BRUSSELS: If one thing is certain for Christophe Hardiquest, it is the fact that restaurants will be completely different to what we know them when they reopen after the lockdown. “Gastronomy is going to change completely for different things and different reasons. Chefs will need to be creative and rethink what they do completely. At the moment we have a coronavirus crisis but after this there is going to be an economic crisis and we need to think things differently,” he told Food and Wine Gazette in a phone interview. Hardiquest is chef of two Michelin star restaurant Bon-Bon in Brussels and one of the most internationally recognised chefs in Belgium but he does not see a return to two or three Michelin star experiences anytime soon. For two weeks after the Belgian government announced a lockdown and the closure of restaurants, the Belgian chef took a break. “I needed to take a rest for a couple of days. It was necessary. I've now been back in the kitchen trying out new … [Read more...]
What’s on the menu at the new LESS eatery in Bruges
LESS Eatery (Love, Eat, Share, Smile) by Hertog Jan*** is the new concept created by Gert de Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens in the centre of Bruges following the closure of their flagship 3 Michelin Star restaurant Hertog Jan at the end of last year. The new all-day eatery serves food from morning till late in the evening. A lot has been written about this new opening. Here we look at what's on the menu. The day starts with breakfast that is served between 8.30am to 11am. Sweet dishes includes homemade Danish pastry which Gert has been perfecting in recent months to granola and Greek yogurt. There also are savoury dishes like eggs benedicts or artisan baguettes with savoury or sweet toppings. When the breakfast service finishes, there is a transition to lunch which is served from 12 noon till 2.30pm. Bites and drinks are served in between breakfast and lunch and also in between the lunch and dinner service. Sesame prawn toast - one of the bites available at LESS … [Read more...]
Commotie: A pop-up restaurant in Ghent causing a ‘commotion’
Thomas Gellynck is still 23 but has the maturity and the cooking skills of a more experienced chef. Together with his partner Lara De Vliegher, they manage a pop-up restaurant which will cause a commotion when it closes in November 2019 because it has become the talk of the town in the Belgian city of Ghent. The pop-up restaurant is called Commotie (translated into commotion in English). The food scene in Ghent has been very vibrant over the past few years and this pop-up restaurant adds to the number of interesting food spots that are on offer in this vibrant city including recent openings like Taxi, Souvenir and Aroy Aroy to mention a few names. You could say that Thomas and Lara have returned back home after running a 40-cover pop-up restaurant in Kortrijk. ““We started in Kortrijk because we thought that nobody knew us there so if we managed to make a restaurant work there it could work anywhere,” Thomas said. "While we had people working with us at Kortriijk, we decided … [Read more...]
Chambre Séparée: where cooking is like theatre and eating is like attending a performance by Kobe Desramaults
When Kobe Desramaults said he wanted to reinvent the dining experience he was clearly being very serious about it. The chef of the renowned restaurant in De Wulf, in Dranouter, Belgium, which closed in December, has been serving guests in his new restaurant Chambre Séparée in the Belgian city of Gent since opening the new restaurant in June. In a completely different format, the talented Belgian chef is doing what he loves best, cooking with fire in front of guests in what can easily be described as a unique experience. The restaurant only has 16 covers and the diners all sit around the kitchen. Here the cooking takes centre stage and the experience is focused on Kobe and his team working in harmony to serve a limited number of guests while cooking with different forms of fire. There is no hiding for Kobe and his team. In a completely open environment you will know what is going on in the kitchen, whether there is a problem or not. Most importantly you will know whether the key … [Read more...]
