Les Brasseries Georges wins best shrimp croquette in Brussels award

Brussels boasts a new shrimp croquette champion after Les Brasseries Georges was named the winner of the coveted 2022 award.

The Uccle establishment and its chef Yves Ducobu lifted the trophy after beating off stiff competition from some of the capital’s best eateries. Todt’s Café and Chez Léon completed the top three.

Les Brasseries Georges may now use the title of ‘best shrimp croquette in Brussels’ for the entire year.

In a blind tasting at the two-Michelin star Comme Chez Soi (pictured avove), the jury was led by the restaurant’s chef Lionel Rigolet, an array of culinary journalists and the previous winner from the past two years, Cédric Mosbeux of Fernand Obb deli in Saint-Gilles.

Together, they awarded points according to several criteria, including crispiness, taste, balance of flavours and the quality of the shrimps.

To take part in the competition, participants had to own a restaurant, canteen, bar or food truck in the Brussels-Capital Region and serve home-made artisan shrimp croquettes.

It was the third edition of the competition, organised by visit.brussels, aimed at promoting the country’s gourmet heritage.

Shrimp croquettes are a traditional Belgian speciality, savoury deep-fried morsels filled with bechamel sauce and salty brown shrimps. They are usually served with deep-fried parsley sprigs and a generous squeeze of lemon juice.

The dish was apparently created during World War One to feed soldiers in the trenches. Shrimps were abundantly available from the nearby North Sea coast and the croquette was one way of preserving them. It wasn’t until the 1950s that they become popular across the country and are now an integral part of Belgium’s world-famous gastronomy.