2 Best Restaurants in Ypres, Bruges and the Coast

Lace curtains in the front windows---and an interior that looks unchanged in a century, but which was probably carefully crafted to look that way---set the tone in this traditional restaurant serving hearty portions of no-frills Belgian classics, prepared in a style of which Grandma would have approved. Even French fries and side salads have no place here: all mains are served with cooked vegetables and creamy mashed potato---if you're looking for cutting-edge nouvelle cuisine you may be disappointed, but if you want a homey feast you won't go hungry.

A L'Envers is French for "inverted," and the name reflects this modern restaurant's simple but effective concept: to present dishes with edgy new flavor combinations, and old-school traditional fare, all on the same menu. The house specialties include beef carpaccio, and scampi cooked half a dozen ways, the latter served both as a starter and as a main, but it is on the three-course "surprise" menu that the chef really lets his imagination run wild.