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· Hidden The Flemish is the unmarked basement room beneath a butcher shop on Rue du Marché aux Herbes — Brussels's most genuinely hidden cocktail bar. Owner-operator Maarten Vandenbroucke, ex-Sips Antwerp, built a programme that defaults to Belgian jenever and the now-substantial range of Belgian whiskies as cocktail base: a Manhattan with Owl 12-year-old, an old-fashioned built on Gouden Carolus single malt, a Sazerac that uses Filliers Aged Genever instead of rye.

The list is eight signatures and a deliberately short classics roster. Twenty seats around an L-shaped bar, deeply low lighting, mandatory reservations through Instagram DM. Fourth because the Belgian whisky cocktail programme is the most considered in the country and because the bartender's lineage is genuinely first-rank.

For the full ranking, see our editorial round-up of the 10 best cocktail bars in Brussels, the broader Brussels cocktail bars guide, and our category index of cocktail bars worldwide.