’t Kasteelhof

Old fashioned restaurant packed with old pictures, flemish games, old farmer stuff. Nice selection of local beers. The food is no nonsens good, but a bit pricy for what you get.

A atmospheric rustic café serving food at the top of the hill a short distance from Mont Cassel, a 5 minute walk from the town centre. It was a sunny summers afternoon when I visited so I managed to get a seat on the small terrace. Outstanding local beers from the French part of the region on draft and in bottle & friendly service makes this a must visit place when visiting Cassel. A tiny shop just outside the front door with all of the beers for sale to take away is the cherry on top

At the very top of the hill - don’t expect signposts in this part of the world. Atmospheric tavern, now more of an eats house, with a list of 100% northeastern French brews, mainly from within 20 km, plus regional snacking. Its hilltop setting offers good views of the surrounding flatlands, though he wooden interior, rickety-rackety furnishings and sheltered patio are more striking. They have a small shop in which all the beers are on sale for take-away, along with the regional produce on the menu.

Lovely restaurant in a wonderful location with fantastic views. Good choice of French beers. Service was very good, but the food was pretty mediocre although good value. Not sure if it’s ok to come for a drink only.

A pleasant stop-off, and an estaminet we’ve been meaning to call in to for a few years. Located at the top of the hill alongside the church on the corner of a cobbledy old road (park in the car park at the bottom of the hill). There’s a small shop as you walk in, adjacent to the main estaminet room with a decent selection of local cheese, terrine, biscuits, speculoos & honey and a small but enticing selection of local beer, including an intriguing high ABV honey-based liqueur.

The estaminet itself is a small room with a huge window boasting an incredible view over the Flanders region. The ledge in front of the window has a number of typical estaminet games which the table of 4 older ladies in front of us & the family next to us were working their way through. Beer wise there wasn’t a huge choice, perhaps 20 beers but thankfully mostly local, plus a few Normandy cidres . We picked a choulette Brune, Thiriez La Maline and a couple of cidres, plus a planche board. The planche wasn’t too great, the meat & cheese ok but the bread was cheap verging on stale and the decorative salad and carrots looked a little tired and wilted.

Visually this is a good example of a traditional estaminet, with good games and a good atmosphere. The food however could do with a little improvement.

The classic hilltop estaminet of Cassel serving traditional hearty French dishes and offering a bottle list in the dozens. Though the bulk of the list is made up of relatively common BdG (3 Monts, Castelain, La Choulette, etc.), there were a number of new (to me) bottles to get excited about. The setting is gorgeous, the food quality, the beer selection exciting, and though it’s full of tourists it doesn’t suffer from that fact one bit.

Yes it’s quaint....much more of a toursit restaurant than an Estaminet... service can be patchy. If you want the real thing... go to the Kerelshof...that’s where you will find the locals.

A very fetching place set atop the hill. The main seating area has a few sets of tables and chairs and a large window that looks out over the town of Cassel. It’s all very rustic and homey, with various beery and Frenchy bric a brac scattered about, linging the walls, hanging from the ceiling. The bottle range here is heavy on French breweries, which I liked, including some fairly uncommon offerings. The prices are very fair by my standards, the service more than adequate. I would have loved to have eaten here - the lone server/ food preparer was peeling potatoes in between serving us our beers, and the soups getting consumed at a table adjacent to ours smelled delightful - but alas this was not our stop for food. This place also has a small gift shop of sorts, where you can purchase many of the same beers from the menu to take away (at lower prices than drinking on-site) in addition to other foodstuffs, chocolates, etc. I would happily return to this establishment.

Visited around 3pm on Friday 22nd March ’13. Up on the hillside overlooking the valley below, the Kasteelhof is an old building with a small shop adjoining where you can buy beers, including their house beer, and food products to go. Great panoramic view from the smallish room which probably holds about 30 or so people over 7 or 8 tables. There were 2 or 3 couples finishing off their lunches when we arrived and the food looked very good. There is also a patio area at the rear but alas this day was not yielding patio weather! Bottled menu runs over a few pages, largely French micros from the surrounding area and a few beers on tap. Service was fine, one French speaking lady who managed to run food from the kitchen to the tables, serve us drinks, stoke the fire up and whilst she wasn’t doing all of that she was sat at a table in the corner peeling apples ... oh and she was also manning the shop where we took a bottle of the house beer - Kassels away with us. Nowhere obvious to park so we just plonked the car slightly further up the hill on the pavement by the castle. I’d definately head back here probably for a meal, 45 mins drive from Callais, an hour to Kortrijk. See also the Kerelshof in the centre of town.

We were caught in a traffic jam (!) driving out of Cassel on Easter Monday during their Fete de Fleurs, and I noticed this bottle shop. As we weren’t going anywhere, I asked if I could jump out and buy some bier de garde for the road. As I walked through the door, I noticed the restaurant, so I persuaded my traveling companions to pull over and join me. What a great place! Flemish beer, some from Trois Monts right down the road, and homemade pate, cheese, and sausages put us in the proper frame of mind to resume our trip. They had bundles of herbs and flowers hanging from the rafters to dry out. The views across the surrounding farmlands were beautiful. All in all, I would heartily recommend any beer travelers to Poperinghe, Watou, or Westvletern to consider a 20 kilometer detour to check this place out.