Ribs 'N Beer

Sometimes, that's all you want in a meal. No need for extensive wine lists or square plates with delicate smears of jus, just a hearty rack of tender ribs, washed down with cool blonde beer. On our second night in Bruges, Manbacon and I headed to Ribs 'n Beer in search of some of the good stuff.

The restaurant was fairly empty when we arrived, with only a party of three middle-aged couples, and two other giggly girls occupying the other tables. We decided to go for the all-you-can-eat ribs and a glass each of Maes beer. Our waiter kindly gave us a plate of savoury starfish shapes to kick things off. Manbacon was excited by the prospect of 'all-you-can-eat', boasting that he would have at least four refills, and possibly even have the kitchen begging him to leave by the end of the night.

Tin for bones.

I went for the beer and chocolate sauce, over tender, falling apart slowcooked ribs, so soft that it all fell off the bone with hardly any persuasion from my fork. I still dream about the sauce sometimes - a slight hint of darkness from the chocolate, tempered by some sweetness from the beer. 

House sauce - Beer and chocolate

Manbacon went for the Chef's Special Rub, which was served with barbecued ribs. Although tasty, it didn't leave much of an impression on me, unlike the awesome beer and chocolate sauce. The barbecued ribs were juicy, but tougher than the succulent slowcooked ones.

Chef's Special Rub

The tin provided for bones soon filled up. I was ready to give up by the end of my first rack, but Manbacon wanted more. MORE! More came in the form of slowcooked ribs smothered in spicy barbecue sauce - another winner. The meat was just as tender as mine had been, with a memorably spicy dressing garnished with teeny-tiny little dried chillies. Despite his earlier boasts, this was the one the defeated my Manbacon. Only one half rack refill, and he was more than ready to throw the towel in. 

Spicy Barbecue Sauce

We didn't even have dessert.

According to our cute waiter, the most any customer had ever eaten at Ribs 'n Beer were four full racks of ribs - that's six portions of refills, readers! We'd need a lot more training to achieve anything near that record.

Ribs 'n Beer
Ezelstraat 50
Brugge 8000
Belgium