This is the fifth Belgo restaurant to be established in south-east England, and as with the other four it is essentially a coming together of beer and food, not always in that order, but pretty often. Put another way round it offers La Cuisine à la biere, since much of the union involves the preparation of food with the aid of beer via a sauce or marinade. Beer lends itself well to the stewing of beef and also enjoys a reputation for being a good tenderiser.

It's a strictly Belgian notion to combine moules, frites and beers, and a very fine one too. But whilst that may be typical it's but the tip of the iceberg. In any case before you gain anything like access to the food there are some 50 specialist Belgian beers to be assessed. Amongst this rich harvest you will find Chimay Rouge, brewed under the supervision of Trappist Monks, dark roasted Grottenbier and fruity Floris beers.

Décor is relaxed and good humour abounds. Promotions include Beat the Clock and an Express Lunch menu at under £7 enables decent food and work to co-exist comfortably. Those who revel in statistics may not by this time be surprised to hear the average Belgian drinks 150 litres of beer per head every year, with 800 different beers from which to choose.

So on to the food where a warm salad of smoked bacon, shredded duck, eggs and black pudding with garlic croutons and a Dijon mustard dressing could make your day. Mussel pots offer the fine mollusc in six manifestations, all of them mouth-watering, or you can order a platter with frites. Braised red cabbage with raspberry beer sounds pretty adventurous and stoemp mash introduces a mash of root vegetables, often mixed with cream. A beef carbonnade is braised in sweet Gueuze beer with apples and plums, served with frites.

Monday to Fridays five rattling good dishes are on offer from 5 to 7 pm., including the bowl of marinière mussels with frites; you pay the price of the time you order. But it's the children who come off best at Belgo, with free eating to spur them on, as if the little devils need any spurring when it comes to tucker time.

Michael Jackson in his book The Beer Hunter says, 'Belgium is the land of beer, seafood and the world's finest chocolate. It is a land of German portions and French culinary skills', which seems to sum up the situation admirably. To crown it all you will by now be not in the least surprised to hear that the world's first beer academy opened in 1999 at Herk-de-Stad.

Details of other Belgo branches, prize draws and the solution to a Belgian maths equation can all be found by a click on their Website.