A speakeasy, a hotel-bar, a canal-side kitchen, a rooftop, and an Indian sharing-plate room — the bars in Ghent that take their kitchens as seriously as their bottles.
Drinks-first, then dinner: Jigger's for the cocktails. Drinks and a real kitchen on equal footing: Bar & Kitchen André on the Lys, or Yalo Rooftop for sharing plates with a view. View-and-tapas pre-dinner: The Cobbler. Indian sharing plates with a mixologist duo: Mission Masala.
If you only book one drinks-first night out in Ghent, this is the consensus pin. Bar bites in lieu of a kitchen — the food is the rotating chef collab, not a fixed menu. Don't come hungry; come thirsty and curious.
Bar food plus "real dishes" since André expanded the menu — a one-stop apero-into-dinner with a water view.
Chef Jasper Maatman: small sharing plates & "classics with a twist". The rooftop bar has a full kitchen and city views — design-hotel vibe without staying over.
Refined bites and fine tapas in a neo-Gothic former post office. Signature drinks (Dirty Secrets — Szechuan pepper, aged soy) and a view over the spires.
Indian-tapas sharing concept with an in-house mixologist duo. Cocktails are billed as an equal half of the concept — a group dinner where everyone wants something different and a proper drink.