Mardaga

Is Mardaga worth booking if you're in As?

Yes; with a clear-eyed understanding of what it is. Mardaga is a Michelin Plate-recognised modern cuisine restaurant in As, a small Flemish town in the Belgian province of Limburg. Two consecutive Michelin Plates (2024 and 2025) place it firmly in the guide's good-cooking category. At the €€€ price tier, it sits a bracket below the €€€€ spending required at Belgium's starred heavyweights, which makes it a practical choice for anyone who wants serious cooking without the full commitment of a tasting-menu blowout. If you're planning a meal in As or the broader Limburg area and want food that's above the bistro tier without reaching Michelin-starred prices, Mardaga is the answer.

The Restaurant

Mardaga is located at Stationsstraat 121 in As; a residential address in a town that doesn't announce itself as a dining destination. That works in your favour. The cuisine is listed as Modern Cuisine, which in the Belgian context typically means a kitchen grounded in French classical technique, updated with seasonal thinking and lighter presentation. This is the dominant language of serious Belgian restaurant cooking, Mardaga speaks it at a Michelin-recognised level.

The physical space at Mardaga matters to how you experience the meal. The address and the town's residential character suggest an intimate, room-scale setting rather than a grand dining hall. Belgian modern cuisine restaurants at this tier typically run compact dining rooms where the chef's counter or pass-through kitchen seating, if available, places you close to the action. That proximity changes the meal: you read the kitchen's rhythm, you understand the pacing, the food arrives with context rather than as a succession of plates. If Mardaga offers counter or kitchen-facing seating, request it. The editorial angle here is worth taking seriously: at smaller modern cuisine restaurants in Belgium, the difference between a table in the middle of the room and a seat at the chef's counter can be the difference between a good dinner and a memorable one. The spatial intimacy of a Michelin Plate restaurant at this scale often delivers something that larger starred rooms cannot, a sense that the kitchen is cooking for you specifically.

For the food-focused traveller making decisions across Belgium's Limburg region, Mardaga fills a specific gap. It operates at a price point and formality level that makes it approachable for a solo diner or a couple who want considered cooking without the ceremony of a full tasting menu evening. Compare it to the €€€€ tier of Belgian fine dining, restaurants like Boury in Roeselare or Zilte in Antwerp, and Mardaga offers a lower-commitment entry point to serious Belgian modern cuisine. If the starred tier is where you want to end up, Mardaga is a sound warm-up act or a standalone option when the budget doesn't stretch to four courses with wine pairings at €€€€ prices.

Belgium's modern cuisine scene rewards the explorer who looks beyond Brussels and Ghent. Restaurants like Willem Hiele in Oudenburg and Ralf Berendsen in Neerharen demonstrate that serious cooking happens in towns that don't appear on tourist itineraries. Mardaga belongs to that same category: a kitchen producing food that has earned Michelin recognition two years running in a location that filters out casual visitors. That self-selecting audience, people who drove to As because they wanted to eat at Mardaga, tends to make for a focused, attentive dining room.

For broader context on what the Michelin Plate designation means at a Belgian restaurant: it signals that inspectors found the cooking good and worth acknowledging, one tier below a Bib Gourmand (which also factors in value) and two tiers below a star. It is not a consolation prize, many Plate restaurants outperform starred ones on any given night. Two consecutive Plates at Mardaga suggest a kitchen with consistent execution rather than a single strong year. That consistency, at the €€€ price tier, is the practical case for booking.

If you're building a Limburg or east-Belgian dining itinerary, Mardaga pairs logically with Cuchara in nearby Lommel, which operates in a similar creative register. For a broader Belgian modern cuisine trip, consider anchoring with Hof van Cleve in Kruishoutem or Vrijmoed in Gent at the starred tier, use Mardaga as the regional addition that doesn't require a special-occasion budget. You can also browse our full As restaurants guide for other options in the area, or check our As hotels guide if you're staying overnight to make the most of the region.

Practical Details

Reservations: Booking is rated Easy, call ahead or book online to confirm a table, but this is not a venue where you need to plan weeks in advance. Budget: €€€ per head, which positions Mardaga comfortably below the starred Belgian tier. Dress: Smart casual is the safe default at a Michelin Plate modern cuisine restaurant in Belgium; avoid overly casual attire. Address: Stationsstraat 121, 3665 As, Belgium. Awards: Michelin Plate 2024 and 2025.

Ratings & Recognition

• Michelin Plate, 2025
• Michelin Plate, 2024

How It Compares

See the comparison section below for how Mardaga stacks up against Belgium's wider modern cuisine field.

Explore More in As and Belgium

• Our full As restaurants guide
• Our full As hotels guide
• Our full As bars guide
• Our full As wineries guide
• Our full As experiences guide
• Bozar Restaurant in Brussels
• Le Chalet de la Forêt in Uccle
• d'Eugénie à Emilie in Baudour
• Maison Lameloise in Chagny
• Frantzén in Stockholm
• La Durée in Izegem

FAQ

What are alternatives to Mardaga in As?

• Mardaga is the most recognised modern cuisine option in As itself. For alternatives within a short drive, Cuchara in Lommel operates at the €€€€ tier with a creative modern European approach and is the closest peer in terms of ambition. For Michelin-starred cooking in the wider Belgian region, Vrijmoed in Gent and Boury in Roeselare are the two strongest options, both demand more budget and advance planning but deliver at the star level. If you want to stay closer to the Limburg area, Ralf Berendsen in Neerharen is worth considering. See our full As restaurants guide for the complete picture.

Can I eat at the bar at Mardaga?

• Given the restaurant's size and town setting, it is worth calling ahead to ask whether kitchen-facing or counter seats are available; at this tier of modern cuisine restaurant in Belgium, those seats often offer a materially different experience from a standard table. If counter dining is important to you, confirm before booking.

What should a first-timer know about Mardaga?

• Mardaga is a Michelin Plate modern cuisine restaurant in a small Flemish town, so you are making a deliberate trip to eat here, not stumbling in. At €€€ per head, it sits below the starred Belgian tier in price but not necessarily in ambition. Book ahead (booking is rated Easy so no long lead time required), arrive without a packed agenda, treat this as the focus of the evening rather than a stop on a busy itinerary.

What should I wear to Mardaga?

• At a Michelin Plate restaurant in Belgium at the €€€ price tier, smart casual is the practical default: neat trousers, a collared shirt or equivalent for men; a smart dress, blouse, or equivalent for women. You will not be turned away for wearing jeans, but the room is unlikely to be casual enough that you'd feel comfortable in sportswear.

Is the tasting menu worth it at Mardaga?

• If a tasting menu is offered, two consecutive Michelin Plates signal that the kitchen executes at a consistent standard worth the format. At the €€€ price tier, a tasting menu here would represent good value relative to the €€€€ starred alternatives in Belgium. Confirm the menu format when booking.

Is Mardaga worth the price?

• If you compare it to starred restaurants like Vrijmoed or Boury, both €€€€, you are paying less for cooking that has earned Michelin recognition two years running. The value case is solid for a food-focused traveller who doesn't want to commit to a full €€€€ evening but wants more than a competent bistro meal.