Beef shin braised slow in dark Belgian abbey ale with onions and a hit of mustard and vinegar, until the sauce turns glossy and the meat falls apart. Served with frites, the everyday Flemish plate.

Flemish beef stew traces to medieval Flanders, where dark abbey ale was used to braise tough cuts low and slow. The mustard-spread bread laid on top to thicken and sharpen the sauce is the signature trick. Known as stoofvlees in Flanders and carbonnade flamande in francophone Belgium, it became the standard brown-cafe plate, served with frites cooked in beef fat. In Bruges it fills the menus of beer brasseries like Cambrinus and budget rooms like Gran Kaffee De Passage.

3 editor picks for Vlaamse stoofvlees in Bruges, ranked by editorial score. All Bruges signature dishes · Vlaamse stoofvlees across every city.

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