Originally Posted by
Ghentleman
Jan Van den Bon and Horseele are rather classic, what you expect from a 1-2 *
Publiek is much more accessible and eccentric. 20% of tables can be reserved by phone on the day only, could be a good option if you can't get a table somewhere else.
There are some good restaurants that do not have a *: I recommend Volta and Vrijmoed.
3* Hof Van Cleve is 30 minutes drive, different league (also price wise...), one of the best in the world.
I've booked OAK for lunch and Publiek for dinner. I'm a bit tempted by Hof Van Cleve, though. The best restaurant I've been to anywhere, IMO, is a Belgian 3-star (Hertog Jan) outside of Bruges - so a bit partial. At the same time, we have literally 1 day in town (the airline routing to get to Australia lent itself to going via Europe instead of West Coast US), so need to weigh the exhaustion factor as well.