Rebelle chef Martijn Defauw and his sous-chef Tim Soens are travelling to Beijing, China as guests of TRB Forbidden City. There they will be preparing a number of signature dishes for the occasion.
The restaurant has a Belgian connection because it is one of the restaurants of Belgian Ignace Leclair.
The two will be cooking at the TRB Forbidden City three lunches and four dinners with the help of the chefs at the Beijing restaurant between 3 November and 10 November.
They will be preparing a classic steak tartare with fries but giving it a ‘rebelle’ twist. They will also prepare a classic dish of endives and cheese, a play on the ‘chicon au gratin’.
As a main course, the two young chefs, that are being supported by the Jong Keukengeweld in this adventure will be playing around the classic ‘vol au vent’.
For dessert, they are preparing their award winning dessert which was awarded the Gault & Millau 2019 dessert of the year. This is a marriage of Belgian and Asian flavours, a classic rice porridge with Asian flavours and pandan rice ice cream.
They came up with the signature dishes after a survey on the restaurant’s social media channels.
Martijn told Food and Wine Gazette: “My sous chef and I are both really looking forward to this since none of us has ever stepped ground in Asia. We will be closing the restaurant Rebelle during our time in China.”
The chef explained that the idea and concept of Rebelle grew out of a personal preference for a restaurant that is personal, informal yet professional. “We like to create a homely atmosphere where the music is turned up slightly higher without however disturbing conversations. The emphasis is put on the dishes where we use as much local produce as we can get. We wanted to create something with an extremely good quality/price ratio to make the restaurant approachable for everyone,” he said.
Rebelle has a fixed menu which changes dishes every 4 to six weeks depending on the season and market/farmer supply.
Guests can pick between 2, 3 (during the week) and five courses. An additional dish with a luxury ingredient can be added.
Rebelle Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday 12:30 to 13:30 and 19:00 to 20:30. Saturday 19:00 to 20:30. Sunday and Monday closed.
Address: Rekkemsestraat 226, 8510 Marke (Kortrijk)
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