5/5 John S. 1 year ago on Google • 14 reviews
tl;dr:
A
top-5
(of
my
lifetime)
cocktail
experience
Longer
review:
I
knew
from
some
ahead-of-trip
reconnaissance
that
I
wanted
to
check
LIB
out.
I
expected
very
good
drinks/a
great
time;
the
drinks
were
spectacular,
and
the
experience/service
was
even
better.
Herbert
and
Klara
took
care
of
me
tonight,
and
it's
one
of
the
best
cocktail
experiences
I
can
recall
having.
LIB's
space
is
neither
sparse
nor
sprawling;
it's
cozy
without
being
claustrophobic.
And
as
much
as
the
place
is
frequented
by
tourists,
there
is
a
clear,
dedicated
local
fanbase
(some
of
which
who
kindly
shared
some
baklava
with
me),
some
of
whom
adorn
the
walls
in
cute
polaroids.
The
menu
is
certainly
creative,
but
doesn't
aspire
to
become
pretentious.
At
its
heart,
LIB's
interest
in
fresh
ingredients
and
small/local/boutique
providers
is
what
shines
through.
I
had
a
bourbon
cocktail,
followed
by
a
calvados
and
goat
cheese
(!!!)
cocktail,
and
both
were
(while
very
different)
exceptional.
There
was
easily
a
third
and
a
fourth
that
I
wish
I
could
have
had,
but
I
might've
stayed
the
night
under
their
bar
had
I
indulged
(I'll
just
have
to
go
back).
What
really
put
LIB
over
the
top,
however,
was
the
level
of
care
Klara
and
Herbert
show
for
their
patrons.
Upon
hearing
I
was
visiting
from
Canada,
Klara
must
have
given
me
~20
recommendations
for
other
cocktail,
beer,
coffee,
and
food
spots
to
check
out
in
Brussels.
And
Herbert
and
I
had
a
fantastic
conversation
about
variations
in
French
dialect,
how
to
know
when
you've
found
the
right
kind
of
cafe
in
Belgium
(it's
the
old
carpet
smell),
and
peculiarities
of
the
Canadian
diary/cheese
market.
All
to
say,
as
much
as
businesses
like
to
talk
a
big
"customer-centred"
game,
LIB
might
be
one
of
the
only
experiences
I've
had
where
the
folks
behind
the
bar
treated
me
as
a
genuine
(albeit
time-limited)
friend.
It
was
a
feeling
that
left
quite
the
impression.
I'll
certainly
be
trying
to
go
back
again
before
I
leave,
and
if
I
was
a
local,
I'd
be
on
an
immediate
crash-course
to
becoming
a
"regular".