De Garre is reached by finding the alley — an unmarked passage between two buildings off the Breidelstraat, barely a metre wide, ending at an arched brick doorway with three steps up to the entrance. There is no signage at street level. The bar has been operating since the 1970s and serves Tripel de Garre, a 11.5% Belgian tripel brewed exclusively for the café by the Van Steenberge brewery. The house beer is served only in a small stemmed glass, only one per order per customer at a time, with the gravity that it warrants. The interior is two floors of low brick-vaulted rooms — the books on the shelves are not decorative, the serving staff are not performing hospitality. De Garre functions as a serious Belgian beer café: the experience is quiet and particular, and the alley entrance is part of the architecture of the discovery.
Historisch Centrum, Bruges, Belgium