CLICK ON THE MAIN PHOTO ABOVE TO VIEW CAPTIONS IN GALLERY FORMAT
Image 1: www.dekarmeliet.be Chef: Geert Van Hecke
Brugge Die Scone: €200 (7-course) Seasonal: €140 (5-course)
À la carte menu: 3-course for €85
Closed on Sunday and Monday; most of January and 2 weeks in July.
Image 2: Inside the traditional house is where we experienced a world class Flemish cuisine. We were provided with a set of impressive amuse bouche in their lounge with a beautiful garden as the backdrop.
Image 3: A wonderful display of amuse bouche consisted of baby tomato tart, hummus crowned with caviar, seared tuna with diced cucumber, and Parma ham with macadamia nuts.
Image 4: Shortly after enjoying our amuse bouche, they led us to our table. The dining area is segregated into a few rooms.
Image 5: We ordered the full tasting menu starting with a fabulous piece of perfectly timed lobster tail with coral cream resting on an interesting layer slushy tomato carpaccio. It was an extravagant and a refreshing start!
Image 6: Frog legs with a mix of crayfish and sweetbread covered in a wild mushroom foam. The delicate frog meat, the crunchy mushroom, the elasticity of crayfish and sweetbread -- marvellous texture and brilliant flavours!
Image 7: A Thai influenced dish - on the left was a coated and fried king prawn with an aromatic crispy coconut and curry crust; on the right was a silky sauteed foie gras on top of a turnip confit, separated by a line of lemongrass sauce in the middle.
Image 8: Pan fried sea bass in basil oil accompanied by diced vegetables and a cuttlefish mousse. Though the fish was average, the mousse was original with an obvious dried cuttlefish aroma!
Image 10: A colourful plate composed of a couple of sliced pigeon breast and a preserved pigeon leg glazed with spiced hot chocolate. The medium-rare breast was soft and mild contrasting with the meaty and flavourful preserved leg. The concentrated spice-flavoured bitter chocolate was a bit distracting.
Image 11:
A cup of raspberry sorbet before cheese and dessert.
Image 12: A rather ordinary dessert platter consisted of chocolate ice cream, fresh apricot, passion fruit mousse, and blackcurrant sorbet on egg custard.
Image 13:
And a piece of chocolate cake. Excellent dessert but nothing too exciting.
Image 14: A 2-tier petits-fours to end our dinner. The service was friendly; the dining room was lovely, the first half of the meal was superb, but the second half didn't quite keep up.
