As a food lover, you’ll want to experience this at least once: the Shrimp Croquette Festival in Ostend
Does this dreary winter weather make you want to get away, or at least start fantasizing about fun things to do? Really, it’s always a good time to think about taking a little trip, and it doesn’t have to be far away at all. How about Ostend, the largest seaside resort on the Belgian coast? It’s especially worth visiting when the Shrimp Croquette Festival takes place there.
Because two whole days of freshly fried shrimp croquettes and Belgian beers wherever you look—that’s something you want, right?! Off to Ostend, then, and you still have plenty of time to prepare.
Shrimp Croquette Festival
Last October, the second edition of the Shrimp Croquette Festival took place in Ostend, and it was a great success. More than four thousand people attended, and they certainly did their best: together, they devoured more than thirty thousand (!) shrimp croquettes. Two winning restaurants were selected in two competitions—one by a professional jury and one by the public—whose shrimp croquettes were judged to be even better and tastier.
Award-winning croquettes
At the end of the sold-out festival, these two restaurants took home the winning honors: Brassi Grand Café won first prize from the professional jury, while Restaurant North won the public vote. After blind-tasting Brassi’s croquette, one of the professional jury members said: “The flavor of the filling, the crust, … The chef’s recipe really comes through here, and that’s how they all distinguish themselves from one another.” This was the complete top three in both categories:
Professional jury
- Brassi Grand Café
- Le Bassin
- Café Botteltje
Public vote
- Restaurant North
- Eetkaffee Poseidon
- Toope
Make a full day of it when you go, because there’s plenty to see and do in Ostend. The artist James Ensor was born there, and his house, now a museum, is open to visitors. You can also go shopping, get some fresh air on the beach, and, of course, leisurely enjoy the many excellent Belgian beers ‘at a café.’ Go on, Ostend really is highly recommended—and even more so with shrimp croquettes to enjoy.
And would you like to make authentic Ostend shrimp croquettes yourself sometime? Do it! You can get started with this YouTube tutorial:
Read also:
- This is where you want to go: the ultimate shrimp croquette festival
- Bizarre practices: female shrimp are mutilated to make them lay more eggs
- There’s a real shrimp explosion happening in Zeeland (but for some, it’s too late)
