We've recommended a number of bars with English and Flemish names in Brussels, so we thought it was time to suggest one with a French-Belgian name in Amsterdam.

 

Cafe Belgique can best be described as small but perfectly formed. The establishment consists of a single small room. A tiny staircase leads up to the toilets - a facility that some punters have been known to confuse for overnight accommodation. Its easily done.

 

 

In fact it's a place where you can't help but rub shoulders with the other customers. Before visiting for the first time your reviewer was advised by SkippyTheLizard (www.WorldDrinkingTour.com) that we would end up talking to someone from a random part of the world. As it panned out, after one or two Westmalle Triples and perhaps a Rochefort 10 we had an interesting conversation with  a chap we'd just met about how Britain and America had helped with  the redevelopment of downtown Cologne, and our new German friend didn't seem at all fazed by this.

 

The bar stocks a good selection of bottled and draft beers and you don't have to walk very far to order them.