Dinner With Art in Ostend, Belgium
Special Menus at Auteuil, Beluga, Chez Nous, Fort Napoleon & More
Until 22 March 2009, 12 gourmet restaurants in the Belgian city of Ostend offer diners the opportunity to collect 12 different charger plates designed by as many artists
Toerisme Oostende, the tourist board for the seaside city of Ostend in the Flanders region of Belgium has launched the third Dinner with Art (Met Kunst aan Tafel in Dutch).
Dinner with Art is a year-long promotion run in collaboration with some of its finest restaurants, allowing diners to collect a series of 12 exclusive charger plates designed by as many international artists.
A Cultural and Culinary Delight: Fine Art Meets Fine Dining
Each of the participating restaurants offers a specific 4-course menu entitling customers to the Met Kunst aan Tafel charger plate offer. Some will choose one particular design to build up a set of 6 or 8 plates, others may wish to collect as many different designs as possible. After all, plates from the two previous runs of the Dinner with Art promotion are already much sought-after collector's items.
The four-course menus are priced between 80 and 98 euros including an aperitif, two starters, a main course, dessert and coffee. Drinks are charged extra, or you may choose a higher priced menu inclusive of wine.
The Dinner with Art promotion was launched on 21 March 2008 in the presence of a number of the participating artists and lasts until 22 March 2009, so restaurant goers have a year to build up their unique collection of chargers.
Accommodation + Dinner Packages
Special Dinner with Art packages including hotel stay and dinner at the restaurant of your choice can also be booked online at the Met Kunst aan Tafel website.
What Is a Charger Plate, By the Way?
Also known as chop plates, service plates or underplates, charger plates are decorative pieces of tableware. These large, flat plates are used to set the table nicely for special meals. Food is never actually served on charger plates.
PARTICIPATING OSTEND RESTAURANTS, THEIR CHEFS & FEATURED ARTISTS
1. Auteuil Restaurant
- Chefs: Caroline Lauwaert with Isabelle
- Specialty: monthly changing gastronomic menus
- Plate design: "Quatre Nanas" by Niki de Saint Phalle
2. Beluga Restaurant
- Chef: Hassen Jaidane
- Specialties: Combination of fried Landes foie gras with caramelised Cox apple on French toast dressed and flavoured with mountain orange sauce
- Plate design: "Christo and Jeanne-Claude Surrounded Islands, Miami, Florida 1980-83" by Wolfgang Volz
3. Chez Nous Restaurant
- Chef: Herald Callewaert
- Specialties: fish dishes, fish fondue, lobster
- Plate design: "Image of tea kettles" by Arman
4. Fort Napoleon Restaurant
- Chef: Rudi De Coster
- Speciality: fish dishes
- Plate design: "Wintertime" by Reinhoud D'Haese
5. Gloria Restaurant
- Chef: Philippe De Wilde
- Specialty: fish and lobster dishes
- Plate design: "Images" by Jacques Villeglé
6. Le Grillon Restaurant
- Chefs: Jean Delanghe, René Sanders and Chris Pinchet
- Specialties: Oostende shrimps, lobster, fresh thornback ray, turbot and eels
- Plate design: "Le jour et la nuit" by Jean-Michel Folon
7. Marina Restaurant
- Chef: Domenico Acquaro
- Specialties: sea bream in salt crust, beef carpaccio with truffles and sea bream fillet with truffles and risotto and the unrivalled Marsala sabayon.
- Plate design: "Coeur" by Rotraut
8. Ostend Queen Restaurant
- Chef: David Vandenabeele
- Specialty: fish dishes
- Plate design: "La gitane magicienne" by Robert Combas
9. Perigord Restaurant
- Chef: Philip Vanbelle
- Specialty: fish dishes
- Plate design: "Bla bla du jour" by Delphine Boël
10. Petit Nice Restaurant
- Chef: Jacques Ghaye
- Specialty: fish dishes
- Plate design: "Smoke kind but" by Georges Moquay
11. Savarin Restaurant
- Chefs: Hendrik Vanhee and Vanoost Abia
- Specialty: fish dishes
- Plate design: "Oostende. Self-portrait, 2007" by Kimiko Yoshida
12. Villa Maritza Restaurant
- Chef: Bart Dhont
- Specialty: fish dishes
- Plate design: "I was dreaming of the past" by David Spiller
