Time is one of today's greatest luxuries, Joachim Boudens, co-owner of Hertog Jan, the three-Michelin stared restaurant in Zedelgem (Bruges) tells me as he gives me a tour of the restaurant. He takes me for a walk in the garden of Hertog Jan and although it is winter and therefore bare, you realise that this is really an integral part, if not essential, to the restaurant. "When people have finished lunch we tell our guests to take a walk in the garden. For dinner, some people come to the restaurant and you can see that they are a bit stressed because they have arrived a bit late or were stuck in traffic. You can feel this as soon as they walk into the restaurant. We normally tell them that it is a good idea to go for a walk in the garden. Sometimes they start to worry because they have arrived 30 minutes late. We tell them its fine, just go for a walk. After 10 minutes, they walk back in and look like completely different people. They are ready to relax and enjoy their dinner. One … [Read more...]
Interview with Jack O’Shea: Chophouse essential for nose to tail cooking
There is no question that Jack O'Shea knows what he wants. And he is determined to get it. With the Brussels Jack O'Shea Chophouse finally open, he is now focusing on growing the business to turn it truly global. A long-time proponent of nose to tail cooking and with the intention of wasting nothing, he is now leading by example having opened his first restaurant. "I have always loved cutting and selling meat. But ultimately you never have control of what happens to the meat when it leaves your butcher shop. The ultimate position would be to have your own restaurant and control how the meat is served, to make sure that it is cooked to perfection or as good as it can be," Jack tells me when I met him at the Chophouse in Brussels recently. But the restaurant has also given him the economies of scale he needs to not only follow his philosophy of wasting nothing from the animals but also to grow the business. "What the Chophouse will do is help me to centralise and stabilise my … [Read more...]
Bo Bech: Easier to remember the truth than the lie
Bo Bech, of restaurant Geist, is a bubbly personality who knows exactly what he wants. Having made his name in Copenhagen at Restaurant Paustian, where he was awarded a Michelin star, he decided to set up Geist in 2011 because he did not like the way food was going. When Sang-Hoon Degeimbre, of two Michelin starred Belgian restaurant L'Air du Temps invited him for a four-hands dinner in Liernu he replied immediately without hesitation. Bech is well-known in Denmark for the Danish answer to Kitchen Nightmares. But he is also a chef who leaves a huge impression. Both Sang-Hoon and Olivier from L'Air du Temps tell us how this restaurant has left a really great impression and they highly recommend that we visit if we are in Copenhagen. You can understand why from the cooking style of Bo Bech, but also from his philosophy. While he is making the sauce, which is about to accompany what seems like a simple dish but has incredibly complex flavours (the cauliflower with truffle and a … [Read more...]
Gert de Mangeleer (Hertog Jan): Simplicity is not simple
In the outskirts of the idyllic Belgian city of Bruges in Zedelgem is a culinary genius who became the youngest ever 3 Michelin star chef in Belgium and one of the youngest in history at 34. What made the journey so incredible, however, was not the age at which he reached the top, but rather the speed with which the team at Hertog Jan turned a brasserie first into a Michelin starred restaurant (2006) and then one of only three, 3 Michelin starred restaurants in Belgium (2011). Gert De Mangeleer is now 37. Last week I visited Hertog Jan to meet Gert, to learn the story behind one of Belgium's most successful chefs and a rising star in the culinary world. Hertog Jan only moved to Zedelgem from its old location in July. It was the next step in their philosophy since the farm has been supplying their own restaurant since they bought it in 2010. The 180 year-old barn has been completely renovated and refurbished, now hosting a stunning kitchen which is the beating heart of the new … [Read more...]
Kobe Desramaults: Using humble ingredients to create something special out of nothing
Kobe Desramaults, is a conscious Belgian chef with a conscious cuisine. He has a strong character and knows what he wants. His cuisine may appear simple because of its focus on pure flavours but there is a certain complexity to it. "When I am cooking I like to go back to the roots and try to extract as much flavour from the ingredients I use. When I go to eat somewhere the most important thing is memory. It is all about the food. And if you want to remember the food you eat, you cannot have many different flavours going on in a plate. You cannot have a 20 course tasting menu with each dish having six or seven flavour combinations, because you would go crazy and would not remember anything," he tells me when I interview him in Cologne at Chef Sache. "So what I like to do is to focus on one ingredient. The reason I do this is that when people read the menu, they can remember what they have eaten just by remembering that one ingredient. This is what I like in food and this is what I … [Read more...]
Kobe Desramaults: An inspirational story of hard work and success
"We worked from 8am till 2am every day and just kept going" There is no question that Kobe Desramaults is one of the rising stars of European cuisine. His story is inspirational because he had to work against all odds to turn a debt-ridden restaurant owned by his mother into the success story it is today. We met Kobe Desramaults at Chef Sache 2014 in Cologne. You can read our full interview with this Flemish chef, famous for his Michelin starred restaurant In De Wulf in Dranouter, his bakery De Superette and his second restaurant De Vitrine in Gent. In the interview, Kobe speaks about why he opened the restaurant in this Flemish village in West Flanders just on the border with France. Why did you open a restaurant in the middle of nowhere, I ask him. "People are now coming to visit the restaurant in the countryside," he tells me with a smile. "The reason is simple. My heart is there. My heart and my food. This is the area where I grew up. It is where I played in the fields with … [Read more...]
Behind the scenes at L’ Air du Temps with Sang Hoon Degeimbre
When I went to Liernu in the Belgian countryside some 50 kilometres outside Brussels to interview Sang-Hoon Degeimbre I was asked to stay for a 'light lunch' after the interview (read our interview here). Little did I know that I would be served with the 'business' lunch menu being currently served in the restaurant up to the end of December. I had previously eaten at L'Air du Temps and had listened to Sang Hoon's presentation at Chef's Revolution in Zwolle so I was familiar with his story. But after also interviewing him, I knew this was going to be a unique experience. First the table was literally inside the kitchen and I could just stand up and take photos and observe the calm buzz of a 2 Michelin star kitchen. Second the dishes were presented in most cases by Sang-Hoon himself who explained them to me. What struck me was the calm inside the kitchen despite the number of people that were preparing the lunch. But then I remembered what Sang-Hoon had told me earlier during the … [Read more...]
Interview with Sang Hoon Degeimbre: Creativity comes from constant questioning and keeping an open mind
It was a crispy autumn morning last week when I visited L’Air du Temps for the second time in just a few weeks. This time I had come to interview Sang-Hoon Degeimbre, the chef of this two Michelin star restaurant in Liernu, around 50 kilometres outside Brussels. I was intrigued by his story, particularly because of the inventiveness of his cuisine and also after having listened to his presentation at Chefs Revolution in Zwolle. How could such an inventive and talented chef be self-taught? What was the driving force behind his creativity? I was also wondering what led Sang-Hoon to open the restaurant in Liernu, when he could have moved his restaurant closer to a main city. But driving to the restaurant, I realised that this question would be redundant because of the beauty of the Wallonian countryside and the purity of the air. “Sometimes when I come here early in the morning I just head to the garden and just look at the sunrise and the countryside and that is really something … [Read more...]