What’s the difference between a bistro and a restaurant? I once asked a chef who was a good friend of mine.

People go to a restaurant to dine, some will have a glass or two of wine, then they mostly leave. But a bistro is a place where one goes to eat, drink and have fun, oftentimes staying for several hours or more, sharing a few bottles of different beverages and picking at a wide variety of different dishes. It’s a social meeting place for friends to hang out, much like a club.

So what better place to open a bistro than on Boracay’s White Beach. Who doesn’t love hanging out by the beachfront all day. Especially when the bistro offers some of the finest food available and good wines on the island.

Bistro des Amis was opened just this year and is operated by Belgian national Oli Stassen.

Oli first visited our shores seven years ago and after traveling around for a couple of years, he returned home to Belgium but realized how much he missed the Boracay lifestyle. He was determined to make his dream of owning a place where he could import and sell Belgium beers, which was a longtime family business, so he returned to Boracay in search of the ideal property.

The times of Covid were a nightmare for most, but Oli saw an opportunity in a vacant property and decided it could be the ideal place for him and his family to open their dream beachfront bistro.

Belgium is quite famous for its beer industry. And Oli’s family had been in the business for a long long time. His great grandfather had a cider brewery but sold it, however, his father decided to buy it back again and expand.

At the time their main business was in Luxembourg, Holland and Belgium, but such was the popularity and quality of their brews – that they now sell to high end establishments in Japan and Korea.

And you can guess where next – that’s right – Bistro Des Amis on Boracay. It won’t be long, Oli assured me.

But until then, they still serve a fine selection of wines, of course, all local beers and spirits, and the staff have been professionally trained to extremely high standards – something that we unfortunately lack here sometimes. Excellent service and ambience, great food and beverages, all in a fabulous beachfront bistro.

What a way to spend your days…