There are meals that stick with you forever. My meal at Mission Masala in Ghent, Belgium is one of those meals!
My Connection to Indian Restaurants
I didn’t have my first Indian meal until I was 18 years old. My ex boyfriend and his family loved a local Indian restaurant and brought me along often for dinner.
In fact, Indian food with my ex boyfriend is the first time I remember eating at a small restaurant in the United States. My family only went to chain restaurants growing up, so you can say there’s a special place for Indian restaurants in my heart. It introduced me to so many new food possibilities.
Ever since that Indian meal seven years ago, Indian food is a go-to meal for me around the world. Until the day comes that I can eat in India, I’m constantly on a mission to find the best Indian restaurants wherever I live and to quickly become a regular at that restaurant.
I decided to book a weekend getaway to Ghent and asked a friend living in Belgium what I should do while there. She recommended a bar, famous for giving up a shoe for a beer, and the Indian restaurant Mission Masala. My friend claimed Mission Masala is the best Indian restaurant in all of Belgium, and she’s eaten at a lot of Indian restaurants in Belgium!
The Best Indian Food in Belgium
Mission Masala has a menu that pushed me outside of my comfort zone. You won’t find the typical foods you’d find at an Indian restaurant. Mission Masala offers more Desi Indian foods.
I eat a flexitarian diet with extremely low quantities of beef. However, I decided to try the ribs since it came with the full taster menu. Let me preface this by saying I have never once in my life enjoyed a rib. Never. I swear.
Mission Masala’s ribs were incredible. INCREDIBLE. I’m salivating right now thinking about them. If you had to get one thing on the menu, that’s what I’d recommend. I really hope you can afford more than one thing on the menu, though.
I recommend splurging on the full taster menu so you can taste a wide variety of foods and get a real sample of their menu. They even offer squid and other dishes I hadn’t tried before. My visit to Mission Masala quickly turned into an experience.
The restaurant’s atmosphere contributes to the experience of the restaurant and menu. It felt like I was eating at an Indian food market near a beach. Vintage signs and surfboards, paired with elephants and poufs, turned the middle of Ghent into a colorful beach cottage.
It was loud, crowded, and the perfect amount of chaos. People would come to have a beer and snack or a full meal. Waiters would run around magically balancing food on platters, squeezing through tables and chairs, and taking orders all at the same time. This perfect chaos never took away from the quality of service, though. You’ll never run low on a beer and your next dish will always arrive promptly after finishing the previous dish.
Take your time working through the courses. Have several beers before, during, and after eating. Sit around for a while to chat with friends or the people around you while you let you stuffed stomach settle. Mission Masala is an experience for a full evening.
Things to Know Before You Go: Mission Masala
The restaurant is open daily, but only from 6PM-10PM. I highly recommend a reservation at least one day prior because Mission Masala is a local and tourist favorite! It’s always packed.
If you can’t get a reservation for some reason, still try to go anyway. I tried making a reservation the same day and the restaurant was already booked. I still went and was able to snag a table, but I did have to wait a while to get the table. The food was absolutely worth the wait though!
You will definitely agree that Mission Masala has the best Indian food in Belgium!
Thanks for sharing your article. I like it. For indian authentic food you can also check out Himalaya Palace Restaurant that is famous for indian authentic cuisine.
Thanks for sharing your article. I like it. For indian cuisine you can also check out Naan Restaurant that is famous for indian cuisine in amsterdam.