San, the new restaurant of two-Michelin star chef San Degeimbre, is ready to start welcoming guests from Monday 5 October.
The restaurant is built around a simple concept, that of serving food in bowls. This concept has already been tried and tested for lunch at the two Michelin star restaurant L’Air du Temps in Liernu, Belgium.
San’s restaurant is a welcome addition to the Brussels scene and has long been awaited by foodies in the city, particularly after the announcement of its opening earlier this year.
The Belgian-Korean chef is going back to his roots by serving dishes in a bowl, something which is very common in Korea. There will be no forks and knives but only spoons.
‘When you are using a spoon, you are forced to pick up what’s on the plate and thus mix flavours,” San told Food and Wine Gazette. Indeed, the dishes served at a press dinner showcased this concept to perfection. The taste from each spoonful was different and the flavours lingered on for a long time.
The restaurant is very welcoming. On the ground floor you can sit by the bar counter and watch San’s former sous-chef, Toshiro Fujii, prepare the bowls. The Japanese born chef, has been the second in command at L’Air du Temps for a long time, but is now ready to take over San’s new restaurant in Brussels. On the first floor is a cosy room with tables. The turquoise colours and wooden flooring give the restaurant a very homely feel together with the book shelves and sofas.
San will still be 100 per cent focused on L’ Air du Temps though you may get a chance to bump into him on Monday or Tuesday when L’ Air du Temps is closed.
San Bruxelles
The restaurant will serve different bowls and these will change every month depending on the seasons. The wines which accompany the bowls will also change every month. “We have worked to ensure that all the wines we serve during that month will go with the dishes being served. The wines will change with the menu.”
With this restaurant, San is moving away from the more formal setting of L’Air du Temps, making his cuisine more accessible. But this does not mean going away from San’s philosophy of cuisine. The food is presented impeccably and the flavours are all there.
Dishes are still being prepared this week but the first three dishes we savoured were ‘Liernu’, a mix of vegetables in different textures from the garden of his restaurant in Liernu, an interpretation of risotto with mushrooms from the Ardennes. The dessert was a homage to Roussillon and was a sorbet of galangal (from the ginger family) covered with an almond cream and Reine Claude prunes.
This is set to become one of the places to be in Brussels in the coming months.
San, Rue de Flandre 19 – 1000 Bruxelles
Open from Monday to Friday between 12pm and 2.30pm and 7pm and 11pm and on Saturday between 7pm and 11pm.
At lunch you can choose between 2, 3 and 4 bowls. In the evening you have a choice of 3, 4 or 5 bowls. Prices are from €30 for 2 bowls, €45 for 3 bowls, €55 for 4 bowls and €65 for five bowls.
For more details visit San’s website.
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