Amazing lunch before the little one arrives-Oud Sluis

Last weekend we jumped in the car and headed south to Bruges for a little weekend get away before the arrival of Baby Z. We had read about this restaurant called Oud Sluis that was on the way and tried to get a dinner reservation for Friday. To our disappointment, they were fully booked until their closing at the end of December. As luck would have it, we received an email from them the following day to let us know that they had an opening for lunch on Friday if we wanted it. Yes, please!!

Taken directly from the website, "Oud Sluis is a family –run business of old. George Herrel, Sergio Herman’s granddad, was an artist and ran a café-bistrot on Beestenmarkt. Later, his daughter Ans and son-in-law Ronnie Herman took over Oud Sluis and turned it into one the most renowned mussel eateries in Zealand and Flanders. In 1991 Ronnie handed over the reins to his son Sergio Herman (1970), who for more than twenty years now has been at the top of the culinary game."

Oud Sluis has carried one or more Michelin stars since 1995 and 3 stars since 2006. After Friday's lunch, I can attest that this restaurant deserves every single one of those stars. Our reservation was at noon and we ran into some VERY heavy traffic/road works on the way there so ended up being about 20 minutes late. When we got there, Felipe dropped me off to check in while he found parking. I was originally flustered by our tardiness but the hostess put me at ease instantly. She gave me instructions to pass on to Felipe regarding where to park and then asked if we wanted to sit on the patio to enjoy a drink before lunch since the weather was so nice. That sounded perfect! We were seated at a little outdoor sofa and Felipe enjoyed a glass of champagne while I sipped on sparkling water. While seated outside, we were served the first of the amuse-bouches to "get us in the mood".

First tasty bite was basil, parmesan, fennel, olive, and anchovy. The flavors were clean and refreshing and I was excited to see what was next.

Sea winkle, celery, apple, yuzu, and toast of raisin bread. Such beautiful presentation that you almost don't want to bite in. I'm glad I did.

Sardines, crystal bread, romesco, sea lavender, and wild rucola

Squid and Crazy Mushroom

Fully in the mood now, we browsed the menu and selected the 6-course Pere et Fils for our lunch. At this point, we decided it was all or nothing and I love tasting menus because it means that someone else is making the decisions for me. Felipe also opted for the wine pairing and I stuck with water. One nice thing about this restaurant is that they did offer to make me a mocktail if I decided that I wanted something more. About halfway through the meal, I decided to take them up on the offer and the drink did not disappoint. It was like they had reached into my brain when selecting the perfect, not too sweet, Passionfruit mocktail.

The waiter was kind enough to advise against eating the garnish. There is a chili in there that I'm sure would of been quite spicy on its own!

So many tasty treats on the menu, how do we highlight our favorites? There wasn't one dish that left us disappointed. The flavors were distinct, textures varied but not bizarre, and presentation was beautiful. Below, a few of our favorites.

Who knew butter and seaweed together would be so delicious?! I may have to try and copy this at home to have in the morning with my toast!! or any time of the day for that matter...

                    

Gillardeau oyster, potato, north sea shrimps, meadowsweet and young leek

Summer roe 'back to it's roots', carrot, blueberry, hazelnut and jus of roe

The venison was the best venison I have ever tasted. Being a girl from Nebraska with a hunter as a father, I've had my fair share of venison. The sommelier was telling us that they open up a nearby state park for about a month for hunting. This helps with population control and gives the hunters a chance before the "wolves go to town". She told us that the accompanying flavors were taken from the diet of the venison. It was perfection. Next up we had the choice between assortment of cheese or desserts. Being the dessert lover that I am, and knowing that being pregnant would limit my selection of cheese, I opted for dessert while Felipe chose cheese. When the waiter came by our table with the cart, Felipe told him to choose the stinkiest, most flavorful cheeses that he wouldn't be able to get anywhere else.

 The amazing cheese cart. You could smell all of the goodness when he opened the door.

Stinky, runny, buttery, delicious cheese. I'm not going to lie, I did have a little bit of envy....until my desserts came out.

I have a very happy husband on my hands.

Next up, my dessert courses. I thought it was going to be 3 little tastings of dessert but it was 3 full courses of dessert heaven. It started with chocolate, cherries, rhubarb and basil. I tasted the first one before having a chance to get a photo of the presentation. 

Yum, yum, yum

This one was called Kiss of an Angel. It consisted of peach, white chocolate, and a botanical that is often used in the flavoring of gin. I cannot remember the name of it but this dish was light and airy and oh-so-delicious. 

The last dessert was raspberry, oat milk, and pistachio. This dessert was an explosion of raspberry flavor. I think there were about 5 different preparations of raspberry in this dish and it was fun to discover the different treats.

By now, any worries that we had at the beginning of this lunch about leaving hungry had been completely vanished. We were happy, satisfied, and Felipe had a nice afternoon buzz going on from the wine pairing. Needless to say, Sergio and his team had one last treat to end with. Sergio Herman partnered with artist Kamagurka to create the "Face in a box". It came with a little manual illustrated by Kamagurka that instructed you on how to eat the face...

Porcelain tongue: 'Tongue licking', deadly delicious combination of cheesecake, basil, olive oil, and caramel.

Porcelain ear: 'Lick once in my ear' and discover flavors of aloe vera, green apple, and green herbs. 

Porcelain teeth: "To eat or not to eat ', a cake teeth to bite on the basis of raspberries, lychee, rose, and citrus. 

Then we had the face in the Kama-Box to spoon, one eye consisted of almond, apricot, and ginger and the other eye was flavored with hazelnut and vanilla. For the mouth was strawberry, orange blossom and dragon fruit and for the nose was a truffle of milk chocolate, hazelnut, and yuzu. 

We were given a little take away box to take "as far away as possible" with one green tea and ginger truffle and a cappuccino flavored truffle. We enjoyed those Sunday night when we got home and they were outstanding!  So that was our lunch. It was lovely. Chef Sergio Herman came out to our table about half way through the meal to check up on us and was delightful. I love meeting super talented people that are passionate about what they do and also friendly! We left the restaurant over the moon. Sluis is a cute little town as well and we took a small walk before getting in the car to drive the remaining 15 kilometers to Bruges. It was my turn to drive so I needed to stretch my legs a bit after sitting for almost 5 hours. 

Quick shot of the kitchen. The team is hard at work preparing for dinner service.

Optimus is growing and I'm about ready to burst. He is still head up so unless something changes in the next couple of weeks, or 2, it looks like we are going to be parents on October 1st!!