French culinary guide 'Le Fooding' released its third Belgian edition last week, ranking the most impressive establishments in the country. The best bistro can be found in Ixelles, while Antwerp claimed the nation's best restaurant.
'Le Fooding' is an independent guide of restaurants, bars, bakeries, chocolate shops and more across France and Belgium – establishments which it says "make and break the tastes of the times," Belga News Agency reports. It highlights places that are worth visiting, without focusing solely on those in the highest price range. The third edition of the guide was released last Thursday in bookshops and online, and lists 250 addresses in Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia. 15 winners were also unveiled at an awards ceremony at Wiels in Forest on Monday evening.
Bloesem, a small Antwerp establishment where "14 spectators watch 15 scenes of a delicate choreography at the table," was crowned 'Restaurant of the Year'. Borgerhout's rising star boasts a 15-course tasting menu and is led by Brend Geudens, Deborah Van Haute-Bloemen and Nebo Schamp, who said they were "flabbergasted" to have won the award.
"We love to take people on an intimate experience. Sometimes it turns into a kind of fairground vibe, where everyone starts talking to everyone else. Sometimes people enjoy it in silence. And sometimes things happen that stay with us for a long time. Like the time someone said he was so moved by the experience that he treated the whole place to a digestif," Van Haute-Bloemen told Het Nieuwsblad, adding that reservations open on the first Monday of every month but are usually fully booked within an hour.
"Eating there is a super personal experience," said Le Fooding co-director, Christine Doublet. "You talk to them the whole time, they explain everything with heart and soul, and you get the feeling that they are working just for you. And the best part is that this place is also shockingly affordable. For such an extensive menu and four hours of top-notch experience, it's incredible. They offer something very high-end, but they remain very humble about it."
Best bakery, bistro, chocolate and sausage
Brussels also took home several prizes: the best sausages can be found (unsurprisingly) at Saucisses in Forest, the best aparthotel went to Numéro Cent, run by the owners of the restaurant 203 in Saint-Gilles, and Kage in the City of Brussels won best mixologist for its tea-infused cocktails. The guide gave Kartouche in Ixelles the best bistro prize, describing it as a "soberly refurbished estaminet that hits the mark with its flawless bistro fare."
The best bakery went to Morgen in Ghent, which prides itself on its sourdough, fresh, flaky pastries and good coffee and which remarkably only opened less than a year ago. The best chocolate shop was awarded to The Chocolate Maker, also in Ghent and owned by Jannes Deduytschaever, who was also named Best Chocolatier in Flanders by Gault&Millau in September.
Super Faim in Liège serves up the best food and drinks "morning, noon and night", according to the guide, with "eggs in the morning, sandwiches at lunchtime, chocolate chip cookies in the afternoon and cocktails in the evening."
Cooking with love
Two 'Fooding d'Amour' awards were also presented at this year's event. This prize rewards "places where all the elements of nature and catering come together in a way that can only be explained by the word love". The winners were Café Service, an old restored café in Antwerp which Doublet describes as "a place you want to go to all the time", and Vorace in Gesves (Namur province), a "little corner of paradise, where the dishes speak for the chef's personality".
Other prizes were also awarded on Monday evening: "best little luxury" to Bar Misera (Antwerp), best delicatessen bar to Feast (Genk), best pantry to Rosendal (Genk), best sophistroquet ("sophisticated little bistro") to Debra (Ghent) and best owner to BottlO (Hasselt).
'Le Fooding' (a contraction of "food" and "feeling") has been highlighting innovative and authentic places since 2000, to make gastronomy more accessible and less stuffy and acting as an alternative to the prestigious Michelin Guide. Its Belgian website now lists nearly 2,500 addresses, and its journalists remain anonymous and always pay their own bills.
