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Cafe Hoegaarden Beer Bars / Shinjuku

2 Reviews

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Nico


  • Cafe Hoegaarden
  • (2007-10-11)
  • Located about a ten minute walk away from Shinjuku, cafe Hoegaarden features a interesting tour of some excellent Belgian brews together with a few German, Dutch and Japanese beers. The quality of the beer is excellent, and I would definitely recommend a visit to expand your horizons beyond the nama-biru culture of Japan.

    Our tour started with a draft Hoegaarden (700 yen), which is a light white-beer that is easy to drink and has a herb-like taste. My companion settled for a much stronger “Le verboden frut” in its brune version. This was a memorable beer; one of those brews that makes you realize how good beer can taste. The label also amused us as it consisted of a naked Adam and Eve drinking the forbidden brew! We proceeded to change drinks later to a Brune Leffe and a St Feullier (1000 and 1100 yen). The Leffe brune should definitely be on your books! The chocolate and caramel notes on this beer were amazing.

    For food, we settled on just getting the fries instead of the more traditional moules et frites that is standard at many Belgian eateries since the waitress in a bout of honesty revealed that the kitchen was overloaded and it would take more than 40 minutes for the mussels to arrive. The fries however were superb and served with an excellent homemade mayonnaise (600 yen). To add something more filling to our meal, we asked for the beer stew, which was some fork-tender beef braised in beer and served with a side of potatoes (1100 yen). This dish was an absolute winner and a perfect match with our beers.

    One word of caution: Belgian beers tend to pack more alcohol than their Japanese or North American counterparts. Brews ranging between 8-10% alcohol are common and some shoot even higher so be careful with the amount you drink. The atmosphere is quite lively, no doubt in part due to the strength of the beers, and I can only recommend to endure the walk and the off-the-wall location to enjoy a pleasant evening of beers and more.
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Peter


  • Cafe Hoegaarden
  • (2007-07-26)
  • Don't use Hoegaarden's online map - you'll never find it. I'd recommend asking three random people you walk past and triangulate, which is what I did. But when you do find it, you'll probably be happy. Hoegaarden is dimly lit, aimed at couples but not exclusively. A very impressive beer menu, specializing in Belgian beers. My friend had Chimay blonde on tap, I tried "San-Martin" from the recommended menu. Both were excellent Belgian Abbey beers. Lots of people were still eating meals at 11pm, so I ordered fries to accompany the beer - American style, although I wished they hadn't squirted mayo on the side. I guess I'm too picky - this is Japan.
    I like Hoegaarden, although I'm not used to paying 1,200yen plus for bottles of beer. It's good beer though.
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