JACOBIN — Restaurant in Bruges

Dinner at Jacobin in Bruges. A quiet intimate restaurant/bar with pleasant Scandi-style minimalist decor as well as discreet, mostly 70s background music, and maybe twenty covers. Some of the tables were a little small but not enough to be a problem. The menu was concise with around twelve mostly sharing dishes plus four desserts. The wine list was similarly short but seemed judiciously chosen. Understandably, both were entirely in Dutch but this wasn't a problem as a quick photo and Google Translate soon revealed what was on offer. We opted for gravad lax with a cucumber and watercress emulsion and a brioche, sashimi of bonito tuna with almond cream and olives, grilled white asparagus with leek and cheddar, and Korean fried chicken with gochujang and peanut hangop. For dessert we had a white lady (vanilla ice-cream with chantilly and chocolate sauce) and a burned basque cheesecake. The ingredients used were of high quality and the cooking was precise and well-presented. Service was professional and friendly but occasionally there was a little lag between dishes presumably because the chef was super-busy at the time we visited. It's clear that Jacobin thinks carefully about what it can offer with the resources available. It has well-judged menus that make very effective use of seasonal ingredients. Highly...

We wanted to get away from the touristy parts of town and find a good restaurant for lunch. Boy, were we lucky! We stumbled into this small chef-run restaurant here entirely by accident and found thoughtfully prepared, delicious food. Many of the ingredients where familiar and local--between us we had duck, pork cheeks, carrots, beets, brill fish ceviche--but the preparations were fresh and light and flavorful. It's not a traditional Belgian menu, but rather a disciplined set of variations with excellent technique. The set menu at lunch for 38 euros was a steal for three amazing courses. (The duck isn't on the set menu.) The chocolate cremeux with sour cherry sauce for dessert was spectacular. The kind waiter explained the options with warmth and humor, and the atmosphere is welcoming and entirely unfussy. This was our best meal in Belgium, and we're serious...

Delicious food and wine and the service staff were lovely. However the service was quite odd - it’s a small plates style restaurant but they brought each dish out individually, with often quite a long wait between dishes. So instead of it being a normal small plates range of dishes to try, it became almost as tasting menu! For example we ordered the beef and the potato, but the potato came and went before the...