Typically Belgian Cuisine: Mussels with fries and Flemish Beef Stew

So where to eat in Brugge?



For our late lunch-early dinner in Brugge (Bruges), Bru and I found this super cute and charming restaurant near the Dijver canal—‘Bistro Restaurant ‘t Lammetje’





I’ve been hankering for something typically Belgian, and in particular typically Flemish while Bru was ready to settle for something more mainstream which she did. It was actually her who found this cute restaurant. While I was busy taking pictures of the Dijver canal, she inspected the nearby inner square and came back to me enthusiastically announcing that she has found a restaurant where I can order Flemish stew.



My order: ‘Vlaamse Stoofkarbonaden’ (Flemish Beef Stew) + Leffe brown beer:





Her order: ‘Mosselen met friets’ in wine (Mussels with fries):





This was a really tasty and gorgeous late lunch-early dinner. 4.2 stars out of 5.



The beef stew was delightful and the meat almost melted on my tongue when I chewed on it. I do not mind eating meat when it is this good! While the mussels have huge meat in them and the spices and flavour were exactly how we wanted it to be. We shared our lunch together but I think I ended up eating more for my share of mussels. So greedy but I was quite hungry from the cold and for only having eaten a single hollow croissant the whole day. It was almost 5PM when we had this!



Trivia: Did you know that when you eat mussels in France and Belgium there is a very high probability that the mussels came from the Netherlands? Precisely in Zeeland, the heart of mussel farming in the country.



And it looks like the kitchen is upstairs, perhaps in the attic, because we saw this traditional pulley lift system that brings the food down and the used dishes up.





The restaurant has two food servers, one spoke Dutch who’d rather speak with me and the other who spoke French who’d rather speak with Bru. Bru has always something with waiters, they always seem to flirt with her especially when she starts speaking French, haha. Like when we were having lunch at the Royal Turenne Bistro in Le Marais, Parislast year.



Nevertheless, I think it’s about time that Bru works on her Dutch, however, living and working in Amsterdam is not helping at all.



FACT: Many expats-foreigners can survive without having to learn Dutch in Amsterdam for years, and even for the rest of their lives if they elect to stay here forever. I know individuals who’s been living in the city for 10-15 years and they only have these in their vocabulary: ‘ja-nee-goede morgen/middag/avond-dank je wel- alsjeblieft-gezellig!’



This changes though if you decide to live outside Amsterdam, because the pressure to speak the local language will get to you in time.