5 Good Places to Eat in Brugge
Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert
Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist
We visit Brugge as often as we can when we come to Europe.
Part of the reason why we like this fairytale city is the many small family run restaurants in Brugge.
Here are two pictures to remind us of how wonderful this place is:
Where else but Brugge would you find charming buildings with swans decorating the outside of the building? The roof gable is known as a step gable and quite common in Brugge.
Perhaps the most iconic picture in fairytale land—just stunning at night!
Now, back to food. Brugge has many wonderful restaurants and we want to highlight some we have found to be exceptional.
The quality is always wonderful, we have found special dishes at each place we enjoy, and often the places we have found are frequented by locals.
Don’t visit these restaurants if you are in a rush—these dining experiences will be the art of slow dining—excellent cuisine you will remember long after your visit.
So, let’s explore together and learn about 5 great eating spots in Brugge, along with our favorite spot for a light lunch or just drinks —you won’t be disappointed in our 6 choices!
Cezar
This small restaurant and delicatessen has a real local connection—we often are the only Americans in this cozy place. The dining room area is just like they describe it on their website—it is a living room in their kitchen.
Meat is their specialty. They are open for lunch from 1200 to 1400 and for dinner from 1800 to 2100 five days a week and are closed on Sunday and Monday.
They are located on Jeruzalemstraat 1 and their telephone number is 050.70.97.84.
The following 7 pictures should help you understand why we like this establishment so much!
The outside of Cesar
Anne with her before diner cocktail—we really like the insides of this wonderful place
Hank also with his gin and tonic.
Vol-au-Vent—a wonderful Belgium chicken dish
Meatballs in tomato sauce
The traditional beef carbonnade stew made with Belgian ale.
In a place famous for its’ frites, a baked potato was a delightful change.
Grillkasteetje
This is some of the best grilled meats you will probably eat in Europe. It is small, the main dining area is up some steep stairs but the food is wonderful.
With only 24 tables in this establishment, reservations are mandatory. It is only open for dinner from Tuesday to Saturday from 1800 to 2200 and closed on Sunday and Monday.
We have eaten here at least 4 times and can’t wait to go again.
They are located on Gevangenisstraat 1 and their telephone number is +32 50 68 41 48.
Here are just some of our wonderful experiences and good dining we have experienced here in our 15 pictures of some of our visits:
Outside the restraurant
The menu specials of the day
The bar area on the first floor
At the grill—where the food magic happens
Part of the second story dining room—the tiny upstairs after taking some steep steps that has seating for 18.
The small dining area on the first floor has 3 tables and seating for 8.
Roasted Camembert cheese—one of Anne’s all time favorites!
Anne with her special beer
Anne’s wonderful grilled to perfection steak with bernaise sauce
My grilled scallops and linguine
Hank’s chocolate ice cream desert
Anne’s ice cream desert
The wonderful limoncello dessert is finished off by this giant liquor bottle—really cool!
The end result—quite tasty, I must say.
For me, the proper way to finish off a great meal—a Remy Martin Brandy and coffee.
Pieter Pourbus
This restaurant is named after the painter Pieter Pourbus, a Flemish primitive painter who lived in Brugge in the 16th century. He was well known in Brugge as a Flemish Renaissance painter. His two main types of painting were religious and portrait paintings. He also was an engineer, a draftsman and a cartographer (he produced many very accurate topographical maps of Brugge).
Another small place with seating for 50, the interior is what you would expect from a historic house built in 1561 that Pourbus lived in. The owners, Johan and Sofia, are wonderful people and very friendly.
The restaurant is open for dinner only Monday to Thursday from 1800 to 2130,; closed on Wednesdays and open 1800 to 2200 on Friday and Saturday. On Sundays, they are open from 1200 to 1400 and then in the evening from 1800 to 2130. We highly recommend reservations.
The restaurant is located on Pieter Pourbusstraat 1 and their telephone number is +32 50 34 11 45.
We think these pictures will help you feel the great vibe of this place—the atmosphere and the really good, consistently quality food bring us back again and again—these 18 pictures should make it clear how good a meal you can have here.
Outside of Pieter Pourbus
One of the 2 fireplaces in this old building with its’ wonderful exposed beam roof.
A portrait of Pieter Pourbus
They have a special 59 Euro meal. Here is our 2021 meal:
Scallops in an awesome sauce
Prawn appetizer
Grilled steak
Apple desert with ice cream
Sorbet
Here is what our 59 Euro Meal was like in 2022:
Our meal started with a glass of cava (Spanish sparking wine)
Anne had pate for an appitizer
Anne had the grilled prawns—the orange sauce on the right is a wonderful picante sauce that really enhances the taste of the prawns.
