Restaurant in Lochristi, Belgium
Serious Flemish cooking, no three-star ordeal.
D'Oude Pastorie holds a Michelin Plate for 2024 and 2025 and scores 4.8 from 368 Google reviews, making it one of the more reliable choices in the Antwerp-Ghent corridor at the €€€ tier. It offers serious modern cuisine at a price point below Belgium's starred restaurants, with easier bookings than most of its peers. A strong option for food-focused travellers who want quality without the full weight of a €€€€ reservation.
Getting a table at D'Oude Pastorie is not the ordeal it might be at Belgium's most decorated addresses, and that relative accessibility is part of its appeal. This is a €€€ modern cuisine restaurant in Lochristi that has held a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025, carries a Google rating of 4.8 across 368 reviews, and sits at a price point meaningfully below the €€€€ tier where most of its Flemish competitors operate. If you are looking for serious cooking in the Antwerp–Ghent corridor without committing to the full financial and logistical weight of a starred restaurant, D'Oude Pastorie is worth your attention.
The Michelin Plate is not a star, but it is a deliberate signal: inspectors recognise the kitchen as producing food of genuine quality, just not yet at the level that earns the Guide's highest distinctions. For many diners, that distinction is academic. What the Plate tells you practically is that the cooking here clears a bar of consistency and craft that most restaurants in any city never reach. Paired with a near-perfect public rating drawn from a large sample of diners, the picture that emerges is of a restaurant that delivers reliably, rather than one that peaks brilliantly on a good night and disappoints on a bad one.
For food enthusiasts visiting from outside the immediate area, the lunch versus dinner question matters. Belgium's better modern cuisine restaurants frequently offer a weekday lunch that represents their most compelling value proposition: the same kitchen, the same sourcing, often a condensed menu at a price point that makes the experience accessible without the full evening commitment. D'Oude Pastorie's position at €€€ rather than €€€€ already positions it as the more approachable option in its competitive set, but if a lunch service is available, it would represent the sharpest entry point into the kitchen's output.
Without confirmed hours in our database, we cannot verify specific lunch availability or service days. Check directly before booking, particularly if you are travelling from Antwerp or Ghent and want to build an itinerary around a midday sitting. What is consistent with restaurants at this level in Flanders is that lunch bookings tend to be easier to secure than weekend dinner slots, and the room will typically be quieter, which suits anyone who wants to focus on the food rather than the atmosphere.
For dinner, the €€€ positioning means you are spending less than you would at Vrijmoed in Gent or Boury in Roeselare, both of which operate at €€€€ and carry Michelin stars. If the question is purely value, D'Oude Pastorie makes a strong case for dinner, particularly for diners who want modern Flemish cooking without the pricing pressure of the starred tier.
The name D'Oude Pastorie translates from Dutch as "the old rectory" or "the old parish house," which signals the kind of historic Flemish building that characterises many of Belgium's most serious provincial restaurants. The address in Lochristi places it in the Flemish Ardennes region between Antwerp and Ghent, a stretch of Belgium with a genuinely strong dining culture that draws less international attention than Brussels but competes credibly with it. For context, the broader region has produced restaurants like Hof van Cleve and Zilte in Antwerp, both operating at the leading of Belgian fine dining. D'Oude Pastorie is not in that company yet, but the Michelin recognition places it in a credible supporting tier.
A former rectory setting in this part of Flanders typically means thick walls, high ceilings, and the kind of architectural weight that a purpose-built restaurant cannot replicate. The kitchen aromas in a room like this tend to carry differently than in a modern dining room, a detail worth noting for anyone who finds that the anticipation of a meal matters as much as the meal itself. That said, we have not visited and will not describe specifics we cannot verify.
For more dining options in the area, see our full Lochristi restaurants guide, including OX'E (Classic French) and Restaurant Melt for alternative choices at different price points and styles.
D'Oude Pastorie works well for food-focused travellers who want to eat seriously in Flanders without anchoring their entire trip around a single starred reservation. It suits couples or small groups who care about quality but find the €€€€ tier impractical for a weeknight or a casual visit. It is also a reasonable choice for anyone travelling between Antwerp and Ghent who wants a restaurant that will hold its own against the better addresses in either city at a lower cost of entry.
It is less suited to diners who specifically want the full tasting menu theatre of Belgium's starred tier, or those for whom the Michelin star itself is part of the experience. For that profile, Vrijmoed or Boury are the clearer choices, with the understanding that you will pay more and book further in advance.
If D'Oude Pastorie is your anchor, consider pairing your visit with exploration of the broader region. Zilte in Antwerp is the reference point for starred fine dining in the city. Willem Hiele in Oudenburg offers a distinctive creative approach for those willing to travel further. For the full picture of what to do around your meal, see our Lochristi hotels guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide. For broader Belgian modern cuisine context, Bozar Restaurant in Brussels and d'Eugénie à Emilie in Baudour are worth considering as part of a longer itinerary. If you want international reference points for this style of cooking, Frantzén in Stockholm and Maison Lameloise in Chagny represent what the format looks like at its most developed.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D'Oude Pastorie | Modern Cuisine | Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| Boury | Modern Frlemish, Creative French | Michelin 3 Star | Unknown | — |
| Comme chez Soi | French - Belgian, Classic Cuisine | Michelin 1 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Vrijmoed | Modern Flemish, Creative | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| La Durée | French-Belgian, Creative | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Cuchara | Modern European, Creative | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Arrive knowing it holds a Michelin Plate for 2024 and 2025 — recognition that signals consistent kitchen quality without the booking pressure of a starred address. The price range sits at €€€, so expect serious cooking at a price point below Belgium's top-starred rooms. The setting, implied by the name (an old Flemish rectory), tends toward formal historic interiors, so dress accordingly rather than arriving casually. It's a better entry point to Flemish modern cuisine than attempting Zilte or Boury without context.
Bar seating details are not confirmed in available venue data for D'Oude Pastorie. Given the historic rectory format and €€€ positioning, the room is more likely structured around table service than a casual bar counter. check the venue's official channels before assuming walk-in bar access is an option.
Specific menu items are not documented here, and publishing invented dish names would be doing you a disservice. What the Michelin Plate recognition does confirm is that the kitchen's output meets a credible editorial standard across its modern cuisine format. Check the venue's current menu directly before visiting, as Belgian modern cuisine restaurants at this level typically rotate dishes seasonally.
At €€€ pricing with consecutive Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025, the tasting menu format offers genuine value relative to Belgium's starred rooms, which charge considerably more for a comparable number of courses. If you want structured modern cuisine in Flanders without committing to the spend of a Boury or Comme chez Soi dinner, D'Oude Pastorie is a practical choice. Skip it only if you prefer à la carte flexibility over a set progression.
At €€€, D'Oude Pastorie sits in the mid-to-upper range for Belgian dining but below the top-starred tier. Two consecutive Michelin Plates confirm the kitchen earns its position at that price point. For context, a comparable spend at a lesser-recognised address in the region would likely deliver less precision. If modern cuisine in a Flemish setting is what you're after, the value case is straightforward.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
