4 Gongti Bei Lu, Chaoyang district

Chinese address: 朝阳区工体北路4号院机电研究院内