EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

Ghent is as fine a place to eat as any other Belgian city: its numerous cafés and restaurants offer the very best of Flemish and French cuisines, with a sprinkling of Italian, Chinese and Arab places. The more deluxe restaurants are concentrated in and around the Patershol, while less expensive spots, including a rash of fast food joints, cluster the Korenmarkt. Options include the central Auberge de Fonteyne , Gouden Leeuwplein 7, a large café/restaurant with kitsch Art Nouveau decor serving Flemish food at very reasonable prices; Café Leffe , Botermarkt 11, a straightforward, inexpensive café offering snacks and filling meals of good quality until late every night; and the Brooderie , Jan Breydelstraat 8, a café with a healthfood slant near the castle and open till 6pm. Ghent has great bars too: try the dark and mysterious De Tap en de Tepel ("Tap and Nipple") on Gewad 7, with its vast and expensive wine list; or the packed Tolhuisje Tavern on Graslei 11. Het Waterhuis , near the castle at Groentenmarkt 9, serves over one hundred sorts of beer in pleasant surroundings.