Where to Go for an Event Dinner in Bruges? Bistro Bruut

One of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations, the gorgeous, compact, medieval city of Bruges, or, better, Brugge, isn’t short on fine dining options: 10 places hold Michelin stars, while one boasts two.

But if you’re looking for something spectacular, surprising, but not too formal, I can’t speak highly enough of Bistro Bruut. This intimate little place, owned by chef Bruno Timperman, offers just 20 covers and a “surprise” menu which changes every few days—or more often if things are good in market. It’s thoroughly Flemish, utterly modern—and exactly how you’d want a Flemish restaurant to be.

The concept here is local, ultra-fresh, seasonal ingredients, served up in modernist presentations that aren’t shy of the international. When we visited in January, about the only time of year that you won’t have to book far in advance, that meant North Sea seafood in a fish taco, or a delicate flower of bluefin sashimi topped with roe and yoghurt, or beetroot repurposed as a three-ways dessert.

Dinner, which I recommend, is a choice between five- or six-course menus, each with amuse-bouches and petits-fours, plus optional wine pairings. The excellent sommelier-cum-maitre d’ helps you navigate the booze menu, which runs from intriguing options such as smoked fruit beers through a range of natural wines to more classically Belgian choices.

Bistro Bruut
Meestraat 9
8000 Brugge
Tel: +32 50 69 55 09