De Vlaamsche Pot — Restaurant in Bruges

[🔝👍Save yourself 25% as a tourist and local alike: alternatives for restaurants to be found at the bottom of my review😉]

Sigh... There are so many places like this where tourists are being swindled 🤦‍♂️

In a side street of Noordzandstraat where rents are not as high as on Markt (main square) and they dare to ask for a lager (33cl) €5, just like the other substandard beers on tap. This is clearly a: "- Just a pint of lager. - That'll be €5 then"-trick before the menu/drink menu can be viewed. 😱 Just like at Malpertuus, but at least over there the other beers (and the food) are well priced for a bistro.

Stoverij €29.50... Wondering if anywhere in Bruges is more expensive than this...? 🤑💰

Once brought a group there for lunch as a tour guide some time ago, but I was denied - before I had to move on to my next group - from ordering a beer separately from my group and paying for it myself (in cash). 😵‍💫

It looks so cute from the outside, but this has become a tourist trap over the years.

✅ September 2023 recommendations for restaurants serving typical Flemish dishes like beef stew, usually costing 21-23 euros and saving you 25%, and not just on the food: Cambrinus (the fact that their menu is still made with Comic Sans MS as their typeface proves they care more about beer and beef stew than emptying your wallet and spending it on a graphic designer) Huisbrouwerij De Halve Maan (beef stew made with the beer brewed there) ' Bagientje, where locals take their husband, wife or the occasion paramour. Besides Flemish cuisine their grill is amazing. 't Nieuw Walnutje (located at the quaint little square in front of the...

Would not recommend.

Two stars for a combination of service and food.

Keep in mind every person on the table has to order a main dish all of which start at 28€+.

There is no option to order fries, they rather bring some to a small plate based on the ordered dish. Some dishes have them, some others don't.

The fries, even though you could count them in 2 hands, were good.

We ordered and waited for 1 hour and 25 minutes for the food to arrive and when it did, they informed us that one of the dishes was not available anymore and with what we would like to replace it.

Of course we declined as we couldn't wait that long again.

We also believe they knew they where out of it but didn't inform us earlier so that we wouldn't cancel the whole order.

As you can understand one person did not have a dish to eat.

As for the food, fries were good, the beef stew was good.

A dish with endives wrapped in ham and cheese was for some parts, inedible due to how bitter the endives were, some other parts were edible.

The meatballs with cherries was a dish with 3 blunt meatballs drenched in cherries and a liquid which reminded a cherry compote right out of a can.

Not sure if that's how it's supposed to be, but I wouldn't call it nice. There was also a piece of the pit in one of the cherries.

A shrimp dish with "crashed potatoes" was another disappointment, "crashed potatoes" being just a potato puree topped with small shrimp. The shrimp was cold (as they do eat them this way I have to admit) but it was not pairing well with the hot potatoes. This alone was 40€.

The stairs to go to the upper floor...

The weather was perfect for outdoor seating at De Vlaamsche Pot as long as you have a light jacket on to take care of the wind chill that comes at this time of the year in August. This place was highly recommended by the hotel we stayed in and by the looks of the packed tables, a lot of people thought the same . A great idea to call ahead and make a reservation. The place fills up fast and dinner could go on for hours because the atmosphere is nice and invariably a group of traveling minstrels will come to entertain the restaurant and have their CD's to sell. The portion sizes here are huge and they are not easy to finish . The seafood in white wine and the Carbonnade Flamande came with a massive side of fries and we honestly struggled to finish it. The dark Belgian beer sits well with the rich stew. The only reason DeVlaamsche Pot did not get a five star was because their Carbonnade Flamande had too much sugar in it. The waiter said it was because of the sweetness of the onions. It was sad he said that but he didn't know much . The restaurant itself is quaint and warm but very busy. They sell souvenir's inside such as their own recipe book and beer mugs if I am not mistaken. The place is expensive. No denying that. The service was brusque to begin with the young man seating us in the corner table by the door outside. The street opposite has apartments inhabited by bachelor's as they had a merry party with significant amounts of alcohol fuelled singing to add to the cheer and...