Bruges-we were greedy

[sarah w]

I have just returned from 3 nights in bruges and felt i had to write as i was very pleased with the standard of food.

The only mistake we made was on arrival when we went straight to a cafe in the square for a snack and drink and ended up with £10 large pint of beer!! we started with mussels and a lovely dish of very garlicky prawns..

For dinner we went to a lovely, rustic place called cafe grand passage

we had carbonade flammade-a very rich beef stew made with local gueze beer, also the local chicken creamy stew, lamb chops and garlic and a beef kebab..

The following day we booked the 3 michelin starred restaurant de karmeliet

A very beautiful and modern restaurant:

Lots of Amuses: Smkd salmon,:crudites with a fromage blanc and herb dip

Cheese and tom beignets: tete de veau terrine(i didnt go for that) seafood jelly with puree cauliflower..

Starters:

2 x partially cooked Mackerel with confied toms and radishes

a confied terrine of veg with fresh almonds

goose foie gras with artichokes,girolles and leaf

mains:

3 x halibut with gorgeous ratatouille and fresh spaghetti

thin tomato tart

desserts:

I think that the chef has a no choice policy and everyone has variety of desserts and petit fours

we had-choc/mocha millefuille: a plum and kirsch sobert dessert: a whipped cheese and fruit compote dessert with choc strands-tasted like an amazing black forest gateaux

standard petit fours but the rum babas were outstanding filled with lots of rum !!

we had a few bottles of south african white, dessert wine etc

cost was 110 euros each- £70 ahead

after a siesta and a good walk we had supper at a new restaurant called salad folle, far from fine dining but very good quality salads,pasta.lovely looking dining room and very good value £4 assiette of desserts

the next day we had a quick, good pizza for lunch at riva da sole

supper was at a lovely fondue place just off the market, we chose a meat and a cheese one with great accompaniments...very good house wine

other choices were raclettes or individual cooking pans

about £15 ahead

all in all a very good trip

drank at various establishments, good beer,wine and genevers (lethal, and remember the od tastes milder than new)

lovely hotel called the azalea

I would recommend Bruges to anyone as it is still untouched and a really beautiful town-lots of tourist but such is life, apparently half the population is over 60 so maybe why so clean..but as a 25 year old, 30 year old and my parents there was no end of things to do,places to eat drink etc..Not sure why but we ended up in a very good irish pub, always seem to in europe!!

take care

x

[Gavin Convery]

Sarah,

How do you think de Karmeliet rated in terms of other 3 michelin star restaurants - I don't know if you've been to any in France or the UK but would you say a similar standard. Is the restaurant situated in Bruges itself? Can you get to Bruges on Eurostar??

Tks

Gavin

[anil]

I have just returned from 3 nights in bruges and felt i had to write as i was very pleased with the standard of food.

The only mistake we made was on arrival when we went straight to a cafe in the square for a snack and drink and ended up with £10 large pint of beer!! we started with mussels and a lovely dish of very garlicky prawns..

.........

Sarah, Pray could you tell us what time you started with that 10 quid pint ? Maybe, Simon or other UKites could match your enthu. on starting that early(or late} depending on the body clock

[britcook]

ended up with £10 large pint of beer!!

A pint is a pint, it doesn't come in large or small.

What you probably had was a very expensive litre.

[sarah w]

whoops, yes it was a litre...still expensive !...see its still affecting me

It was consumed at the reasonable hour of 12:30pm

Bruges is reachable by eurostar, under 3hrs to brusssels and then change for a 50mins journey...Bruges is compact thus you can walk or get the bus to the centre from the station

The restaurant is in central bruges

I have been to other 3 star establishments, Ducasse-monte carlo, Chez nico-london(b4 he returned them) paul bocuse, lyon

In comparison i would say the ratio of staff to customers was very different but pleasant as the pressure was less, the food was of an excellent standard, good wine list, great amuses..The decor,table details etc were modern and stylish..Alot of thought has gone into them

The surprising thing that we noticed was that it looks like there was no choices when you get to the dessert choice. We had a set menu which had "a selection of chocolates and sweets", it looked like the table next to us who were a'la carte had the same desserts (with an extra dish).

Even in the book by the chef Geert Van Hecke , there are hardly any desserts, i would not complain though because the one's we had were fab

heres the website link for the restaurant, piccies and all

DE KARMELIET

also bruges website with restaurants, etc

bruge site

have fun

sarah x

[cabrales]

Sarah -- Do you recall how far De Karmeliet was away from the train station?

