6 Best Restaurants in Bruges, Bruges and the Coast

This fine bistro-style restaurant is a glorious celebration of the simpler things in life---the stars of the show are the less starry meats on offer: the rabbit stew and pigeon fillets justify their slightly inflated prices owing to the quality of the cooking, backed up by a decent wine menu. Space is at a premium, with most tables downstairs in the cozy bunker of a basement (lined with various pigeon knickknacks) and a terrace during summer.

In a plum spot along the route from the Markt to the Burg, this no-frills restaurant is well known among locals---the plain furnishings leave the focus on the fresh seafood for which the establishment is famed. Although eel and steak are available, the restaurant’s biggest draw is mussels—there’s nothing more basically, and deliciously, Belgian than a huge crock heaped high with shiny, blue-black shells.

A Bruges institution for more than three decades, this cross-vaulted, medieval crypt has evolved over the years from a lively tavern with loud music at night, into a more genteel restaurant that provides a quiet spot for conversation over a meal and a glass of wine. The menu covers steaks, and Belgian classics such as vispannetje (fish stew), mussels, or rabbit, all at very reasonable prices.

A 15-minute walk from the Markt, this informal Belgian café-restaurant attracts a roaring crowd—a legacy of being just a few doors up from one of the city's busier hostels. The menu changes regularly, although the food inevitably veers toward the comfort variety, with some excellent stews (like its simple but winning pot-au-feu) regularly cropping up. In a city where restaurants don't need to try that hard to find business and aren't afraid to charge for the privilege, Lion Belge is inexpensive, consistent, and friendly.

Attached to Hotel Heritage, the elegant dining room at Le Mystique dates from 1869, and its high ceilings, chandeliers, and linen tablecloths create a refined atmosphere, perfect for quiet conversation. Here, chef Raoul de Koning creates a blend of modern French/Flemish cuisine using the freshest seasonal and local ingredients, served in fixed-price menus of three or four courses.

This stylish, redbrick bar and restaurant lies above the old Cinema Liberty in a Gothic-style building that dates from 1482—all wooden beams, iron latticework, and stained glass. The fare is bistro-style comfort food at its finest: Flemish stews, bloody steaks, and the odd exotic meat (kangaroo). This is the full package–the food, great choice of wines, and live jazz and blues combine to make this one of the better nights out in the city.