Shop Joy: The Sol Ar Store

(© Saskia Vanderstichele)

“When people choose a Portuguese wine in a restaurant, my mission has succeeded.” It was to introduce us to quality contemporary products from her homeland, Portugal, that Patrícia Marques opened The Sol Ar Store. Twenty years ago she came from Lisbon to Brussels, where she worked on Europalia Portugal (1991) and later in the Portuguese embassy. Despite Brussels’s numerous Portuguese cafes and restaurants, Patrícia couldn’t find the atmosphere of today’s Portugal here. So she got involved in a variety of projects aimed at making modern products from Portugal known here. After launching a wine bar in the basement of an imposing building on Brugmann, a few months ago she opened The Sol Ar Store. Its right-hand wall is made up of jet black cases displaying the best Portuguese wine. Patrícia proudly declares that she has the perfect bottle of white wine to drink with Flemish asparagus. Anyone who fancies tasting the wine can come along on Wednesday evenings around 10 pm for a drink and a snack of Portuguese pata negra or cheese. Patrícia has also launched a “bring your own bottle” concept: people buy a bottle of wine in her shop and, for a corkage charge of €10 maximum, they can drink it in one of the little restaurants nearby. Pizza Papillon has already joined in – and has added two Portuguese pizzas to its menu to celebrate the fact. The left-hand wall is a large wooden spice cabinet containing dried herbs from Alentejo, sea salt from the Algarve, and tea from the Azores, all in trendy packaging, but with allusions to herbalist traditions. The shop is also a good place for gift ideas, such as soap and bath salts from the long-established Claus Porto. For yet more tastes of Portugal, keep an eye on the website to find out about coming events. A discovery!

THE SOL AR STORE •••
Edelknaapstraat 70 rue du Page, Elsene/Ixelles,
ma/lu/Mo > za/sa/Sa 11 > 20.00, wo/me/We 11 > 22.00 www.thesolar.pt