A delicious lunch at Uilenspiegel, Ghent

A delicious lunch at Uilenspiegel, Ghent

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When in a new city it can be hard to decide where to go for a nice sit down meal, especially as a family. If you’re considering visiting Ghent though, Uilenspiegel should be at the top of your list!

Where is Uilenspiegel?

You will find Uilenspiegel right in the centre of Ghent, close to the shopping area and other cafes and restaurants. We walked from the Castle of the Counts, with a stop off to Graffiti Street on the way, and it took us around 15-20 minutes.

Korte Kruisstraat 3
9000 Gent
Belgium

Uilenspiegel website

info@uilenspiegel.gent

+32 9 233 89 09

What kind of food do they serve?

At Uilenspiegel, you’ll find a mix of Belgian classics, salads, pasta dishes, steaks and desserts. There is a real range on the menu with a few options for vegetarians.

Is it family-friendly?

Uilenspiegel is absolutely family-friendly! Although maybe what we would call quite an upmarket restaurant, it was quite laid back inside and the staff were extremely friendly. As soon as we got sat down, Erin was given colouring and pencils to keep her busy and she was really happy with that.

Uilenspiegel also has a children’s menu. I’d say it’s definitely not what you’d see on an English children’s menu however, there are plenty of options. I’m sure most children would be able to find something they would like.

A fabulous 3-course family meal

I have to say, it took me and John ages to decide what we wanted to eat. Although the menu isn’t huge, there is plenty to choose from and we didn’t really know where to start. We had to ask for the server to come back a couple of times before we were ready but we were also never rushed to order quickly.

Starters

Regarding the starters, I panicked a bit when I ordered. We didn’t really know what we wanted so I just had a quick glance and picked three things I thought we would all like. Erin is fairly fussy so picking a couple of cheese-related starters was a good call because I knew she would at least try them.

Fried meatballs and mozzarella

In the end, we went with:

  • cheese croquettes
  • crunchy deep-fried meatballs
  • fried mozzarella balls

These were really good choices for us as a family as it meant we could all share. We all had our favourites too, with Erin liking the fried mozzarella balls the most, and John preferring the crunchy deep-fried meatballs.

Cheese croquettes at Uilenspiegel, Ghent

Main courses

For our main courses, John went for salmon risotto while I chose steak with herb butter. John’s risotto was such a good size with a huge chunk of salmon on the top. This was exactly what he wanted and there was not one bit left when he had finished. In fact, John said it was the best meal we had the whole time we were in Belgium.

Salmon risotto

The size of the steaks here are crazy… they’re huge and such good value for money at around €24-€27. There are plenty of different sauces or butter to choose from to go with the steak and mine also came with a side salad. I like my steak well done, as in not much pink at all, and I did have to send it back to be cooked a little more. However, this wasn’t an issue at all and when it came back, it was cooked perfectly for me.

Steak with herb butter

Erin had chicken fingers with apple sauce, which also came with fries. Although she didn’t actually touch the apple sauce, she was really happy with the chicken fingers and fries. High praise here too because Erin really liked the look of my steak, which she decided to try… and loved!

Children's chicken fingers with apple sauce

Dessert

As I’m sure you can imagine, by this point we were getting pretty full. Erin had a simple ice cream for her dessert while John and I shared an apple strudel. I couldn’t leave without trying one and I’m so glad that I did. Although I couldn’t have managed it on my own, this was the perfect size for me and John to share.

Apple strudel

Final thoughts

We could not have asked for a better meal for our day in Ghent. The food was delicious and the service was fantastic. Apart from my steak needing to be cooked a bit more there’s nothing really that I can find fault with. Our meal did take quite some time at just under 2 hours but some of that was due to us taking ages to decide on what we wanted initially. There was no rush for us to leave and Erin was also kept busy the whole time with her colouring. For a family meal in Ghent, I highly recommend Uilenspiegel!

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