Restaurant in As, Belgium
Michelin-recognised dining in an unlikely Flemish town.
Mardaga holds two consecutive Michelin Plates (2024–2025) and a 4.4 Google score from 380 reviews — solid credentials for a modern cuisine restaurant in As, Belgium. At the €€€ price tier, it sits a bracket below the starred Belgian tier, making it the practical choice for serious cooking without a special-occasion budget. Booking is straightforward; call ahead and confirm seating preferences.
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) confirm it meets the guide's threshold for good cooking at a meaningful standard. A Google rating of 4.4 across 380 reviews adds weight to that signal: this is not a one-time fluke. 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.
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. Restaurants in out-of-the-way Belgian towns that accumulate 380 reviews and a 4.4 Google score tend to have regulars who return because the cooking earns the trip, not because the location is convenient. 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, and 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, and 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, and 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.
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: No formal dress code is confirmed in our data, but at a Michelin Plate modern cuisine restaurant in Belgium, smart casual is the safe default , avoid overly casual attire. Address: Stationsstraat 121, 3665 As, Belgium. Awards: Michelin Plate 2024 and 2025.
See the comparison section below for how Mardaga stacks up against Belgium's wider modern cuisine field.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mardaga | Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | €€€ | — |
| Boury | Michelin 3 Star | €€€€ | — |
| Comme chez Soi | Michelin 1 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Vrijmoed | Michelin 2 Star | €€€€ | — |
| La Durée | Michelin 2 Star | €€€€ | — |
| Cuchara | Michelin 2 Star | €€€€ | — |
A quick look at how Mardaga measures up.
As itself has a limited dining scene, so your realistic alternatives are in the wider Limburg province or further into Belgium. For Michelin-starred modern cuisine at a higher tier, Boury in Roeselare or Vrijmoed in Ghent are the comparisons worth making. Mardaga's Michelin Plate recognition at €€€ positions it as a serious option without requiring a city trip, which is its practical advantage.
Bar seating details are not confirmed in available venue data for Mardaga. Given its modern cuisine format and €€€ price range, this is a restaurant built around table dining rather than drop-in bar service. check the venue's official channels before assuming walk-in bar access is an option.
Mardaga is a Michelin Plate-recognised modern cuisine restaurant at Stationsstraat 121 in As — a small Flemish town that sees little tourist traffic, so the crowd skews local and unhurried. Booking is rated Easy, meaning you don't need weeks of lead time, but calling ahead is still the right move at this price range. Come expecting a structured meal rather than a casual drop-in experience.
No dress code is specified in the venue data, but a Michelin Plate restaurant at €€€ in Belgium typically expects neat, put-together clothing rather than formal attire. Overdressing is unlikely to be a problem; arriving in sportswear probably is. When in doubt, err toward smart-casual.
Specific menu format details are not confirmed in the venue data, so we can't verify whether a tasting menu is currently offered. At €€€ with Michelin Plate recognition across 2024 and 2025, the kitchen is demonstrably consistent. If a tasting format is available, the credentials support it; confirm the format when booking.
At €€€, Mardaga sits in mid-to-upper territory for Belgian dining, and its consecutive Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025 confirms the kitchen is operating at a standard that justifies the spend. It's not competing with Belgium's starred rooms, but for modern cuisine in a town like As, the value case is clear. If you're already in the area, this is the obvious choice; if you're travelling specifically for dinner, weigh it against Vrijmoed or Boury depending on how far you want to go.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
