Osteria Romana becomes ‘first bitcoin restaurant in Brussels’

Italian restaurant Osteria Romana claims to be the 'first bitcoin restaurant' in Brussels, offering clients the option of settling their bill in the cryptocurrency, reports Bruzz.

A bowl of pasta carbonara costs 0.0014 bitcoins or €30 and customers can also pay in two other cryptocurrencies, litecoin and ethereum.

Manager of the Ixelles address Filippo La Vecchia was keen to surf the digital trend. "Luxury brands such as Gucci already offer the payment method in their stores in the US, Paris, London and Milan. The Yard Festival in Vilvoorde also accepted payments in cryptocurrencies for the first time last month."

He believes his restaurant is the first to follow suit, with the latest payment option simply an example of continuing change over the past 10 years.

"In the beginning, about 15 to 20% paid cash, today that’s only 3%. Credit and bank cards remain the most popular." But he doesn’t rule out card payments making way for crypto coins in the long term.

Customers currently scan a QR code to make a payment with crypto coins. So far, three customers have carried out such a transaction. "If 3% pay this way, it's already a success," says La Vecchia. "For the time being, it’s more of an extra service that we want to offer to our customers and we do not expect that everyone will pay with bitcoin immediately."