Best Restaurants for Wine Lovers in Ghent
This list is the citywide set of 11 exceptional wine programs in our Ghent guide. Gillis in Ghent city centre pairs an extensive Italian wine selection with in-house dry-aged steaks and holds a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence for 2026. Wijnbar ONA in Binnenstad specializes in over 30 biological, biodynamic, and natural wines by the glass from small winegrowers.
Sommelier-led extensive lists accompany tasting menus at Vrijmoed in the historical center and Oak Gent in the historic center, and a tasting menu plus prix fixe at Karel De Stoute in Patershol. Rizoom in Patershol adds a sake program to an extensive wine list beside woodfire seafood. Per Bacco in Binnenstad is a traditional Italian trattoria with natural wine, a sommelier, and a dedicated wine shop. Chubby Cheeks in Elisabethbegijnhof - Prinsenhof - Papegaai - Sint-Michiels pairs weekly rotating sharing plates with natural wines.
How this list is chosen: Restaurants with a Wine Spectator Restaurant Award or a deep wine list, listed alphabetically. Updated October 8, 2026.
Arbane
Deep wine list
Arbane occupies a quiet address on Wijzemanstraat in Ghent's inner city, placing it among the smaller, neighbourhood-rooted dining options that have quietly expanded Ghent's restaurant scene beyond its canal-side showpieces.
Chubby Cheeks
Deep wine list
On Onderbergen, one of Ghent's most characterful streets, Chubby Cheeks occupies a position that places it squarely within the city's growing roster of serious independent restaurants. The name signals approachability, but the address tells a different story, this is a dining room that rewards closer attention, sitting within reach of Ghent's established fine-dining circuit and the quieter wave of ambitious neighbourhood tables that has reshaped the city's culinary identity over the past decade.
Debra
Deep wine list
That credential places it firmly within the city's wine-forward dining tier, where the list is as considered as the food on the plate.
Gillis
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
On Hoogstraat, a short walk from Ghent's medieval centre, Gillis operates at the sharper end of Belgium's contemporary meat-focused dining scene. Chef Bram Candries built his reputation around dry-aged beef and a sharing format that anchors the meal in Flemish tradition without retreating into nostalgia. A White Star from Star Wine List and a 2025 ranking in the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants confirm its position among Belgium's most seriously regarded tables.
Karel De Stoute
Deep wine list
Karel De Stoute occupies a quiet address in Ghent's medieval core, serving Modern French cuisine with a pronounced commitment to vegetables that has earned three Radishes in the We're Smart Green Guide alongside consecutive Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025. Chef Thomas Demuynck's kitchen operates in the €€€ tier, placing it alongside Souvenir and Publiek in Ghent's mid-to-upper dining bracket rather than the city's top tasting-menu tier.
LOF
Deep wine list
LOF operates inside the Ghent Pillows Hotel on Hoogstraat, holding a 2024 Michelin Plate for modern French-leaning cooking that reads clean and precise rather than grand. Asian inflections thread through a produce-led menu at a €€€ price point, positioning it as one of Gent's more considered hotel dining rooms.
Oak Gent
1 Michelin star · Deep wine list
Oak holds one Michelin star and appears in both the Opinionated About Dining Classical and Top Restaurants in Europe rankings for 2025, placing it among Ghent's most recognised fine-dining addresses. Situated in a renovated building on Burgstraat in the city centre, the kitchen under Marcello Ballardin applies a product-focused Modern European approach with particular discipline around vegetable preparation and flavour combination.
Per Bacco
Deep wine list
Per Bacco occupies a quiet address on Sint-Jacobsnieuwstraat in Ghent's medieval core, where the city's appetite for serious Italian wine culture has found a natural home. The name alone signals a particular sensibility: wine first, table second, conversation always. It sits within a Ghent dining scene that has grown increasingly confident in its European references over the past decade.
Rizoom
Deep wine list
A Michelin Plate-recognised address on Nieuwewandeling that draws Asian technique into conversation with Belgium's vegetable-forward dining culture. Chef Yves Kerckhoffs has built a €€€€ restaurant that Ghent's plant-focused identity seems to be pulling in a particular direction, with Michelin noting the potential explicitly. Bookings at this price tier in Ghent warrant planning ahead.
Vrijmoed
2 Michelin stars · Deep wine list
Two-Michelin-starred Vrijmoed Gent elevates vegetable-forward cuisine to extraordinary heights, where Chef Michaël Vrijmoed's innovative fermentation techniques and seasonal Belgian ingredients create memorable tasting experiences within an intimate Art Nouveau townhouse setting.
Wijnbar ONA
Deep wine list
Wijnbar ONA has held a place on Star Wine List's annual rankings every year from 2023 through 2025, a run of recognition that positions it among Belgium's most consistently noted wine bar addresses. Operating across two Ghent locations, the original on Nederkouter and a newer, larger space in the city centre on Belfortstraat, ONA pairs its wine focus with room for events and workshops that few bars in the city can accommodate at comparable depth.
Planning restaurants for wine lovers in Ghent
- Which restaurant on this list holds a Wine Spectator award?
- Gillis in Ghent city centre is the restaurant on this list with a Wine Spectator award: Best of Award of Excellence for 2026. Gillis pairs in-house dry-aged steaks from around the world with an extensive Italian wine selection, served a la carte, and the wine program is exceptional.
- Which restaurants on this list pour natural wine?
- Wijnbar ONA, Per Bacco, and Chubby Cheeks are the restaurants on this list that pour natural wine. Wijnbar ONA in Binnenstad specializes in over 30 biological, biodynamic, and natural wines by the glass from small winegrowers, and the owners visit vineyards personally. Per Bacco in Binnenstad is a traditional Italian trattoria with natural wine, a sommelier, and a dedicated wine shop. Chubby Cheeks in Elisabethbegijnhof - Prinsenhof - Papegaai - Sint-Michiels pairs weekly rotating sharing plates with natural wines.
- Which restaurants on this list are sommelier-led?
- Vrijmoed, Oak Gent, Karel De Stoute, Wijnbar ONA, LOF, Arbane, and Per Bacco are the sommelier-led restaurants on this list. Vrijmoed is in the historical center and Oak Gent is in the historic center. Karel De Stoute is in Patershol. Wijnbar ONA, Arbane, and Per Bacco are in Binnenstad. LOF is in City Center. Arbane's list is a terroir wine selection by sommelier Benjamin.
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