Having had a pretty full day walking the canals and streets of Bruges, we wanted to sit outside in the spring sunshine and chill with a drink. We were getting pretty desperate as places were either full or in the main tourist areas and therefore expensive. We’d just about given up and were contemplating buying drinks from the supermarket to take back to the hotel, when we walked a little further along Oude Burg and found a couple of tables outside “De Verbeelding”:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Restaurant-De-Verbeelding/202371746440444.
We didn’t look at the menu but ordered a glass of wine each (which came with nibbles) which then led to another. We expected a larger bill than the one presented (€15.90) which included a bottle of sparkling water and having checked out the menu, decided it was worth returning to for dinner.
That evening we discovered the restaurant was run by a nice young man called Tom who acts as front of house and waiter engaging with all his customers in a really friendly way as he can converse in numerous languages, whilst his mother Angela, is the chef. We were remembered and put in a well-positioned table in the window and was pleased to see, that unlike some places, the tables were well spaced.
Although there was a specials board we chose from the main menu whilst nibbling on crackers and what appeared to be home-baked brown bread: sirloin steak in a pepper sauce with salad and croquettes (the restaurant does not do frites and has a sign in the window to this effect) and lasagne. Both were very good. With a bottle of white, a coffee and two glasses of port, the bill came to €71.
We enjoyed ourselves so much we decided to spend our final night there but this time made a reservation to be confident of a table as the place appears popular with both locals and tourists. This time we settled on a shared hot and cold tapas selection and a bottle of house white. Both were good with a varied selection: cold – mozzarella balls, ham, sun blush tomatoes, olives, salami balls, cubed cheese and hot – calamari rings, cheese balls, spring rolls, prawns, white sausage. We treated ourselves to coffee with port and a Cointreau before paying our bill of €65.
We were so pleased that we’d walked a little further as this place was a real find and was so near to our hotel.
