Very few days pass without me being asked what is our favourite restaurant in Brussels, given it is the city we know best. But as simple as it may sound, this question is not that easy to answer. In our books, there is no such thing as a favourite or a best restaurant. There are so many good restaurants that it is difficult to pinpoint one. Many times it depends on the occasion, the atmosphere, the quality of the food but also the mood you find yourself in. Obviously the top restaurants, of which Brussels has many, are stable and always reliable. But then there are many gastronomic restaurants, many by young chefs who are pushing the boundaries with their cuisine and who are worth discovering because they clearly represent the future. Some gastronomic restaurants in Brussels are now serving set menus in the evening. Chef Erwan Kenzo Nakata of Gramm Restaurant is one of them. In the evening he serves a six course menu which changes every week depending on the seasons and also what … [Read more...]
Joachim Boudens (Hertog Jan): Time is one of today’s luxuries
Time is one of today's greatest luxuries, Joachim Boudens, co-owner of Hertog Jan, the three-Michelin stared restaurant in Zedelgem (Bruges) tells me as he gives me a tour of the restaurant. He takes me for a walk in the garden of Hertog Jan and although it is winter and therefore bare, you realise that this is really an integral part, if not essential, to the restaurant. "When people have finished lunch we tell our guests to take a walk in the garden. For dinner, some people come to the restaurant and you can see that they are a bit stressed because they have arrived a bit late or were stuck in traffic. You can feel this as soon as they walk into the restaurant. We normally tell them that it is a good idea to go for a walk in the garden. Sometimes they start to worry because they have arrived 30 minutes late. We tell them its fine, just go for a walk. After 10 minutes, they walk back in and look like completely different people. They are ready to relax and enjoy their dinner. One … [Read more...]
Interview with Jack O’Shea: Chophouse essential for nose to tail cooking
There is no question that Jack O'Shea knows what he wants. And he is determined to get it. With the Brussels Jack O'Shea Chophouse finally open, he is now focusing on growing the business to turn it truly global. A long-time proponent of nose to tail cooking and with the intention of wasting nothing, he is now leading by example having opened his first restaurant. "I have always loved cutting and selling meat. But ultimately you never have control of what happens to the meat when it leaves your butcher shop. The ultimate position would be to have your own restaurant and control how the meat is served, to make sure that it is cooked to perfection or as good as it can be," Jack tells me when I met him at the Chophouse in Brussels recently. But the restaurant has also given him the economies of scale he needs to not only follow his philosophy of wasting nothing from the animals but also to grow the business. "What the Chophouse will do is help me to centralise and stabilise my … [Read more...]
L.E.S.S. by Gert De Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens (Hertog Jan)
L.E.S.S. the bistro by Gert De Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens of three-Michelin starred Belgian restaurant Hertog Jan is a relatively new restaurant in the idyllic city of Bruges. It was opened in the place which was previously Hertog Jan before they moved to their new premises in Zedelgem in July 2014. It stands for Love, Eat, Share and Smile and the idea is for friends or family to gather in a warm and relaxed atmosphere. When I visited Gert De Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens a few days ago, I asked what they aimed to achieve with L.E.S.S. and how it complements their three Michelin star restaurant Hertog Jan, "It was quite hard to distance ourselves from the old location because for us it was like our baby," Gert said. "We took it over as a brasserie and we worked very hard for five/six years to gain three stars. I started alone working in that kitchen and there were days when I was baking my bread at 6am in the morning and I was still doing mis-en-place at 1am or 2am." But … [Read more...]
Bo Bech and San Degeimbre: a unique four hands dinner
There is something really special about the love of food and cooking. Most of our celebrations always end up having food, family and friends as the central element. So when you get two passionate cooks like Sang-Hoon Degeimbre of L'air du temps and Bo Bech of Restaurant Geist cooking together in a four-hands dinner you end up realising that when it comes to food, we all speak the same language. There is something very special about a four hands dinner. It brings together cooks who may not know each other very well but it helps to cement a friendship and showcase their different cooking styles. There are clearly many differences between the two chefs. Bo is a bubbly personality, San is more calm. In a way it is like comparing chalk and cheese. But put them together in a kitchen and they created a magical menu at the first four hands dinner for 2015 at L'air du temps. The story of the two chefs also has many similarities. Unlike most chefs, both San and Bo did not start their … [Read more...]
