On our first night in Bruges we asked our hotel, the delightful Monsieur Ernest, where to go for dinner. It was a Monday night so not much was open, but thankfully a traditional Flemish restaurant was open. We headed out in the drizzly cold, along cobbled streets til we reached the cute, festive front door of CHAGALL.
Bread, patê and beer to start 
Chagall menu
As we browsed the menu of traditional Belgian (or Flemish, I never know if those words are interchangeable if the area of Belgium you’re in is Flemish too!) we were served some sort of meat patê and bread. By the end of our trip we realised that this was a traditional snack that every restaurant gives you! DS also ordered a Belgian beer to wash it all down.
Braised beef Flemish style -Beef with brown beer ‘Keizer Karel’ and onion (€18.90) 
Braised beef Flemish style -Beef with brown beer ‘Keizer Karel’ and onion (€18.90) 
Fries – a must! 
Speciality ‘Catch of the day’: Dover soles (3) with a salad, tartar and fries (€24.50)
While I’m not usually a fan of touristy sort of restaurants, CHAGALL managed to be a full of tourists yet somehow still authentic and traditional. It’s just far away enough from the main square not to be tacky, and the quality of the food was also way better than the usual tourist places. Having said that, and perhaps because it was a Monday night, no one dining there seemed to be from Belgium!
But let’s ignore that and just focus on the food. Of course we had to have traditional dishes. DS had the Braised beef Flemish style -Beef with brown beer ‘Keizer Karel’ and onion (€18.90) which is really the perfect dish for a cold winter’s day. It’s hearty and warming. It’s the kind of home-style dish that makes you feel really happy.
I had the Speciality ‘Catch of the day’: Dover soles (3) with a salad, tartar and fries (€24.50). I don’t think I’ve ever had Dover sole before but it’s a very light white fish that was delicately panfried and served with a simple butter and lemon sauce. It’s the type of dish where you can really tell if the produce is fresh – and it definitely was! Thank goodness the dish also came with fries, although I must say they weren’t as good as some street vendors we found.
All in all, it was great to try some traditional food on our first night in Belgium to really get us in the mood. I would recommend CHAGALL for just that – traditional fare, but don’t expect it to be overly high end!
