After we got our reservations mixed up at OAK (we apparently had dropped a spot on the waitlist and…read morenot for a reservation), the folks there suggested their sister restaurant Door 73, which was just a few minutes down the street, a little closer to the center of Ghent. After meandering around a little, we decided to go ahead with it. You find yourself swathed in a curtain when stepping inside (at least during the winter), but once you pass that, you find yourself at a quaint little bar in the front, with the main dining room a little further back. The ambiance itself is very casual and relaxed; you can see the kitchen from the dining room, and with low ceilings and an open, undivided space, it really does feel as homey as the neighborhood the restaurant is in. The servers who took our orders were helpful, although they did accidentally bring us a dish we did not order (but they did comp it even though we failed to realize it in our jetlagged state - very kind of them). The drink menu isn't huge here, but I enjoyed the house cocktail - a gin and yuzu-based concoction, if I recall - so much that I got it twice. The elderberry that was mixed in gave it a wonderful floral nose, and the flavors were perfectly balanced between the liquor and the mixers.
The food here is also pretty good, and for lunch, I found that what we settled on originally (oysters, an appetizer, and a main to share) would have been a perfect size. The oysters, from Normandy, were on the better end of what I'm used to having here - not too briny and with a bright flavor, helped by a tinge of lemon squeezed over it. The gnocchi was probably the least distinct bite, although by no means was it bad...being pumpkin-based, it certainly was seasonally appropriate. I will say our mistakenly comped appetizer - beetroot served with crumbled feta - was absolutely delicious, though. The bright pink/red beets have that perfect balance of starchy sweetness that works very well with the crumbly fattiness from the cheese - very tasty (albeit it more filling than we bargained for). We then finished up with the steak main cooked medium-rare. The steak looks more rare than it lets on when you initially see it in the mini cast-iron skillet it is served on, but the flavors are delicious, and the texture is just right. My only quibble with the dish is that while the outer edge of the steak was perfectly crisped and full of flavor, the inside was usually ringed with fat...I would have expected the steak to have been dressed such that we wouldn't have to be slicing off small pieces of it to avoid the chewy bits.
From my understanding, Door 73 is a relatively new spot, but we really enjoyed our meal here, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it for a casual bite. Lunch ran a bit longer than I had hoped - a bit longer than 1.5 hours - but just keep in mind that time can move at a slower pace in European restaurants :)
