BRUSSELS: Regine and Aline did not know what they would face when they opened a temporary pop-up restaurant at Pop-up Kokotte in central Brussels in March 2020. They still remember the day, a Tuesday. Little did they know that by Saturday, they would be shut for good in the first COVID-19 lockdown. Their concept was that of introducing African burgers to gastronomic burgers. The name of the concept, AfroBurgers. The two childhood friends had already tested their concept with a food-truck which worked well and their intention was to get a new experience which would help them open a permanent location. Despite their lack of fortune, they quickly pivoted to delivery and that turned out to be successful. "Even if we closed in September 2020 it was a huge learning experience for us," they said. In their journey, they have been guided by Pop-up Kokotte, an initiative in Brussels which allows young entrepreneurs to test their culinary concept without risk and at a lower-cost. It is … [Read more...]
Humus Hortense starts Save the Harvest project
BRUSSELS: Chef Nicholas Decloedt of Humus Hortense has been working together with Caroline Baerten on a roots to leaves and a zero-waste approach long before this became a trend. Fresh from their new Green Michelin star, over the past weeks they have launched a project to help and support their farmer Dries Delanote of Monde des Mille Couleurs who lost all his restaurant clients due to the lockdown overnight. "The consequence was an enormous amount of food that was lost in the fields which was heartbreaking to see," Nicholas and Carolean said. Nicholas and Caroline started the project Save The Harvest under the hashtag #savetheharvest to raise awareness on the matter. "We want to raise awareness among the general public that it is not just the restaurant business that is struggling but the whole food chain of artisanal producers and ingredients that has been broken because of the lockdowns." Belgian restaurants have been closed since the end of October with no date yet for … [Read more...]
Teddington: the new Brussels bar and bistro with a ‘hockey theme’
BRUSSELS: Hockey is big in Belgium. After all the Red Lions, as the Hockey team is called are the current World Champions. A brand new address in Brussels that has just opened just off Place St Job in Uccle by Olivier and Catherine Lust, the owners of a gastronomic restaurant in Lasne called La Ligne Rouge. Teddington is housed inside a former printing press just off Place St Job, Uccle. The square in Uccle is at the crossroads of four of the commune's four hockey clubs and just a few 100 metres away from Royal Racing Club Brussels. Olivier has played hockey for more than 40 years. He and his wife have decided to call the restaurant Teddington, reminiscent of the English city where the foundations of hockey were created. In addition to the name of the new bar and bistro, the atmosphere of the old printing press has been maintained with the combination of wood, metal and old bricks and this is enhanced by black and white photographs of the main players of the Belgian national … [Read more...]
A Belgian journey: new menu launched at Bon Bon
Christophe Hardiquest, chef of Brussels restaurant Bon Bon will unveil his new menu A Belgian Journey on Tuesday 22 October. After having revisited the origins on Belgian cuisine with ‘Bon Bon Origins’ the Belgian chef of two Michelin star restaurant Bon Bon has gone to discover the three regions of the country to look for producers with whom he could build a long term relationship. This has given birth to the new menu which promises to be not just authentic but also extremely modern. “A few years ago, I undertook a journey to rediscover the territory and the history. This search for origins was like going back to the roots. That journey became a Belgian Odyssey. I thought it was important to go back to the basics, to look for our roots, our history, our terroir and to continue to work on them to preserve this legacy for future generations,” Christophe said. Now he wants to take a new step forward. “During this journey, I wanted to take the next step, to create … [Read more...]
‘If you do something you love, you will never work a day in your life’ – Christophe Hardiquest’s in conversation with 10-year-old
What does a 10-year-old ask a chef? How does the conversation go? Most importantly what can one learn from a conversation between a beginner, in this case and someone who is on top of his game. For a school project, my 10-year-old son had to present to his class a topic related to food. It could have been anything from the food pyramid to wine making. He decided to choose to speak about the Michelin guide and top chefs. Without any prompting his decision was clear from the start. Talk about following in someone's footsteps. He asked me whether it would be possible to interview a chef as part of his project. Christophe Hardiquest, of Brussels 2 Michelin star restaurant Bon Bon kindly accepted. On a late spring afternoon, we headed to the leafy Brussels commune Woluwe St Pierre to meet with the chef who has a 19.5 Gault & Millau score, the highest in Belgium together with Peter Goossens. And this time, I took the back seat as I sat behind the camera to record the … [Read more...]
