A Guide to Eating and Drinking in Bruges

  Belgium Waffles in Bruges

Bruges is an incredibly civilized place, with charming streets lined with striking old buildings giving on to attractive waterways. But another thing that makes the city stand out is its fantastic eating and drinking.

As long as the more touristy places on the squares are avoided, eating out in Bruges is generally a wonderful experience. If truly budget options are a little thin on the ground, it’s hard to resent a city where eating and drinking invariably looks and tastes as good as it does.

And one thing dominates the restaurants’ menus more than anything else: truly outstanding mussels (known as ‘mosselen’ in Flemish). The Belgian signature dish ‘Moules et frites’ can be secured in pretty much any of the small, atmospheric little restaurants and bistros that are tucked away all over town.

There’s a concentration of places in the streets around the Hoogstraaten and, on the other side of the compact little city center, Zuidzandstraat. Very few will disappoint, as Bruges is a town which doesn’t really do bad food.

And, naturally for a city with a museum in honor of a beverage (the De Halve Maan Brewery), Bruges is a city that likes its beer. Belgian beer is strong, and a lot tastier than the more insipid lager you get in many other countries.

Visitors looking to find really cheap eats should probably look more towards the fast food end of the spectrum. A sausage in a bun, some 'frites' or a waffle can be picked up from the street stalls for very little. ‘Eetcafés’ – a sort of gastropub – are also often a cheaper option than some of the city’s many smart little restaurants.

Bruges (and Belgium in general) is full of gut-busting gastronomic attractions, from the pure, unrestrained indulgence of French fries and sticky waffles to refined chocolates; an excellent way to fill up after a long day of sightseeing...

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