Monica's Cheddar Cheese Popcorn: Restaurants in Yerseke and Middelburg, Zeeland, The Netherlands

In our quest to explore local hotspots near Eindhoven, we decided to travel to Zeeland, a group of islands in the south-western part of the country. We traveled to the southern most island and stayed in a little town called Yerske, a harbor town on the North Sea (specifically the Eastern Scheldt). We took a 1.5 hour tour through to learn about the towns top source of income, seafood! We walked through the harbors, learning about the process for farming, auctioning, and selling mussels, oysters and lobsters specifically from the area (the rest of the time, they ship in Canadian lobster). Since it was oyster season, we took some time to enjoy eating a variety of different oysters, raw and cooked.

A photo of the other side of the Oesterij menu where we ate oysters. They were located on the harbor in Yerseke.

Our first plate of oysters where we tried three different types, one was a traditional European style oyster (flat tops), one was a Japanese style oyster (vary curvy shape - they actually grow upwards) which can be difficult to eat due to the shape of the shell, and a raked Japanese style of oyster which is groomed so the shell is flat and its easier to eat the oyster. The European oyster was the fullest flavor of the three which lingered well after eating the oyster.

Argo joined us and hung out under the table while we ate. He gave me a smile thinking I would pet him!

We finished with some baked oysters, but unfortunately I only got a black and white photo, these had a bit of onion and herbs in them and then were baked covered in cheese. Pretty yummy, but oysters are truly best raw!

In the evening, we decided to explore the old city, Middelburg, also the capital of Zeeland. Since we arrived pretty late in the evening, as is the case in many small European towns, it was completely dead (all shops closed, not very many people out and about). We saw the amazing abbey from the outside in the center of town and then walked around looking for a decent place to grab a small bite to eat. As we were walking and debating, I spotted a small restaurant called Brassiere Panneke and peaking through the window I decided it would be the perfect place for a dessert. After finally securing a table around 9pm, we took a look at the menu and what others were eating and decided we had to try more than just dessert! We settled on a one main dish to share and then we each selected a dessert and dessert wine, because one can never indulge too much. We ended the night with a Italian-like espresso to keep ourselves wired for the drive back to the B&B. The experience at this restaurant was amazing, the food is French influenced and the service was fantastic. We were so pleased with the owner who treated us the same as the others, giving us lots of details of the menu, our selections, and recommendations for wine. While the crowd in the restaurant was older, this did not deter us from having an enjoyable experience, the food truly spoke for itself.

We started off with a Moroccan influenced lamb stew served in a phyllo dough 'crust' and accompanied with sides of couscous, mashed potatoes with herbs (couldn't figure out what it was and the name was lost in translation), and a mash of red beets. This also came with a side of oven-baked potatoes. Then I had a pear tart dessert served with pear ice cream, whip cream, a raspberry sauce and a crunchy biscuit (the ladder looking thing in the photo) with a Moscato dessert wine. My husband took a traditional (for the French anyway) cheese pate and on the recommendation of the owner had this with a port wine. We ended the night with an espresso which was served with chocolates and plain cookies.

These photos were unfortunately taken with my iPhone, so they are not as good as the ones from earlier in our trip. Hopefully they get the point across and if you are ever in Middelbury, you'll look them up!