De Oesterput might be the perfect restaurant at the Belgian coast. It’s located in Blankenberge which means it is not too fashionable. Not like Knokke, let’s say. And it is difficult to find, so it still has something of a local feel.
The restaurant lies hidden in the dunes to the west of Blankenberge in a building that looks like a fish shed. It was founded by Piet Devriendt in 1885 as a simple fish wholesale warehouse with an oyster bed filled with bubbling seawater. Hence the name. The Oyster Bed.
You sit inside at long tables next to a huge open tank where lobsters crawl around (flown across from Canada). It’s a friendly and lively place with long wooden tables where locals and tourists feast on huge plates of dripping wet seafood.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
