Beef or pork stewed in Belgian beer and mustard, the sauce sometimes thickened with bread, and served with frites, boiled potatoes, apple sauce or stoemp.

Flemish stew, called stoofvlees or stoverij in Dutch and carbonnade flamande in French, is a beef or pork stew made with beer and mustard, popular in Belgium, the Netherlands and French Flanders. In East and West Flanders dried prunes are often added, and the beers used include Oud Bruin, abbey brune and Flanders red. In Bruges Cambrinus cooks its carbonnade with its house beer Gambrivinus and serves it with apple sauce and fries, and 't Nieuw Walnutje and Gran Kaffee De Passage list a Vlaamse stoverij.

Where to eat Vlaamse stoofvlees in Bruges

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

  • Cambrinus

    Drink Twenty beers on tap, from velvety Trappist ales to fruity Lambics

    Cambrinus at Philipstockstraat 9 in Bruges is a beer cafe with a selection of twenty beers on tap, from Trappist ales to Lambics, and shareable snacks.

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  • 't Nieuw Walnutje

    Order The tapas, or the classic dishes with a modern twist.

    't Nieuw Walnutje at Walplein 3 in Bruges has been run since 2017 by Glenn and Lynn Vanden Broucke, serving tapas and classic dishes with a modern twist.

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  • Gran Kaffee De Passage

    Order The classic Flemish dishes cooked by chef Reinart Swertvaegher and his sons.

    Gran Kaffee De Passage at Dweersstraat 26 in Bruges serves classic Flemish dishes, some with an international touch, cooked by chef Reinart Swertvaegher.

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Make it at home

Serves 43 hrEasy

Ingredients

  • 1kg beef shin or chuck, in 4cm cubes
  • 3 onions, sliced
  • 33cl dark Belgian abbey ale
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 bay leaves, 2 sprigs thyme
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 slices bread spread thickly with mustard
  • Beef dripping or oil, salt, black pepper

Method

  1. Pat the beef dry, season well and brown in batches in the dripping. Set aside.
  2. Soften the onions in the same pot for 10 minutes.
  3. Stir in the flour and cook 2 minutes.
  4. Return the beef with the ale, vinegar, sugar, bay and thyme, and enough water to almost cover.
  5. Lay the mustard bread on top, crust up, to melt into the sauce.
  6. Cover and braise at 150C for 2.5 hours until the beef shreds with a fork.
  7. Stir the dissolved bread through, adjust salt, pepper and a splash more vinegar to balance.

Editor tip. Make it a day ahead; the sauce deepens overnight. Serve with double-fried frites cooked in beef fat.

Common allergens: Gluten.