Restaurant in Gent, Belgium
One Michelin star, tight windows, book early.
Oak holds one Michelin star and ranks #345 in OAD's Classical Europe list for 2025, operating Tuesday to Friday only from a renovated building on Burgstraat in central Ghent. Chef Marcello Ballardin's cooking is precise and vegetable-forward, with original flavour combinations. Book four to six weeks ahead at minimum — this is one of Ghent's hardest tables to secure.
The common assumption about Oak is that it operates like a standard fine-dining destination — open most of the week, with a broad window to book. That assumption will cost you a table. Oak runs Tuesday through Friday only, with tight sittings at lunch (12–1:30 pm) and dinner (7–8 pm), and it is closed Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The operating window is narrow, and with a Michelin star and a Google rating of 4.8 across 616 reviews, demand consistently outpaces availability. Book at least four to six weeks out for dinner; lunch slots open slightly more often but still fill fast.
The temporal anchor here matters: Oak has relocated into a renovated building on Burgstraat 16, right in the centre of Ghent. This is not a cosmetic refresh. The move brought the restaurant into a space that reads as a visual statement before the food arrives — a renovated building whose architecture signals intent. For a special occasion booking, the room sets the right tone without leaning on theatrical excess. The setting is central enough to work as an anchor for a broader evening in Ghent, and the address on Burgstraat places it within easy reach of the historic core.
Chef Marcello Ballardin's approach is built around product clarity and vegetable-forward combinations that are genuinely original without being performative. The Michelin inspector's notes reference an oyster served with kale and citrus vinaigrette, a nem filled with raw carrot, courgette, and bok choy alongside plaice, and parsnip paired with tapioca pearls and young duck. These are not descriptions of a chef chasing trends , they reflect a cook who thinks in flavour logic rather than visual novelty. That is worth knowing before you book, because Oak is not the right table if you want a classically structured French tasting menu. It is the right table if ingredient-led precision with unexpected combinations is what you are after.
This is the practical question most diners do not ask until it is too late. At €€€€ pricing, the default assumption is that dinner is the main event. But at Oak, lunch deserves serious consideration as an alternative , particularly for first-timers. The kitchen runs the same chef-driven menu across both sittings, which means the quality argument for dinner over lunch is weaker here than at venues where the evening menu is materially different. What dinner offers is atmosphere: the room at 7 pm in a Ghent winter carries more occasion weight than a weekday lunch. If you are booking for a birthday, anniversary, or a significant business dinner, the evening sitting is the right call for that reason alone.
For value-conscious diners or those who want to experience the cooking without the full occasion pressure, the lunch sitting is a legitimate entry point. Lunch slots at Michelin-starred restaurants in Belgium at this price tier tend to come with a condensed menu that often represents the leading price-to-quality ratio in the building. Given that Opinionated About Dining has ranked Oak at #345 in Europe for 2025 (Classical category) and #418 in the Leading Restaurants in Europe list, you are accessing a kitchen with genuine continental standing , the sitting you choose does not change that calculation.
One logistical note: the 12–1:30 pm lunch window and the 7–8 pm dinner window are both short. These are not leisurely three-hour sittings. Plan accordingly, particularly if you are combining Oak with other plans in Ghent. If you want more time at the table, communicate that when booking.
At €€€€, Oak sits at the leading of Ghent's restaurant price tier alongside Vrijmoed. The justification is clearer here than at many restaurants operating at this price point: one Michelin star, two Opinionated About Dining rankings in 2025 (including an improvement from #439 in 2024 to #345 in the Classical Europe category), and a 4.8 Google score from over 600 reviews. That combination of institutional recognition and consistent diner satisfaction is harder to dismiss than a single accolade. Against comparable Belgian restaurants , Boury in Roeselare, Zilte in Antwerp, or Hof van Cleve in Kruishoutem , Oak holds its ground on flavour ambition, if not on service volume or cellar depth.
For a special occasion in Ghent specifically, there is no stronger case to be made for a single restaurant at this price tier. Vrijmoed is the closest comparable in the city, but Oak's recent trajectory on OAD rankings suggests momentum that makes the investment feel timely.
Ghent punches above its weight for serious dining in Belgium. Beyond Oak, the city has Vrijmoed, Souvenir, Publiek, Bar Bask, and a food affair for a range of price points and styles. For a full picture of what to eat, drink, and do in the city, see our full Gent restaurants guide, our Gent bars guide, our Gent hotels guide, our Gent wineries guide, and our Gent experiences guide. If you are travelling through Belgium and building a wider itinerary, Bozar Restaurant in Brussels and Willem Hiele in Oudenburg are worth considering at a similar quality tier. For Modern European cooking at comparable ambition in other European cities, Aulis London and La Rei Natura by Michelangelo Mammoliti in Serralunga d'Alba offer useful reference points.
The venue data does not confirm a bar or counter-dining option at Oak Gent. Given the Michelin-starred, €€€€ format at Burgstraat 16, the experience is structured around set sittings — lunch at 12–1:30 pm and dinner at 7–8 pm, Tuesday through Friday. Contact Oak directly to confirm seating configurations before assuming walk-in or bar access.
At €€€€ with a Michelin star and back-to-back rankings in Opinionated About Dining's Europe lists for 2024 and 2025, Oak has the credentials to justify the price. Chef Marcello Ballard's vegetable-forward approach and flavour precision are what distinguish it at this tier — this is not a standard luxury-by-numbers kitchen. If you are comparing against Vrijmoed, the two are close in price; Oak edges it on technical recognition.
Oak is closed Saturday, Sunday, and Monday — the operating window is Tuesday to Friday only, with two narrow sittings per day. It has relocated to a renovated building at Burgstraat 16, right in the centre of Ghent, which is the current trading address. Budget €€€€ and expect a structured, chef-led format rather than a flexible à la carte evening.
Book at least three to four weeks out, particularly for Friday dinner. The Tuesday-to-Friday schedule and tight sitting windows — one lunch, one dinner per day — mean available slots deplete quickly. Lunch on a Tuesday or Wednesday will be easier to secure than a Friday dinner if you have flexibility.
Yes, with the right expectations. The Michelin star, the renovated Burgstraat setting, and Ballard's precise, produce-led cooking give it the weight a milestone meal needs. It is better suited to two people or a small group than a large party, given the format and sitting structure. If dinner availability is tight, the lunch sitting at €€€€ still delivers the full kitchen at work.
Vrijmoed is the closest comparable in price and seriousness. Souvenir is a strong option for a more casual format at a lower price point. Publiek and Bar Bask offer more accessible entry into Ghent's quality dining scene if €€€€ is a stretch. Le Baan Thaï covers a different cuisine category entirely and is not a direct substitute.
Based on the available record, Ballard's approach — combining vegetables with premium proteins like oyster, plaice, and duck in original ways — is exactly what a tasting format is built to showcase. The Michelin star and consecutive Opinionated About Dining Europe rankings support the kitchen's consistency. At €€€€, a tasting menu here is the format to choose; if you want à la carte flexibility, Oak is probably not your venue.
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