Sorry for the people of Zaventem, but it is a boring small village. If you just want to have a beer, you can just as well stay in the airport.

Well, we arrived Jan 4 early in the morning, and the flight from BKK was 1/2 hour early. After being on the plane for 10 hours and dreading sitting for 5 hours in the airport, we ventured into town; got through customs in less than 3 minutes and then into the train in no time. It was a rainy day, so not much to do downtown either, we went and had coffee and waffles at a cafe that was open and walked around the Grand Place and Galeries St. Hubert for about 45 minutes until it got light out (I forget how late sunrise in Europe is in winter), then the rain started coming down hard, managed to take some pictures and we decided to call it quits and head back. Still a good detour from the boring airport activities.

Going back through security was a breeze, we were back at the Brussels lounge in ~20 minutes after arriving at the airport station. So much better organized vs the US.

Thanks again for all the tips. Too bad the weather did not cooperate but still a nice quick detour.

Hey, as the OP has now said he came from BKK, he would actually have had the beer at 2pm :D (or maybe a nightcap as he was going to the US)

Indeed, beer at that hour was not appealing....thought it would be at 2 PM BKK time but that was not the case :cool:

Keep in mind that the OP was landing at around 7am, no eatery except for bakeries would be open around that time so the best he could get was a croissant.

and on top of that, as stated earlier, there is really nothing to do in Zaventem.

I thought airport workers would hang out there for meals and beer, even frites, that's boring. So somebody with short connection time, it's still the best to head to Centre?

With a short connection one could venture into the town of Zaventem. At noon and in the evening you can find good places to eat/drink. https://en.resto.be

If you find yourself in BRU at noon or later, you could try to go to 'Pitchers Aviation Bar'. The go to bar for airport staff and flight crews :)

Shameless plug for Nanaban, a small ramen and gyoza restaurant by Zaventem's railway station. It's less than 10 minutes away by bus from BRU.