Café Belge, DIFC

While nostalgia can excuse a lot, the Cocktail Dandy takes no prisoners; Café Belge holds a special place in the heart being my very first bar visited in Dubai - but truth to be told; they should stick to beers. Are they that bad with cocktails?, one may ask, and the answer is no. Their bartenders are decent and the drinks too - but to get this place up to the top in the cocktail concept, they’d have to loosen on their ambitions of being the 1920s beer café they indeed are, and then the whole idea would be lost. The facility in itself would be a dream to transform to a proper oldskool cocktail bar - but that was just a dream, as R.E.M. poetically sang in “Losing my religion”.

Come here for a big Hoegaarden, enjoy the huge sunken garden outside in the winter months and go for the safe cards if you opt for cocktails.

Atmosphere: 5/8
Even though they pull off the Belgian 1920s café theme with flying colors, there are some elements needed in the cocktail department - music; to have a DJ in a beer café (let alone a cocktail bar) seems odd, and details; what’s up with all the bars using red backlight?

Cocktails: 5/8
While it’s logic to serve beertails rather than cocktails, it’s taking a bit too far to serve a Mojito with Stella, or no? Still, they know their trade regarding the classics.

Bartenders: 5/8
With a massive bar to tender, the bartenders seem a bit absent-minded and lose focus on their guests.

Ice: 4/8
Small ice cubes render diluted cocktails, and that needs to be sorted out. Plain and simple.

 

The Cocktail Dandy