Vol-au-vent is a signature dish of Belgium; we have verified places to eat it in Antwerp and Brussels. Puff-pastry case filled with creamy stew of chicken, mushroom and veal meatballs in a sherry-spiked velouté, served with frites.
Vol-au-vent · Antwerp
Puff-pastry case filled with creamy stew of chicken, mushroom and veal meatballs in a sherry-spiked velouté, served with frites. The Sunday-lunch staple of Belgian brown cafes, served at brasseries year-round in Antwerp.
The vol-au-vent (literally 'windblown') was popularised by Antonin Carême in early 19th-century Paris but adopted across Belgian brasseries. The Antwerp version uses chicken, mushrooms and meatballs in a sherry-spiked velouté inside a tall puff-pastry shell. Brown cafes from Elfde Gebod to Den Engel serve it on Sunday lunch; brasseries like Mampoko and Bistrot Benoit run it year-round.
Where to eat in Antwerp:
- Bistrot Benoit
- Mampoko
- Den Engel
Where to eat Vol-au-vent in Antwerp: the editor picks
Vol-au-vent · Brussels
A puff-pastry case filled with chicken, mushrooms and small meatballs in a creamy sauce, served with fries or mashed potato. A common main dish in Belgium.
A vol-au-vent is a hollow case of puff pastry with a filling. The pastry is sometimes credited to Marie-Antoine Careme, though a recipe for petits gateaux vole au vent appears in a 1739 cookbook. In Belgium it is a common main dish on the menus of most restaurants, nearly always filled with chicken, mushrooms and small meatballs and served with fries or mashed potatoes. Aux Armes de Bruxelles serves a free-range chicken vol-au-vent, Au Vieux Saint Martin calls its version the house specialty, and Chez Leon and Les Brigittines list one too.
Where to eat in Brussels:
- Aux Armes de Bruxelles
- Au Vieux Saint Martin
- Chez Leon
- Les Brigittines
Where to eat Vol-au-vent in Brussels: the editor picks
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