Belgian Beer Café: Ebenezer Place in the East End Precinct of Adelaide

It's a favourite Australian past time - a few quiet beers at the end of a long hard day. But it seems the Belgians have been hard at work propping up the bar since Medieval times.

"Hoegaarden. It's a wheat beer - it's forty percent wheat. It's made with orange peel and coriander".

Not only is the brew different, but so too is the ritual of pouring a beer. Each glass, which is specifically made for each style of beer is washed and then chilled. When poured the top of the head is sliced off with a steel blade and, when ready, receives one final rinse before presentation.

There's another fifteen bottled beers from those made with raspberry and cherry to a Forbidden Fruit - with a label that'd tempt even the most ardent tee-totaller.

" Beer is to the Belgians as whiskey is to the Scots and wine is to the French and Australian for that matter. There's seemingly an endless variety of largers, pilseners and lambric or fruit beers and they take this beverage very seriously at the Belgian Beer Cafe and so should you. A drop like this has an alcohol content of 11.3 percent."

This is what's known as a Trapiste Beer. It's made from a recipe developed by Trapiste Monks in Belgium and Holland as far back as the 12th Century.

"The Monks were making beer in the middle ages. As you know water was not as pure as it is nowadays. Consuming beer was considered very healthy so monks, for their own pleasure, as well as for hygenic reasons started brewing all these beers."

Another centuries old Belgian tradition is also found on the cafe's menu - Mussels of the House. Celery and chopped carrot have been sautéed in oil when Chef Wolfe Schumann adds a few other key ingredients.

"A little bit of fresh garlic, a touch of white wine and then I put in just a little bit of bacon chopped up just for flavour. And a whole kilo of nice fresh mussels. Just all in at once."

The Mussels are then steamed for about thirty seconds.

"Give it a bit of a toss, Hoegaarden Belgian Beer, red capsicum just for colour and a little bit of chopped spring onion."

A little more heat and soon it's ready for the Belgian Mussel Pot - the perfect accompaniment to that other Belgian speciality, Pomme Frites or fries with mayonnaise.

It's all standard fare at the Belgian Beer Café at Ebenezer Place in the East End. For bookings please phone Danny on 08 8359 3400 If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au