[sarah w]

Hi cabrales

I am not great at distances and havent fully recovered from new year yet but i can say that Bruges

centre is not far from the station

We had bags so we got a taxi but i am sure it is walkable. Everything is well located

I enclosed a bruges and De karmeliet web link on original mail, i think there are maps on those

From the centre it was a 10/15 minute walk to the restaraunt

I look foward to hearing about any visit

anything else then pls ask

sarah x

[cabrales]

Sarah -- Thanks. As you mentioned, Bruges is very small, so a less than USD$10 ride would bring one very close to De Karmeliet. The restaurant has gorgeous, modern decor (including the lounge area), although G Van Hecke's cuisine is not necessarily of consistently appropriate balance for dishes within a meal, in my assessment. More modern cuisine than Bruneau in Ganshoren (near Brussels), though. Bruneau's coucou de malines (a type of very tender chicken, the excellent portion of which is its breastmeat) dish that is excellent. This dish comes with two black-truffle based sauces. One was described as a butter-based white sauce, the other a red-wine-based, brown-colored sauce. If members see the coucou de Malines on menus in Europe, it might be worth sampling.

Edited January 2, 2003 by cabrales (log)

[Sweet Willie]

Bruges, a tiny, touristy, but beautiful town about 60 miles northwest of Brussels, is the capital of moules frites-mussels in a shalloty broth w/perfectly crisp French fries. Since we can not live by the bivalve alone, we go to The Hobbit. This cozy den….features all-you-can-eat platters of barbecued dry-rubbed spareribs (ribbetjes) for about $13 – a reminder that the South exists not just in America.

from Saveur magazine Jan/Feb 2003.

[paulbrussel]

Do you recall how far De Karmeliet was away from the train station?

The restaurant is about 20 - 30 minutes walk from the Central Station.

Geert Van Hecke belongs to the kind of chefs that has a good classic base of cuisine, has it modernised and uses a lot of regional products.

Compared to other three star restaurants, I would say that it is more in the very modern style of e.g. Can Fabes in Spain or Gordon Ramsay at RHR, and less in the creative style of e.g. El Bulli or Pierre Gagnaire.

It is however a much more interesting restaurant as Comme chez soi, the famous three star restaurant in Brussels.

Jean-Pierre Bruneau in Brussels is on the other hand different as well - more elaborate modern cuisine.

De Karmeliet offers by the way an excellent menu for only 50 € at lunch Wednesday - Friday and the same for dinner from Tuesday to Thursday. (Closed: Monday and Tuesday lucnh.)

[hornet]

I am going to Bruges this weekend. Do you have any recommendations for restaurants? I am going to De Karmeliet already but was interested for other recommendations, particularly for local fare and seafood.

[sarah w]

Hi

we enjoyed a lovely, rustic place called cafe grand passage

We walked past a fish place several times that looked very popular the website is http://www.visscherie.be/ i cannot vouch for the food as we ran out of time to eat there

Let me know how De karmeliet is, still one of our favourite lunches..So light and relaxed

Sarah x

[sarah w]

Hi

we enjoyed a lovely, rustic place called cafe grand passage

We walked past a fish place several times that looked very popular the website is http://www.visscherie.be/ i cannot vouch for the food as we ran out of time to eat there

Let me know how De karmeliet is, still one of our favourite lunches..So light and relaxed

Sarah x

[sarah w]

also we had reasonable pasta & salads @ http://www.saladefolle.com/

My mum & dad enjoyed a cafe/pastissere, called DETABERNIET i think, near Minnewater.

We also ate at a Fondue place, near the main square. Was delicious but very filling

Have fun

sarah x

[hornet]

Had a good weekend. The highlight was lunch at De Karmeliet. Very relaxed and enjoyable. We went for the €50 menu (but watch out for supplements) which was 3 courses. There were some pre-starters with some drinks in the conservatory area. For starter I had a croquette with prawn and for main I had a beautifully rich rabbit that had been cooked in beer for 7 hours. There were 3 puddings followed by more petit fours than you could eat. Coffee came with more chocolate if you hadn’t had enough! Overall a lovely time although the bill gets larger once drinks and supplements are added.

We also went to Kafe Grand Passage, a candle-lit restaurant. It serves local dishes at very reasonable prices (a filling stew for €11) that was just what was needed on a cold night.

The fish restaurant we tried was recommended by the guidebook. It is called Den Gouden Karpel on Vismarkt. Food was excellent (the owner also has a fishmonger over the road).

[sarah w]

Glad u enjoyed it, jealous now !

I was also impressed by the relaxed style of De Karmeliet, even Chef Geery Van Hecke was sitting down having coffee with guests afterwards

And the Kafe grand was very homely and decent,traditional food

sarah

x

[Le Zouave]

Hi everyone!

