Paling in 't Groen (Anguilles au Vert) is a signature dish of Belgium; we have verified places to eat it in Bruges. Eel fillets poached in a vivid green herb sauce: chervil, parsley, spinach, sorrel and watercress blended with white wine and butter into an emerald cream that coats the eel. Start with where to eat Paling in 't Groen (Anguilles au Vert) in Bruges.
Paling in 't Groen (Anguilles au Vert) · Bruges
Eel fillets poached in a vivid green herb sauce: chervil, parsley, spinach, sorrel and watercress blended with white wine and butter into an emerald cream that coats the eel.
Paling in 't Groen (called anguilles au vert in French-speaking Belgium) is a 19th-century Flemish freshwater dish from the Scheldt and the polders, where eel was once the dominant river catch. The dish was working-class summer cooking: chefs gathered wild herbs of early spring (sorrel, chervil, watercress, lemon balm), poached eel fillets in white wine, and blended the herbs into the cooking liquid to make a brilliant green sauce. Today most restaurants use farm-raised European eel. Bruges Michelin-starred kitchens like De Jonkman run refined versions; brasseries like Den Amand serve the canonical version.
Where to eat in Bruges:
- De Jonkman
- Sans Cravate
- Den Amand
- Bistro Refter
Where to eat Paling in 't Groen (Anguilles au Vert) in Bruges: the editor picks