My grilled rib-eye steak with green pepper sauce.
Anne’s Lemon sherbert
Sometimes we have just ordered of the menu. Here are a few dishes we have enjoyed:
Dinner portion of the Prawns
Pork stew in a rich Belgium gravy—a really good dish!
Creme Brulee desert
Poules Moules
The best mussels in town are at Poules Moules. The name should tell you what they specialize in—Chicken and Mussels.
We have probably eaten here 3-4 times and it is consistently good and a great value.
They are open for both lunch and dinner and unless you want to stand in line for 40 minutes or more for lunch, make reservations. Like many Brugge restaurants, they have set hours for lunch (1200 to 1400) and dinner (1800 to 2130), and are not open all day long.
They are located in Simon Stevinplein 9 and their telephone number is 003250346119.
The mussels are excellent and I have always enjoyed their chicken dishes. They really do live up to their special dishes and we hope you will enjoy this place as much as we do—hopefully we have capture their good food in these 9 pictures.
The outside of Poules Moules
Their logo on the door. As you can see, it is closed as this picture was taken around 1500.
During the summer, this outdoor eating area is packed with hungry visitors eating excellent food.
We were photo bombed in 2021 by this friendly, hustling waiter.
Mussels are prepared 5 different ways. Anne’s dish was prepared with white wine. The other choices are natural, in Bruges beer, with pernod and with fresh basil.
Chicken stew
Our inside meal in October 2022:
Another great chicken stew dish, full of large chunks of chicken.
There is no doubt Anne will order the mussels.
My apple tart desert cake.
The Lobster Pot
We were told prior to our visit the Lobster Pot, it had the best, freshest lobster and seafood in Brugge. Our advisors were correct! We also got instant confirmation during our visit when we saw the owners of Pieter Porbus already eating the special seafood tower.
This is a modern decor restaurant that use IPads to order from instead of the traditional printed menus, but trust me, it is among some of the best lobster I have ever eaten in my 73 years—in fact, we celebrated my 73 birthday here and were glad we did.
They are open from 1730 to 2200 daily from Tuesday thru Sunday, and on Sunday they open from 1200 to 1430.
It is located on Sint-Salvatorskerkhof 14 and the telephone number is +32 50 66 03 59.
The seafood is as fresh as possible and the food portions are large—we are sure you will like it, if you love seafood. These 8 pictures should back up our opinions.
The outside of the Lobster Pot. The roof line is called a Dutch roof and the curved top is clearly visible.
They use IPads as menus—you can even click on the item to see a picture—how cool is that!
Anne’s oysters on the half shell
My prawns appetizer
Anne with her bib on ready for her lobster dish.
We couldn’t resist taking a photo of this giant crab attacking Anne—looks kinda like a horror picture but we were safe. Other large crustaceans decorate the walls.
My lobster Thermidor—it was awesome!
Anne’s lobster
A Special Lunch Treat—Terrastje
In our opinion, there is no better place than Terrastje for a hidden gem, with owners Ian and Patricia who are very laid back and serve good drinks and tapas type finger food.
It is very small, sometimes not open, but it is so cute, locals just accept it might be open or not. We always like this laidback vibe and look forward to our times here,
Here is their story in 12 pictures
Anne on the outdoor patio enjoying a drink
One of the owners, Patricia, serving drinks to their patrons.on the outdoor patio.
The inside part of this cozy spot.
Even a light rain couldn’t stop us from having a drink under the canopy.
Ian and Patricia behind the bar—two really fun people and owners who will make you feel welcome.
When we say they are laid back, just reading their opening hours statement says it all—just stop in when you see it open bur don’t expect set hours.
The outside wall decorations
The food is only tapas type snacks. Here is a large menu of their offerings on the wall.
The next two pictures are of little bear, our traveling companion. Sometimes he is shy but when he comes out and shares a table with us, you know it is a great place!
Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. They go great with the tomato soup usually available.
Meat ball tapas
Our Final Thoughts
Food and good drinks have always been very important to us during our travels.
Brugge can be confusing with so many choices to eat and hopefully these recommendations will help you understand why we like these places.
We hope you will one or more and find our recommendations accurate and tasty.
We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts. We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe. We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you. We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.
When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip. You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience. And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process. We think we have all these qualities.
Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!
ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry. Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA. Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations. She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors. An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.
HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 50 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:
AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent
