As head chef of two Michelin star Belgian restaurant Pastorale, Sebastian Sandor is ready to take the plunge and fulfil his dream of opening his own restaurant. On the 28th November he will open Heritage, a new restaurant in the Patershol area in the heart of Ghent together with Fabio Cammalleri. Heritage will be housed in the former Pizzeria Barbaro and the opening is testament to his persistence and determination. He has managed to fulfil his dream at the age of 30 also ‘thanks to my stubbornness,” he told Food and Wine Gazette. “I was walking past Pizzeria Barbaro in Gent and saw it and fell in love with the restaurant. I met Fabio who was running the restaurant and asked if he wanted to sell the restaurant. He replied in the negative saying why should he sell.” Sebastian told Food and Wine Gazette. Like Sebastian, Fabio had also fell in love with the restaurant and moved to Ghent from Limburg to open Barbaro, a rock n'roll pizzeria in the historic part of Ghent. “We found … [Read more...]
Sergio Herman opens Frites Atelier in Ghent, to open first one in Brussels in November
Sergio Herman will open the second branch of Frites Atelier in Belgium in the city of Ghent on 25 October (tomorrow). The Dutch chef said he was excited to open a Frites Atelier in Ghent. "Every time I come to this city, I taste the creativity and discover new things every time. In view of these developments and the growth of Frites Atelier, the choice of Ghent as the second branch in Belgium was obvious. The food scene in the city has changed a lot and Ghent and the city has a tendency to embrace new food concepts. I am really looking forward to it and hope that we can make a positive contribution to this cool city," said Sergio on the occasion of the opening in Ghent. The branch at the Groentemarkt, 20 in Ghent has more seats and offers a more extensive menu compared to the current Ateliers in the Netherlands and Antwerp. The building has 22 seats on the ground floor, 48 on the first floor and also a terrace with at least 35 seats. Frites Atelier Gent offers more than just … [Read more...]
Fernand Obb Delicatessen makes best shrimp croquettes in Brussels
There is nothing more quintessentially Belgian than the croquette de crevette or shrimp croquette. Any traditional Belgian restaurant including even gastronomic restaurants is likely to have it on its menu with a good ‘american’ or steak tartare and mussels with fries. Now, lovers of this Belgian delicacy which is made with small shrimps that are common in the North Sea have a reference point. In a bid to find the best prawn croquette in Brussels, Belgium’s capital, Visit Brussels has organised the first ever contest to find the best prawn croquette in the city. The winner of the first ever event was Fernand Obb Delicatessen, a small restaurant in St Gilles, one of the 19 communes of Brussels. Visit.Brussels held the first ever context at Comme Chez Soi, a two Michelin star restaurant that is considered to be one of the ‘mainstays’ of Brussels gastronomy. And the panel made up of culinary journalists was headed by Pierre Wynants, for many years rewarded with 3 Michelin stars … [Read more...]
Six Brussels chefs to cook for homeless to raise awareness for Red Cross campaign
Six of Brussels top chefs will leave their kitchens on Saturday 3 November to cook for the Brussels homeless and raise awareness on the winter Red Cross campaign. David Martin of La Paix, Alexander Dionisio of Villa in the Sky, Karen Torosyan of Bozar Restaurant, Lionel Rigolet of Comme chez Soi, Mathieu Jacri (La Villa Emily) and Giovanni Bruno (Senza Nome) will prepare soups and desserts that will be distributed by volunteers to homeless on 3 November at Place de la Monnaie in central Brussels. The event is aimed to raise awareness on the winter campaign that is aimed to help families in need in Belgium. Red Cross will be inviting people to discover their new eshop where people will be able to buy virtual products that will help to fill the shopping baskets fo families in need. All the support is aimed at helping these families or individuals to eat. Red Cross said that 20 per cent of the Belgian population or around 2.3 million people are at risk of poverty or of social … [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...]
Magnus Ek is first guest for Play Food at L’Air du Temps
Magnus Ek, the chef of 2 Michelin star restaurant Oaxen Krog in Stockholm, Sweden will be the first guest of Sang Hoon Degeimbre at L'Air du Temps in Liernu, Belgium. The first Play Food event will take place on 8 November at 7.30pm. This is not the first time that the Swedish chef will be cooking in Belgium since he will return after the GELINAZ! Brussels Headquarters experience which took place in 2017 at Brussels restaurant Bon Bon. The Swedish chef is a pioneer in many ways. He started using edible plants and foraging for food more than 20 years ago when it was still unheard of at the time. He did it without much fanfare and you could say that he is one of the early pioneers of the new Nordic cuisine. Magnus opened his restaurant Oaxen Krog in Sweden more than 20 years ago at a time when foraging what not what restaurants did. Today, he still forages almost every day. The chef runs his restaurant, the Oaxen Krog and Slip at Djurgården with his wife Agneta Green. The … [Read more...]
New Belgian winery Valke Vleug knows ‘cool things happen on the edge’
After studying engineering Pieter Raeymaekers went to New Zealand to work with winemakers because he did not want to start work immediately. That was in 2005 and the experience had a huge impact on his professional and personal life. Today, 13 years later, he is fulfilling his dream as he is the winemaker of a new winery Valke Vleug that is set to fully open next year in time for the 2019 vintage. On land that was used to grow asparagus, Pieter, Johan Stoffels and Jan Van Lancker are betting that they can produce quality Belgian wine at their Valke Vleug estate in Liezele near Puurs in Little Brabant. The three have joined forces to pursue their passion for wine and introduce a new concept that aims to not only produce around 23,000 bottles of Belgian wine but also to introduce wines from cold climates. With the motto Cool Things Happen on the Edge they say that this is the first such project in Belgium since they will not only produce wine but also sell wines from … [Read more...]
Bon Bon sommelier Antoine Lehebel to represent Belgium in Best Sommelier competition
Antoine Lehebel, sommelier of Brussels restaurant Bon Bon will be representing Belgium in the 15th edition of the most prestigious sommelier competition in the world. The Best Sommelier in the World competition takes place in Antwerp in March 2019. Lehebel has already been crowned the best sommelier in Belgium in 2014. Born in 1982, he has vast experience having worked in Longon at Rasoi Vineet bhatia (1 Michelin star) and at three Michelin star restaurant Les Pres d'Eugenie in France. He has also worked at Michel Chabran and Charlemagne (both 1 Michelin star) before moving to Belgium in 2013 to work at Villa Lorraine. He moved to the two Michelin starred Bon Bon in May 2018 to work with one of Belgium's best chefs Christophe Hardiquest. The restaurant has a 19.5 score in Gault & Millau and has two stars. The sommelier has diplomas from WSET as well as Advanced Sommelier from the Court of Master Sommelier. He took part in the competition that was help in Argentina in 2016 … [Read more...]
Zaiyu Hasegawa returns to Belgium to cook with Gert De Mangeleer at LESS
Zaiyu Hasegawa and his team from Jimbocho Den in Tokyo were in Brugge as guests of Gert de Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens for two four hands dinners between the teams of Den and Bistro L.E.S.S., the second restaurant of the successful Belgian duo of 3 Michelin star restaurant Hertog Jan. Last year, Zaiyu Hasegawa had cooked at Hertog Jan in Zedelgem together with Hiroyasu Kawate chef of Florilège as well as Yusuke Takada from La Cime in Osaka while Gert de Mangeleer has often cooked in Japan including as guest of Zaiyu at his restaurant Den in Tokyo. Gert de Mangeleer and Joachim Boudens returned back to the place where it all started in the former location of their three Michelin star restaurant which now houses their bistro L.E.S.S. operated by young chef Ruige Vermeire. For two evenings, Gert and Joachim cooked and led the front of house respectively together with the teams of L.E.S.S. and Den. The restaurant will move to the centre of Brugge early next year. Joachim Boudens … [Read more...]
Antwerp to host Best Sommelier of the year in 2019
The 15th edition of the most prestigious sommelier competition in the world will be held at the Elisabethzaal in Antwerp between 11 and 15 March 2019. The event returns to Belgium after 50 years when the first ever competition took place in Brussels. This unique triennial world championship is the initiative of A.S.I. (Association de la Sommellerie Internationale/ International Sommelier Association). It will be organised in conjunction with the Belgian Sommeliers Union and their president William Wouters, a resident of Antwerp. The first edition of this competition took place in Brussels in 1969. Now three years after it was last held in Mendoza, Argentina, the competition returns to its roots in Europe. Two cities were in the running to host the 2019 competition and surprisingly Antwerp overcame Bordeaux. “Antwerp is an extremely important harbour for importing wines worldwide. Furthermore Belgians are well-known for being true wine lovers and experts. We are obviously very … [Read more...]