Restaurant Bouillon crowned Brussels’ new shrimp croquette champion

Brussels boasts a new shrimp croquette champion after Bouillon was named the winner of the coveted 2024 award at the annual Eat Festival.

The city-centre establishment won first prize, followed by Brasserie Ommegang and Lola in second and third place respectively.

Bouillon in Rue des Dominicains is a Parisian-style restaurant serving traditional French cuisine alongside Belgian favourites. They include its speciality shrimp croquettes, slightly smaller than the average serving and priced at €13.30 for two. The recipe for the winning dish is courtesy of chef Alexandre Masson (pictured below left).

To select the best croquettes for the award’s fifth edition, a blind tasting was headed by Michelin star Comme Chez Soi chef Lionel Rigolet, an array of culinary journalists and previous winners of the prize from the past two years, Les Brasserie Georges and Fernand Obb deli.

The jury, along with members of the public, awarded points according to several criteria such as 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 shrimp croquettes.

Bouillon can now proudly proclaim the title of "Best shrimp croquette in Brussels" for the next 12 months. The competition is organised by visit.brussels to promote the region and country’s gourmet heritage.

Shrimp croquettes are 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.

Photos: ©visit.brussels - Hyacinthe Arthurs