Mon bistro d’été : Christophe Hardiquest’s playground
Mon bistro d’été by Christophe Hardiquest, chef of two Michelin starred Brussels based restaurant Bon Bon could easily be defined as the chef's playground. Although this is not necessarily his element given that he is used to cooking in his fine dining restaurant, it is evident that the chef and his team are enjoying themselves in the new pop-up restaurant that has taken the Brussels scene by storm and is indeed one of the most talked about places in the Belgian capital city this summer. Housed in the old Chez Marie restaurant in the Flagey area of Brussels, the restaurant may have been closed for over two years but you would not notice from the vibes and the atmosphere that fills the place. But that is to be expected given the fact that the reservations never stopped the minute they opened and by the time the restaurant had opened earlier this month, 4,500 reservations had been made for the two-month pop-up restaurant. If you do not have a booking, don't despair. The … [Read more...]
Bon Bon’s Christophe Hardiquest to open summer bistro in Brussels
Christophe Hardiquest, two Michelin star chef of the highly regarded Brussels restaurant Bon Bon is realising his dream of opening a bistro even if this will only be for two months. Having decided to close his two Michelin star restaurant in July and August to modernise and refurbish the kitchen completely, Christophe together with his wife Stephanie have decided to take over Chez Marie, a restaurant that has been closed for over two years in the area of Flagey in Brussels. The bistro, called Mon Bistro d'été by Christophe Hardiquest will be serving classics away from the constraints of fine dining restaurants though you can expect a very high quality given that he will be moving together with his team and will be at the helm of the bistro for the two months. This is part of his Brussels project which started last year with a reflection on how to interpret Brussels and Belgian classics. In an interview with Food and Wine Gazette last year, Christophe had said that "it is also … [Read more...]
Revisiting L’air du temps: Winter is not a barrier to creativity
The sun is glistening and shining on the snow that is covering the fields in Liernu. Spring is still far away and the vegetable garden at L'air du temps is still resting. The first shoots from the garden will only come in late February though San Degeimbre is already preparing his February menu called "Waiting for the Green". January is not necessary the best month to visit a restaurant. It comes just after the holidays and is the month when you normally try to detox from the excesses of the previous month. And it is not the best month for fresh produce. But a friend who happens to be a Maltese chef is in Belgium and we have planned to visit Wallonia's culinary cathedral. San Degeimbre is a chef in evolution. Today, he has reached a level of maturity that one would expect from a restaurant that is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. But that maturity is not stopping him from experimenting or trying new things. The creative streak is all the more visible even if it does … [Read more...]
Notos celebrates 20 years of Greek cuisine in Brussels
Notos is this year celebrating 20 years of Greek cuisine in Brussels. To celebrate the occasion, a Greek traditional dish that was never served in the restaurant before, the Moussaka, was served over two weekends aimed at celebrating the 20th anniversary. Following the resounding success of the dish among clients and guests (including us), chef Constantin Erinkoglou has decided to start serving this iconic Greek dish on order both in the restaurant or to take home. The moussaka is an ancient dish that originates from the ancient Ottoman empire. Made with aubergine and lamb mince, it is one of the most traditional Greek dishes you can find. Its recipe varies depending on the family that makes it. Known for his modern and personal take on Greek cuisine, Constantin has decided to offer this traditional dish for tables of eight people or more both for lunch and dinner. The price for the take away mousakka is 16 euros per person and 21 euros in the restaurant. When he opened in … [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...]
Humphrey Restaurant (Brussels): A welcome addition to the Brussels restaurant scene
Many of today's most influential chefs have one thing in common. They have all spent time working in Ferran Adria's kitchen. Massimo Bottura, Rene Redzepi, Grant Achatz to mention just a few of the most creative chefs around have spent time with the Spanish genius of el Bulli fame. Most of these chefs have gone on to develop their own style, their own philosophies and their own cuisine. There is no question that being mentored by a great chef has a lasting impact on your cooking style and also your philosophy, even if you depart from that approach. The new generation of chefs is also moving around from one restaurant to another gaining as much experience as possible benefiting from the 'globalisation' of haute cuisine. Just like the previous generation developed their own style and approach to cooking, the new generation is also making good use of the experience they have gained to take completely new directions. Chefs who were inspired by the inventiveness of Ferran Adria … [Read more...]