Belgo Holborn

Great spot in Holborn - arrive and first guy pretty average with his serve after we said we had no booking then a lovely lady said no problems let me check and gave us a table for 1.5 hours food was great had the meatball with mash can cabbage interesting but nice... great service in the end

For veg not much of space but the food available is good. Cocktails and beer you can enjoy to fullest. One time experience but if you are for few days in London can try other places.

I do love it when surprise packages arrive in the mail (especially when it contains food!), and was recently sent one of the first Discovery Club Boxes from BoroughBox. . In case you haven't heard of them, BoroughBox is a company that connects foodies with the best producers of food and drink from around the country - delivering great tasting, delicious, artisanal goodies straight to your door.

as i rushed in and did a round of greetings while yanking all my clothes off and trying to make conversation over the incredibly louuuuud background music (though it was q.o.t.s.a so we can over look that for now), i was handed both a glass of bruges' finest 'zot' blonde ale as well as a fruli mojito made with a base of - you guessed it, strawberry fruli beer. genius!

a bucket of belgian beers was sitting on the table with cold drinks for each of us, as well as a pile of pretty pink temporary tattoos emblazoned with the branding of the beer of the night - the red delirium. this was already my kind of restaurant! if there was a toss up for my favourite beer, it would definitely have to be the fruli - i just cannot diss a strawberry beer! in saying that though, the red delirium was also a fruity brew, albeit cherry, which is just one flavour i cannot get on board with. the pink elephant branding? yes, on board.

now the food. let me start by saying that i've been to brussels and bruges before, and can safely say i've eaten like a local. when i say that, i mean i've eaten my weight in mussels and fries and waffles and chocolate, and washed it all down with cheap beer. right? right. so when i saw that the menu included moules and frites, i wasn't too fussed. i've never had really great mussels in the uk, and figured this would be no different. 

but then i was presented with with the starter dishes: páté served with beer jelly and crostinis (and tiny pickles!), shelled garlic prawns, and deliciously golden cheesy croquettes. i could have happily gone home at that point; croquettes are my everything. like, seriously i have never met a deep fried ball of cheese and mashed potato that i haven't liked. instantly, with these delicious morsels in front of me, i knew the mussels were going to blow my mind.

they came out served two ways. one way was normal: garlic, celery and white wine sauce, but the ~other way was bloody amazing: green chilli, ginger, garlic and lemongrass, finished with coriander. yep, totally asian-i-fied, and fricken delicious. i basically ate the entire plate of these shelled suckers all by myself, and even had to insist that the server bring us more of those wonderfully double-cooked frites to help me mop up all the sauce. a plate of moules will only set you back a mere £13, and knowing what i know about this dish, 100% would go back and order that again.

after that, i was excited for the rest of the dishes. from the main menu we sampled tender beef strips served rare and with a crunchy stick of beautifully-seasoned asparagus (my first ever!), as well as a tasty serving of lobster in beschamel sauce. probably the highlight here was the asparagus, which i had never in my life eaten before, but also: my god! i'd forgotten how great red meat tastes when it's cooked right. there was so far ~nothing i did not totally and wholeheartedly enjoy about our meals.

and then there were waffles; and chocolate-flavoured shots; and a yard glass of beer. we had been there no longer than two hours, max, and we literally had not stopped eating, drinking, and, well, singing along to the incredibly (and somewhat annoyingly) loud music. the pictures above are some of my favourites, as i didn't really take any good ones of the food. but, when the shots came out, the utter joy written all over the girls' faces is undeniable. it's almost as great as the one of me eating and totally enjoying my first ever asparagus. i mean, that night... was a night worthy of a whole post, no?

mum asked me at the weekend to start compiling restaurants she'd like, belgo was firmly in the forefront of my mind - so long as they sort out the decibels in there, because it was hard to have a meal and a chat, but would i go now back based purely on the sampling of dishes we had that night?

Belgo has a really lively and sociable atmosphere! There is the comfy seating at the front of the restaurant and then this extends to the dining area. Although Belgo's speciality is mussels, we didn't fancy these for this evening meal! Instead, we had chi

I went to Belgo not knowing what exactly to expect but I was quickly blown away by this one of a kind Belgium restaurant. Belgo is quite simply, in my opinion, a great place for a nice dinner with a friend, date or the family, as long as the children are quite mature to appreciate the experience. I like the decor and the vibe of the restaurant. I do not really recommend the one in Holborn as it attracts a large crowd at the bar for the different beers served there, especially after work. The waiters and waitresses are very nice and help you throughout the process of ordering if need be. The food is not too expensive for the quality you are getting.

I recommend the mussels and chips. I think it ranks amongst the best in London quite simply because they import them from Belgium and with recipes from Belgium. I chose a beer from their extensive list of beers, a different one each time I have gone, to go with my food.

I think it is a really good restaurant and there is not much I would change. I will definitely be going back.

P.S. Their side orders are quite little. They would do right to change that.