Bar Magritte

Cocktail wonderland Bar Magritte has quickly become one of Belgium’s hottest watering holes—no small feat in a country famous for its beer. The world’s only bar venerating the Belgian Surrealist René Magritte, it opened in November within Brussels’ historic Hotel Amigo, a luxury hotel on the site of a 16th-century prison whose guests have included Beyoncé and Angela Merkel. In the jewel-toned space, bar manager Hassan Guilich and his team deftly execute a menu created by legendary bartender Salvatore Calabrese—of London’s storied Dukes Bar and The Donovan Bar—who has distilled the magic of Magritte’s work into 20 mind-bending cocktails that are as otherworldly in presentation as the artist’s universe, and equally contemplative in flavor. Case in point: Magritte’s The Battle of the Argonne, which depicts a showdown between a rock and a cloud, arrives as a glass bowl of gin and champagne syrup perched on a marble pedestal, into which the staff float delicate balloons of cream. This theater all takes place at a long copper bar with cognac-leather chairs that resemble pumpkins, the walls cocooning it covered with a Magritte-inspired print that calls to mind stained glass and anoints the place with the vibes of a phantasmagorical chapel.

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