Showcase of Belgium’s heritage, traditions and roots at first Bon Bon Origins dinner
Thursday 19 January, Restaurant Bon Bon, Brussels: A few days after the shock announcement that Hertog Jan, one of two 3 Michelin star restaurants in Belgium would close at the end of this year, chef Gert de Mangeleer was cooking his first ever collaboration dinner in Belgium as guest of Brussels chef Christophe Hardiquest. This was the first Bon Bon Origins Dinner, a series of dinners created by Hardiquest, chef of two Michelin star restaurant Bon Bon who has been going back to the origins researching stories and recipes that are part of Brussels and Belgian heritage. One such story from the previous century has made it to the first Bon Bon Origins dinner. Up to the 1950s, in the streets of Brussels, there used to be a man called the 'marchand de coco' who would walk with 40 kilogrammes on his back and serve a drink called the Kalichezap, a mix of lemon, almonds and liquorice among others. Today, chef Christophe Hardiquest has turned this drink into a dessert that is served in … [Read more...]
“A childhood dream come true” – Hendrik Dierendonck on the opening of Brussels butcher shop
Hendrik Dierendonck, the renowned nose to tail Belgian butcher, has opened the long-awaited shop in Rue St. Catherine in central Brussels. "It is a childhood dream come true for me to open a Brussels shop particularly in the city centre." Dierendonck told Food and Wine Gazette that this was a big step for him. "I have always been working on the Belgian coast and since I was young, I have always dreamt of this step." When he was young, the Belgian butcher used to work with his father Raymond Dierendonck in St Idesbald on the Belgian coast in summer while in winter he spent his time in Brussels. The opening of the Brussels shop replaces the Jack O'Shea shop in the Place St. Catherine area which closed abruptly last summer though it has been completely refurbished in an open style to reflect Dierendonck's approach to butchery. "I want to present Brussels residents and visitors to Brussels with an old school approach. Here they will find the artisanal approach, with an … [Read more...]
BRUSSELS FROM/TO at Bon Bon: Deconstructing Brussels classics and modernising them along the way
What happens when you take Brussels and Brabant classic dishes, deconstruct them and then reinvent them? Can tradition meet modernity? Can humble ingredients steal the show in a top class restaurant? And what happens if you get two foreign chefs from France and Portugal to help you reinterpret these dishes at a six hands dinner. That is what happened last Tuesday at Bon Bon restaurant in Woluwe Saint Pierre, a commune in Brussels.Two Michelin star chef Christophe Hardiquest invited the inventive Inaki Azipitarte, chef of the famous Parisian restaurant Le Chateaubriand and Leonardo Perreira, formerly at Noma and now about to embark on a new journey in Porto as he prepares to open his restaurant there. Bon Bon was recently in the news as it will host 20 of the world's best chefs at the first ever Gelinaz! Headquarters event taking place on 10 November. Inaki certainty needed no introduction. He is famed for starting off the bistronomy movement in Paris which was considered one … [Read more...]
Matthieu Chaumont (Hortense): The man who introduced a cocktail culture in Brussels
The cocktail bar scene in Brussels was pretty non-existant before Matthieu Chaumont, the owner and cocktail master of Hortense opened his bar in Place Sablon in 2012. Although the cocktail bar scene in Belgium is pretty vibrant particularly in the Flemish cities of Antwerp and Gent, Brussels did not have a proper cocktail bar like the one created by Matthieu four years ago. He attributes this to the fact that there was no cocktail culture in Brussels despite the presence of a large expat community for a very long time. "For example, I don't remember my parents ever drinking a cocktail. When they would go out, they have a tendency to order a glass of wine or beer but I have never seen them drinking a cocktail," he tells me. Matthieu has over the past four years worked to change this trend and he seems to be managing thanks to a receptive audience which is now becoming more and more interested in exploring new things. "In our first year, our crowd was mainly composed of expats but … [Read more...]
Tensions rise as Brussels restaurants struggle to recover from bleak period
These are not easy days for Brussels. As the city tries to return back to normal after the terrorist attacks last month, restaurants in Belgium's capital city are facing tough times. While many have been putting up a brave face over the past few months, more and more Brussels restauranteurs are starting to feel the pressure following months of difficulties, and tensions seem to be rising. Only this weekend, Lionel Rigolet, chef of two Michelin star restaurant Comme Chez Soi said that "Brussels is dying," in Belgian newspapers l'Echo and De Tijd. And in a sign that tensions seem to be rising, the Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur, was asked to leave a gastronomic restaurant in the city centre because the chef was angry with him. The pedestrianisation of the Brussels city centre in summer last year was heavily criticised by restaurant and shop owners in the city centre with many restaurants reporting considerable drops in turnover. But the situation is far more complex than this, … [Read more...]