BRUSSELS: Humus x Hortense in Brussels has fast established itself in Belgium as one of the leading, if not the leading proponent of plant-based fine dining in Belgium. The visionary couple Nicolas Decloedt and Caroline Baerten started their concept in 2008 and today have won accolades not only in Belgium but also outside of Belgium for their vision and direction.
So it was no surprise that for the first ever Belgian gastronomic tour on plant-based dining, Humus x Hortense would play a central role. Visit Flanders recently hosted a four day gastronomic tour for food writers from across the globe to plunge them into the world of plant-based dining. Humus x Hortense have been proponents of sustainable gastronomy and lowest food waste possible thanks to ancient conservation techniques and zero-waste cocktails.
For the occasion, Nicolas invited chef Emile van den Staak from two Michelin star Dutch restaurant De Nieuwe Winkel for a unique four hands dinner which showcased what creative chefs can do with a purely plant-based ingredients.
It was a celebration of vegetables, herbs, spices and techniques that showcased not just creativity and excellent produce but also talent.
Both chefs have been working with a focus on sustainability way before this was in vogue and this could be seen in pretty much all the dishes they presented on the evening. They were not trying to overdo it or trying to replace meat or fish with vegetable based ingredients but rather this was an evolution of their work that has been going on in both cases for over a decade.
In De Nieuwe Winkel, chef Emile has been focusing mainly on flavours and also on experimentation. it became a two Michelin star restaurant before it turned completely plant-based, but Emile finds inspiration from plants in his backyard whether that is the forest, the kitchen gardens that surround the restaurant.
He does not shy from the fact that he wants to make the world a better place cooking honest food from their own backyard if possible. Chef Emile is of the view that sourcing ingredients from a wholesale store would be too easy and that is why they try to pick the food themselves so they know exactly where it comes from.
On the other hand, Nicolas, who trained in some of the best fine dining restaurants in Europe from Mugaritz, In de Wulf and Bon Bon has developed a style of cooking that is guided by his botanical research and foraged edibles. Together with partner Caroline Baerten, a former art historian, nutritionist and a sommelier they work with the harvest from the wild farm Le Monde des Mille Couleurs which provide inspiration through the rhythm of 24 different micro seasons which change depending on the harvest,
First up in the four hands dinner was a sunflower root broth and Chinese mahogany, buckwheat crackers with Belgian chickpea humous and a crunchy potato waffle with gherkins.
Emile knows that many fine dining restaurants need to have a ‘fois gras’ dish. He created a nut pate dish which had the same texture as a fois gras and was delicious served with pickled vegetables and fruits.
What followed was Nicolas’s Celeriac ‘Paris Brest’ with quince, horse radish and a celeriac gnocco fritto with rye bread miso and pumpkin seed miso. A very interesting use of a humble but delicious root vegetable.
We’re in Belgium so a croquette is a must. Nicolas created a confit tomato croquette that had all the flavours and paired it with white beans and lovage.
Emile served sunflower seeds with nettle and black garlic in the form of a ‘risotto’ which had a very interesting complexity in the mouth though he jokingly asked not to tell this was a risotto to Italians since this had no rice.
Then Nicholas served the lion main’s mushroom that was barbecue and glazed with a mushroom jus and golden marigold oil was delicious.
The cauliflower with Mole verde and pickles was followed by a barbecued buckwheat tempeh with glazed plum and dark beer. Emile wanted to create the texture and taste of a frinkandeel sausage, something he managed perfectly well with this dish.
The palate cleanser before the dessert was a Belgian saffron broth with raviolini.
Nicholas chose a dessert of homemade white chocolate, pear and meadowsweet while Emile served a chestnut not chocolate dessert to finish off a successful evening.
All photos courtesy of Visit Flanders by Caroline Nicolas and Kris Vlegel
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