Day 2 in Oostende and it started with some bureaucratic stupidity. Having got up earlier than necessary in order to get to Mu.Zee I was not best pleased to find that there was a queue out the door, mostly because Storm Fruitbat (or whatever the hell dumbass name they’d given this one) was still blowing its cheeks and I was significantly damp on arrival. In fact there wasn’t one queue but two. One was for ticket holders, the other for ticket lackers. I joined the second. So I wasn’t best pleased again when I got to the front of the queue to be told that there weren’t any tickets available till 11.45.

‘But couldn’t you have told us that while we were queueing up?’

A look of puzzlement.

‘You know, because we were queuing in the rain.’

Blank. Okay, let’s try and get the golden ticket anyway.

‘So can I get a ticket for 11.45?’

‘No, you have to go online to do that.’

‘But I’m here now. Can’t I just buy one now?’

‘No, you have to buy it online.’

Since I was on holiday I didn’t want to go all Larry David on it and retired from the fray. Fortunately I had Arno in my ears to console me. He seems like a man ready to take disappointment and turn it into a bleak piece of synth pop. And I think he was probably not unfamiliar with rain.

So by the time I’d tramped around Oostende for an hour or two I was both hungry and calm. Having a snifter of Maes and a warm up in the Pelican didn’t do any harm either.

First impressions at Villa Ostinato were most promising. A beautifully appointed series of small dining rooms in an old townhouse on the more chic side of town, the atmosphere put me in mind of the equally classy, calm and welcoming De Belhamel in Amsterdam.

Apéritifs were ordered and we perused the menu. Or at least we let the owner explain it since it was in Vlaams and I’m not good at that. (And neither are Mike or Tariq.) There were only good things on there. I went for the mushroom toast with a slip of smoked eel on top (for a supplement) followed by hare. The mushroom toast arrived after a delicious (and almost starter-sized) amuse bouche pastry with deer pâté. They were both delicious. By this time we were on a Belgian red that was slipping down very very well indeed.

The room filled up with a selection of locals, all of whom seemed very much out for a genial time. They were in the right place. The hare was a new one for me. One half of meaty dark beastmeat with some sautéed entrails alongside, this was almost certainly the best thing I’ve eaten this year. Did we need a fuller bodied red for that? Yes, we did and a Super Tuscan arrived tout de suite.

Mike entertained us with speculating on what a gentleman might choose to do with the lead pellet that he’d extracted from his side of hare, much to the incredulity and disgust of Tariq, who appears to have led a more sheltered life than I’d hitherto thought. We relaxed into the conversation and took dessert – smooth sabayon for me, with a digestif of Glenkinchie. I recounted the tale of my incredulity that a server in Tomo hadn’t known what Grappa was (the description, ‘it looks like vodka and tastes like petrol’ apparently wasn’t helpful) and discussion then ranged far and wide till it was nearly time for me to head to the museum (you see, I’d relented and got a ticket after all). Had we been indiscreet we wondered. Or indeed rude? It was possible, it was that kind of lunch. But we all agreed that we’d been very quiet so it didn’t really matter. Which notion was dispelled when as we donned our coats the owner said to us, ‘Oh, and by the way, I do know what grappa is.’ Heeeeek. Well, she didn’t seem over-concerned by our stupid old codger banter.

I made it to Mu.Zee at 5 only to be told that it shut at 5.30. I mean what? Oh well. There were two masterpieces – a portrait of Eugène Boll by Vinny van G and Interior by Anna Boch, a new artist to me and one whose work I’d very much like to see again. After that it was a snooze and a girding of loins for the casino. Oostende is great.

9.5/10

To see where else I’ve been click on the google map below.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=18qCyiPZih_gzhGG8mwfacnNRWD3b0bo&ehbc=2E312F

Belgium Food Restaurants London Oostende restaurants