Does Chez Clément have a separate bar and aperitif area?

Question

Lorenzo Eeman · Accepted Answer

Yes, Brasserie Chez Clément has a dedicated bar area, distinct from the main dining room. It opens continuously from 12:00 to 01:00 every day of the week, for coffee, beer, wine, aperitif or a quick stop in between meals.

The bar is a genuine, separate space within the brasserie, not a service counter tucked at the back of the dining room, but a fully fledged room with its own rhythm. It runs on a continuous schedule from noon until 1 a.m., seven days a week. That makes it the only part of the brasserie that never closes during opening hours: the restaurant has clear lunch (12:00 to 14:30) and dinner (19:00 to 22:30) windows, but the bar stays open across the afternoon and well into the night.

This continuous-bar logic comes from the deep DNA of the place. In 1858, Henri and Sidonie Clément opened the building as a coaching inn called “Bruyère à la Croix” on the country road between Brussels and the southern villages of Walloon Brabant. A coaching inn had to be open at every hour for travellers stopping for a drink, a rest or a horse change. The third generation, Marcel and Andrée Clément, formalised the wine-bar concept in 1976, sharpening the brasserie's identity as a place where the bar matters as much as the restaurant.

For visitors, the bar offers several practical functions. It is the natural place for an aperitif before lunch or dinner, with a Belgian and international selection of beers, wines, sodas, coffees and spirits. It is a comfortable spot for an afternoon coffee or a single glass of wine without committing to a full meal, useful for travellers passing through, professionals catching up between meetings, or guests stopping in after a walk in the Solvay Estate, the Fondation Folon or the Sonian Forest (Forêt de Soignes). And it remains open until 1 a.m. for a relaxed post-dinner nightcap, well after the kitchen closes for the night.

For the Thursday-night “Thursday disco nights” tradition, the bar plays a central role in the energy of the evening. Launched by the fourth generation, France Clément, around 1996, the Thursday format injects a DJ-driven festive layer into the brasserie. The bar functions as the gravitational centre of that night, alongside the dining room and the conservatory. The night can run until 4-5 AM, well beyond the usual 1 AM bar hours, the only night of the week that stretches that late.