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In Ghent,
contrarily to the hotel offer, you have an enormous choice in restaurants, cafes
and bars. Here are a few good addresses, tested for you, but it is certain you
will find others, the offer is so large! One good advice!! Avoid the places just
near or next to the great and visited monuments, the cuisine is very
standardized there. Just try to spot the restaurants where bicycles are parked.
It’s there that the Gentenaars (inhabitants of Ghent) eat!! Take the
opportunity of your stay in Ghent to try the famous “Gentse waterzooi”:
vegetable bouillon (carottes, poireaux, celeris) with potatoes, simmered or with
chicken or with fish. Well prepared, it’s a king’s dinner!
Horta
Eethuis, Zwartezusterstraat
32 tel 2330319.
Simple dishes
(moussaka, vegetable tarts, omelets) to economic prices. Feminine and charming
cadre.
Avalon 1, Geldmunt
32 tel 2243724
Behind the
Gravensteen, a vegetarian restaurant in a decor of refined, clear woodwork.
Bottom prices!
‘T
Keteltje, Nederkouter 1, tel 2332255
Behind the opera, a little jewel of
resto-brasserie, where the decoration is extremely refined: ivy tumbles down
from the ceiling, birds sing in their cages. Every object is placed at the right
spot with an inner sense of harmony and balance. The worry of detail is visible
on the way the tables are dressed and the carte proposes numerous season dishes.
You have even the choice of the size the portion you desire! Surprise! The sense
of welcoming and bien-etre is even manifest in the “commodities”.
De
Gekroonde Hoofden, Burgstraat 4 tel 2333774
On the facade
the sculptures of all the former Counts of Flanders. Interior is very agreeable
with apparent beams, large open fire and ceiling chandelier. Here spare ribs as
much you can eat, salads, grillades and nice carte de vins. Always succulent.
Quicherie
Patiron,
Sluizeken 30 tel 2334587 Near the Oudburg.
Annemie is the
queen of the pie and the quiche. She learned her cuisine in France and proposes
87 varieties. The star: gourd and Roquefort tart.
Eva
Luna, Kraanlei 27 tel 2333033
Superb new
brasserie on the shores of the Lys. Japonizing decoration. Trendy carte, spiced,
with carpaccios and even quails.
Amadeus, Plotersgracht 8 tel 2251385
One of the preferred addresses of the
Gentenaars, in the “Patershol”, for the ambience. Large tables with checked
tablecloths, Art Nouveau woodworks and windows. The food odor is present in the
dining room but it is inevitable because the “grillades” are the business
cards of the house. By the way, here, you eat with your fingers. This is an
address to go with a group! A
pity that the service is a little bit impertinent.
De Hel, Kraanlei 81 tel 2243240
Small rococo facade, in front of the
canon “De Dulle Griet”. The dining room is a delicate casket for a
tete-a-tete dinner. French cuisine with Flemish accents. Ragouts and simmered
foods. Daily plats for budget wallets.
Coeur
d’Artichaut,
Onderbergen 32 tel 2253318
Principally
a caterer, who makes alluring and attractive preparations, then a
retro-brasserie serving a succulent, varied and savory cuisine with very
sympathetic prices.
The Ghost, Korenlei
24 tel 2258902
For the
amateurs of typical settings, we are here in the oldest crypt of Belgium. Superb
arched cellar, just beneath the bridge saint-Michel. Small tables for two give
this place an intimate ambience. Essentially grilled fish and meat a la carte.
Specialty: “eel in ‘t groen” (yes, eel, a delicious Flemish specialty, try
it, I love it!)
More
expensive
Het
Blauwe Huis, Drabstraat
17, tel 2331005
Spectacular
decor, a new owner who seems to keep its promises of a high standard cuisine.
Vier
Tafels, Plotersgracht 6 tel 2260525
Long lives the
“universal cuisine”! Here you make a culinary tour of the world in one
dining room! This is the original idea of this restaurant. From Australia to
Norway, from Japan to Congo, passing through Hungary or even........Belgium.
An underrated specialty: musquash paws with endives and gueuze beer! You can
compose your menu as you wish. Nothing will hinder you to order wine with your
rattlesnake cooked Cantonese style, or drink sake with your antelope steak. All
of you, who dare, come here and try. And whatever you might think about, it’s
good! A few dishes are on the expensive side but they had to pay the plane
ticket for the kangaroo. And you ca eat for all prices: the Bulgarian
“taratar” (iced cucumber soup) costs almost nothing. Wine can be drunk at
the inch. The ding room is vast, a veranda full of greenery, a courteous and
quick service, but be aware that credit cards are not accepted.
De
Acht Zaligheden,
Oudburg 4 tel 2243197
These eight
beatitudes are going to bring you at the brink of happiness, with its intimate
setting on the shores of the Lys. French cuisine alternates with sea products
and grillades.
Le
Tete a Tete, Jan Breydelstraat 32 tel 2339500
Superior quality still unspoiled by
success. A “ carte legere et inspiree” (light and inspired) as
The culinary critics wrote. An extraordinary bouillabaisse, mouth-watering
desserts only reading them on the carte and all this in the only all wooden
house remaining in Ghent.
Very nicely design decoration. Another small dining room a few steps down and a
terrace on the shores of the canal facing the Gravensteen (sensible nostrils,
stay away!). Prices have been democratized lately.
Brasserie
Pakhuis, Schuurkenstraat
4 tel 2235555
In a
backstreet of the Mc Donalds of the Korenmarkt. THE
TRENDY brasserie of Ghent. Monumental warehouse decorated with large theater
curtains, bronze metallic pilasters, plants as high as they are green, bistro
tables, 25 meters long counter, dazzling brass, efficacious servers and
waitresses with their long white aprons, Brasserie carte, chic and expensive.
Mainly fish and daily suggestions (tested by the owners...that’ a relief!)
Oyster bar and regular bar. You want to be seen, sit here!
At noon a
“cheap” lunch.
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