Bert Meewis is Gault & Millau chef of the year 2020 in Belgium

Bert Meewis, chef of Restaurant Slagmolen in Oudsbergen in the province of Limbourg is the Belgian chef of the year for Gault & Millau.

Top performers in the guide this year are Boury, Le Coq aux Champs and La Paix who all scored 17.5, Bozar and Vrijmoed with 17 points and Kano, t’Korennaer, Schatteman, Sir Kwinten and Willem Hiele, all with 16 points.

The two restaurants Hof Van Cleve and Bon Bon kept their top score of 19.5 out of a maximum 20. Hof Van Cleve clinched the 5 golden chef hats this year.

Among the young chefs of the year are Glenn Verhasselt (Sir Kwinten – Lennik) for Flanders, Jean Vrijdaghs and Sébastien Hankard (Le Gastronome – Paliseul) for Wallonia and Grégoire Gillard (Barge – Brussels) for the Brussels region.

The thematic results for 2020 were as follows

Front of house of the Year: Anca Petrescu (Alexandre – Brussels)

Italian Chef of the Year: Eros Tomassetti (Diverso – Westerlo)

Asian restaurant of the Year: Dim Dining (Antwerp)

Best terrace of the year: Le Chalet de la Forêt (Brussels)

The most beautiful restaurant design (new award): La Table de Maxime (Paliseul)

Sommelier of the Year: Stéphane Dardenne (L’air du temps – Liernu)

Dessert of the Year: Adriana Zafiris and Frederic Castro (Sōma – Antwerp)

Brasserie of the Year: Les Brigittines (Brussels)

Gastro-bistro of the Year: Bistro Racine (Braine-le-Château)

Craftsman of the Year: Arold Bourgeois (Little Paris – Waterloo)

Vegetable dish of the Year: Benoit Dewitte (Benoit & Bernard Dewitte – Kruisem-Ouwegem)

The Newcomer of the Year: August (Antwerp)

Wine list of the Year: Le Pilori (Ecaussinnes)

Beer menu of the Year: De Jonkman (Bruges)

The ‘price/quality ratio’ of the Year: Mout (Damme), Tandem (Brussels) and Le Pavillon duVieux Château (Modave)

The 3 discoveries of the Year: Hoeve De Bies (Voeren), Coquum (Brussels) and Antoine (Eupen).

Gault & Millau launched POP two years ago to list gourmet street and fast food addresses. The list is growing fast with more than 300 addresses listed in the book. The three POP mentions of 2020 are Golden Gai in Ghent, Fernand Obb Delicatessen in Brussels and Tero in Bierges.

The gastronomic guide has 130 new addresses while another 190 restaurants have disappeared mainly due to restaurant closures.

Jigger’s in Ghent was chosen as Cocktail Bar of the year 2020.

The Gault & Millau Belux guide 2020 will be in the bookstores from mid-week and costs 29 euros.