Post #136763 by Trader Woody on Fri, Jan 21, 2005 6:26 PM

On 2005-01-21 09:22, Satan's Sin wrote:
It was extremely odd and extremely charming to be in Brussels -- as I mentioned in an earlier post -- and ask for the cocktail menu and be given a completely blank look. They really did not know what cocktails were.

Oh, I can't believe that!!

Places that serve cocktails abound in Europe, but the difficulty is finding places that serve up the old classics rather than inane concotions which people buy for the name rather than the ingredients (Slippery Tasty Bald Beaver, Hairy Coconut etc....)

To be honest, these cheesy places are found mainly on the coast, so if you get to a city like Brussels, (where beer is king for a very good reason) a cocktail bar might be more difficult to find than you'd expect. And yes, some of the classic cocktail bars in Europe that started out in the 20's (Eg. Harry's Bar in Venice and Paris) were set up to cater for Americans.

Trader Woody