I can't believe this entry is mentioned under "Bookshop" and not "Restaurant". And not even just…read moreany restaurant but an EXCELLENT restaurant.
Maybe its to keep this restaurant a hidden gem?
Hidden it is definitely, as one would never enter this place in order to find (excellent) food by the look of its windows, that is to say, the windows of a simple, modest and typical Belgian bookshop, selling newspapers, lottery tickets, but also cigars! Yes, and a very nice collection of cigars too. But maybe those cigars are intended to put you in this relaxed atmosphere where you can enjoy some very good whiskey, excellent French cuisine and cigars (outside then probably). In order to be able to get there, you need to first enter the bookshop. Once you're inside, struck by the neon lights of the bookshop, you suddenly are nicely surprised by the view at the end of the bookshop: a cozy, warm-feeling, small restaurant, decorated in the typical older French brasserie style, with a huge window showing you the chefs at work. You know you're about to experience something very special!
Have I already mentioned this restaurant is excellent? Right... It is a gem!
You sit down and can already feel the specialness in the table setting. Every piece has "De Maurice à Olivier" engraved. How many restaurants still go this far in the details?
Then, there is the service: all the attention you need without going over the top. Classy, but not pretentious. One big family to make you feel at home and show you their best French cuisine (ok, I won't mention the fact that the owner who sat at the bookshop counter kept on looking at us, which made me feel a little bit uncomfortable. So I tried not to look. I think she really checked us out, as we must have been the only new guests in her restaurant/bookshop. But in the end, we had a little chat and she's really nice, although physically, you might think it's better not to mess with her, :) ).
The food? Excellent! I could describe it with all the best adjectives that could exist in the restaurant world, but I'll keep it to the fact that knowing how to cook game meat and create original variants with it is a main quality qualifier. The dishes were definitely original, not yet experienced in any other restaurant and never had I eaten game meat so soft and tender that it would melt in your mouth.
Of course, my review is only based on their special game meat menu during the season. I will surely come back again and try their regular menu and see if the restaurant offers the same quality for all its dishes. But in the meantime, based on my first experience, it deserves a 5-star rating.
Anyways, the French expression rightly says: L'habit ne fait pas le moine. Who would have thought this: a restaurant in a bookshop?
And by the way: the fact that this is a restaurant that is open at restaurant hours makes it also very convenient if you need anything from the bookshop at (almost) any time! Way to go!
