Definition: Bruin Cafe = Brown Cafe, an informal Dutch bar.
Similar to England's pubs, brown cafes are casual neighborhood bars, with beer on tap and a limited selection of wines. Many offer a simple cafe menu with bar snacks and dishes like sandwiches, salads and steaks at a reasonable price.
Brown cafes owe their name to their dark wood furniture and brown walls (due to decades of tobacco smoke staining the wallpaper). Incidentally, smoking in bars and restaurants has been banned in the Netherlands as of July 1, 2008.
