Thierry Thies of Nuance Restaurant in Duffel was named “Chef of the Year” by Gault & Millau. The nearly nineteenth edition of the Restaurant Guide was introduced on Monday. See an overview of the best restaurants on the map at the bottom of the article.
Theys actually earned the title of Young Chef of the Year in 2009, when he immediately earned 17 out of 20 points and three chef’s hats. The restaurant guide praises Theys for his “sense of nuance,” as well as “the contrasts in the well-balanced details and sharply drawn tablet mirrors.” According to Gault & Millau, Theys kitchen has a signature that characterizes the whole process, from appetizers to desserts with coffee, and as a result spoils guests with many wonderful discoveries filled with sensory stimuli.
Hof van Cleve in Kruisem and Bon-Bon in Brussels can call themselves the best restaurants of the year with a score of 19.5 points. This year’s three discoveries are Klost’r (Vlijtingen) for Flanders, Savage for Brussels and Racines (Floreffe) for Wallonia.
Despite the ongoing Corona pandemic, Gault & Millau inspectors visited 1,375 Belgian restaurants, 135 of which were visited in the Restaurant Directory for the first time this year, and the 2022 directory contains more than 70 new restaurants. This was the second year in a row that the gastronomic guide was launched online. “Of course we would have preferred it differently,” said Mark Delerke, director of the guide.
Ciro’s in Antwerp was voted the best brasserie in Belgium, the best Asian restaurant is Nonbe Daigaku in Brussels, and San Daniele in Brussels was crowned the best Italian-Belgian restaurant. Benjamin de Buck of Restaurant Vrijmoed in Ghent can call himself the best bartender in Belgium by Gault & Millau for a year.
Gault & Millau inspectors found the best wine list in Sans Cravate (Bruges), Arthur Orlans is the best cocktail bar in Brussels, Taratata (Hasselt) has the best beer list. The best restaurant of the year is Door 73 (Ghent). Jonas Keelins of Dim Dining in Antwerp is ‘Host of the Year’ and Jan Nijs has been elected ‘Artist of the Year’. He works at Plein 25 in Elsegem.
Top newcomers
The highest-grossing newcomer in Flanders is Hertog Jan in Antwerp, scoring 18 out of 20 points. Last year Bulut Bar in Bruges, from the hat of the duo Hertog Jean-Gert de Mangler and Joachim Bodens, are still the best brasserie. In Brussels, La Villa Lorraine by Yves Mattagne became the highest newcomer with a score of 16.5 out of 20 points. Toma (Liège) and Le Grand Verre (Durbuy) both scored 16 out of 20, making them the highest-grossing newcomers in Wallonia together.
François-Xavier Lampory van Steuen was crowned Best Young Chef in Brussels, and Martin Folkerts from Lamandier could call himself Wallonia’s Young Chef of Gault & Millau. The restaurant guide found the young Chef of Flanders at the Martijn Defauw of Rebelle.
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