Bo Bech: Easier to remember the truth than the lie
Bo Bech, of restaurant Geist, is a bubbly personality who knows exactly what he wants. Having made his name in Copenhagen at Restaurant Paustian, where he was awarded a Michelin star, he decided to set up Geist in 2011 because he did not like the way food was going. When Sang-Hoon Degeimbre, of two Michelin starred Belgian restaurant L'Air du Temps invited him for a four-hands dinner in Liernu he replied immediately without hesitation. Bech is well-known in Denmark for the Danish answer to Kitchen Nightmares. But he is also a chef who leaves a huge impression. Both Sang-Hoon and Olivier from L'Air du Temps tell us how this restaurant has left a really great impression and they highly recommend that we visit if we are in Copenhagen. You can understand why from the cooking style of Bo Bech, but also from his philosophy. While he is making the sauce, which is about to accompany what seems like a simple dish but has incredibly complex flavours (the cauliflower with truffle and a … [Read more...]
Jack O’Shea Chophouse in Brussels finally open
The much awaited Jack O'Shea Chophouse has opened in central Brussels a few days ago. Judging by the page views and searches on this site, this looks like it will be another top foodie destination in Brussels. Jack O'Shea is the second butcher in Belgium to open a restaurant this year. The first, Dierendonck, has opened Carcasse in January on the Belgian coast. The chophouse has opened in the Place St. Catherine area just a few metres away from his second butcher shop in the Belgian capital city. There is no question that the quality of the meat at Jack O'Shea. The meat which you get from this butcher whether it is a Wagyu beef t-bone steak, an Angus beef ribeye, an aged t-bone steak or just sausages from his large range (which includes mustard and spinach, Italian, beef and guiness, chorizo), are all exceptional. For those who have not heard about Jack O'Shea, he is probably one of Europe's leading butchers, though maybe not as famous as the much talked about as Dario … [Read more...]
Quique Dacosta: The idea is what matters
Where there is a will there is a way. That could be the title of the story of Quique Dacosta, a self-taught Spanish chef of a restaurant that is called by his name. Today, Quique Dacosta is considered to be one of the leaders of avant-garde cuisine in Spain. He has won awards and accolades from being in the top 50 list of the World's Best restaurants to having three Michelin stars. It is hard to believe that he started working as a chef in the restaurant which he now owns at the age of 17 and never cooked or trained anywhere else. It all started in 1989, when he joined a family restaurant by the name of El Poblet in 1989 without any previous experience as a chef. 10 years later, he bought the restaurant in Denia, close to Alicante and Valencia. He says that he owes his success to his team. "I am lucky to have a fantastic team that can help me to turn ideas into reality. They can focus on everything from the largest to the smallest of details. I always say that it is better to … [Read more...]
A few pinches of salt and the loss of a third Michelin star
Michelin has a lot of power despite the fact that reviews of restaurants are a few sentences long. Amid the many announcements of new classifications in France on 2 February 2015, came a decision which surprised many on Twitter. It was Michelin's decision to downgrade the Côte Saint Jacques from its 3 Stars in the next edition of the Michelin 2015. Many were asking why the restaurant had lost its third Michelin star. It seems a few pinches of salt (some flaws in seasoning) may have been the reason. Chef Jean-Michel Lorain left a statement on the hotel's Facebook page which we feel should be highlighted because it illustrates the pressure that chefs face on a daily basis. By the time of writing this post, his comment had received over 800 likes and shared more than 200 times. There were also many comments all encouraging the French chef to continue his great work. Lorain noted that during the last meeting with the director of the Michelin guide in November, he was told that … [Read more...]
Kobe Desramaults: Using humble ingredients to create something special out of nothing
Kobe Desramaults, is a conscious Belgian chef with a conscious cuisine. He has a strong character and knows what he wants. His cuisine may appear simple because of its focus on pure flavours but there is a certain complexity to it. "When I am cooking I like to go back to the roots and try to extract as much flavour from the ingredients I use. When I go to eat somewhere the most important thing is memory. It is all about the food. And if you want to remember the food you eat, you cannot have many different flavours going on in a plate. You cannot have a 20 course tasting menu with each dish having six or seven flavour combinations, because you would go crazy and would not remember anything," he tells me when I interview him in Cologne at Chef Sache. "So what I like to do is to focus on one ingredient. The reason I do this is that when people read the menu, they can remember what they have eaten just by remembering that one ingredient. This is what I like in food and this is what I … [Read more...]