Belgium 2012: food & drink in Ghent

by eandl | Dec 20, 2012 | Food & Drink, International Travel, Travel

Beer

Waterhuis aan de Bierkant – It was a bit chilly during our visit, so while Eric was wandering around taking photos, the rest of us pulled up a chair next to the heater and sampled a few beers. We enjoyed the common snack of meat and cheese cubes which always goes well with beer. I indulged in a Gulden Draak and we pre-ordered Eric one of the local draft beers, Klokke Roeland, an 11% strong ale to help warm him up a bit. There was a good mix of young and old here and the waitresses’ shirt was a favorite — strong belgian [fem]ale.

an impressive amount of glassware

t trolleke / trollekelder – While a little disappointing on the troll front, this place did give me my first lesson about the age and taste of Orval beer. I discovered that I tend to like the younger beer better. Considering the “aged” ones generally cost more, I’d say that’s a good lesson. Eric wound up with a Kasteel blonde and then headed out on the town again for picture taking while the rest of us watched Andrew and Mike give up a shoe for beer at the next pub.

Eric pouring my Orval

awesome sign for the ladies bathroom

Herbert De dulle Griet – Our final pub in Ghent, we had read that you are required to trade a shoe as ransom for the custom glass their house beer comes in. Available as a 1.2 liter blonde or dark ale, the waiter politely asks for one of your shoes and places them in a cage on the bar ceiling. Touristy? Of course. But then you get to take photos of your friends drinking with only one shoe.

Andrew and Mike’s footwear in shoe prison

I went sweet with a Delirium Rouge which tasted an awful lot like a Kasteel Rouge

Restaurants

Brasserie Keizershof – We didn’t really have solid plans for dinner, so I asked the bartender at the Trollekelder where he would go to eat. (This strategy has worked well for us in the past.) He suggested Keizershof just around the corner and while walking by we happened to run into the owner’s wife delivering food before they opened, so she took down our reservation. We started the meal with yet another plate of delicious salami, cheese and spicy yellow mustard and I got to try a local artisanal elderflower liqueur, Roomer, that was fantastic. With our meals, we ordered a Tongerlo blonde for Eric and a Charles Quint Ruby Red for me. Eric opted for the ‘stoverij’ (a kind of tender meat cooked for three hours in dark beer with a brown gravy) while I went the raw route with a plate of steak tartare.

snacks for the table – the Ghent spicy mustard was everywhere!