I think I read almost everything you guys wrote since 2002 about Bruges. I went there 5 years ago, but I was wondering whether you could help me find more new places-- I know the Karmeliet live you do and I will probably go back, but what other places should I try? classic belgian stuff, obviously, and maybe more?

Thanks for youy help!

[paulbrussel]

De Karmeliet is the best, of course.

I am not very into classic cuisine. In the modern interesting range, I would certainly recommend the more creative, if not inventive cuisine of:

Den Gouden Harynck

Groeninge 25

8000 Brugge

West-Vlaanderen (B)

050/337637

[Le Zouave]

Thanks a lot, paulbrussel! I just had a look at the internet site: should be nice, indeed.

[LARRY WIENER]

We were just in Brugge as a stop on a tour through Belgium. One night we ate at a nice French restaurant, Den Anker, located at Katelijnestraat 52, about 15 - 20 minutes walk from the train station. It's essentially right across the street from the Church of Our Lady. My wife said that the lamb was superior. We noticed that it was crowded at lunch, but there were tables available at dinner. It was not cheap but not overly expensive either.

[Freckles]

Any other updates? Any new restaurants that I should note? I'm going to Bruges the 25th - 28th of August by myself and would love some fun, low key places to eat on my own. Thanks

[ulterior epicure]

sarah w.

i'm going to bruges soon and was planning on booking a lunch table at de karmeliet. i was pleased to find your posting that reinforced my interest in the restaurant.

i'm assuming you had the lunch menu (3-courses)... do you remember the price in euros.

thanks!

u.e.

I have just returned from 3 nights in bruges and felt i had to write as i was very pleased with the standard of food.

The only mistake we made was on arrival when we went straight to a cafe in the square for a snack and drink and ended up with £10 large pint of beer!! we started with mussels and a lovely dish of very garlicky prawns..

For dinner we went to a lovely, rustic place called cafe grand passage

we had carbonade flammade-a very rich beef stew made with local gueze beer, also the local chicken creamy stew, lamb chops and garlic and a beef kebab..

The following day we booked the 3 michelin starred restaurant de karmeliet

A very beautiful and modern restaurant:

Lots of Amuses: Smkd salmon,:crudites with a fromage blanc and herb dip

Cheese and tom beignets: tete de veau terrine(i didnt go for that) seafood jelly with puree cauliflower..

Starters:

2 x partially cooked Mackerel with confied toms and radishes

a confied terrine of veg with fresh almonds

goose foie gras with artichokes,girolles and leaf

mains:

3 x halibut with gorgeous ratatouille and fresh spaghetti

thin tomato tart

desserts:

I think that the chef has a no choice policy and everyone has variety of desserts and petit fours

we had-choc/mocha millefuille: a plum and kirsch sobert dessert: a whipped cheese and fruit compote dessert with choc strands-tasted like an amazing black forest gateaux

standard petit fours but the rum babas were outstanding filled with lots of rum !!

we had a few bottles of south african white, dessert wine etc

cost was 110 euros each- £70 ahead

after a siesta and a good walk we had supper at a new restaurant called salad folle, far from fine dining but very good quality salads,pasta.lovely looking dining room and very good value £4 assiette of desserts

the next day we had a quick, good pizza for lunch at riva da sole

supper was at a lovely fondue place just off the market, we chose a meat and a cheese one with great accompaniments...very good house wine

other choices were raclettes or individual cooking pans

about £15 ahead

all in all a very good trip

drank at various establishments, good beer,wine and genevers (lethal, and remember the od tastes milder than new)

lovely hotel called the azalea

I would recommend Bruges to anyone as it is still untouched and a really beautiful town-lots of tourist but such is life, apparently half the population is over 60 so maybe why so clean..but as a 25 year old, 30 year old and my parents there was no end of things to do,places to eat drink etc..Not sure why but we ended up in a very good irish pub, always seem to in europe!!

take care

x

←

[Midwesterner]

De Karmeliet is the best, of course.

I am not very into classic cuisine. In the modern interesting range, I would certainly recommend the more creative, if not inventive cuisine of:

Den Gouden Harynck 

Groeninge 25

8000 Brugge

West-Vlaanderen (B)

050/337637

←

We are just back from Bruges, where we ate at Den Gouden Harynck (Michelin one star). It was excellent, very modern cuisine. It reminded me of the style of food served at Le Bernardin (we ate mostly seafood at Den Gouden Harynck, though there were other choices available) but with more aggressive flavors. Very light, bright food. We got into conversation with a couple at the next table who had been at De Karmeliet the night before. They much preferred Den Gouden Harynck, although I am not sure why. The man's comment was that none of the dishes "worked" at De Karmeliet.