By Eric Holmberg
BRUGES, Belgium, April 10 (Reuters) – Sommelier Joachim
Boudens bends down and plucks a few stalks of sorrel from the
ground. He eats the herb, testing its flavour.
He knows it has just the right sour taste because it was
grown on his own farm, which provides vegetables, herbs and
flowers to Hertog Jan, Belgium’s latest three-star Michelin
restaurant.
The fresh sorrel is destined for a lunchtime dish of
asparagus and small red radishes being picked nearby will
accompany salmon and caviar on the dinner menu.
Chef Gert De Mangeleer, 34, has taken Hertog Jan to the top
of the culinary world with a cooking style based on fresh, local
ingredients and perfection in preparation.
“The taste wasn’t good, the quality wasn’t good. So that was
why we decided to start (cultivating) vegetables and flowers and
herbs by ourselves,” De Mangeleer said.
Three restaurants in Belgium and 106 restaurants worldwide
were awarded the top three-star rating in the 2012 Michelin
Guide. De Karmeliet, also in Bruges, and Hof van Cleve in
Kruishoutem are the other two in Belgium.
Hertog Jan now has a six month waiting list for Friday and
Saturday dinner.
De Mangeleer and Hertog Jan earned all three stars since
2007.
When De Mangeleer and Boudens, the restaurant’s head
sommelier, started at the eatery more than a decade ago Hertog
Jan was a local restaurant serving meatballs, waffles and
spaghetti.
“We always said to each other, ‘One day we will have three
stars,'” De Mangeleer said.
The restaurant regulars weren’t interested when De
Mangeleer started introducing new dishes. It took a magazine
article to attract new customers willing to try his original
creations.
De Mangeleer and Boudens purchased the farm two years ago.
It allows De Mangeleer to completely control how his vegetables,
herbs and flowers are grown and when they are picked.
Bart Praet, the 23-year-old head gardener, used to be a chef
at Hertog Jan before he swapped his hobby for his job. Praet
volunteered to leave the kitchen, after a year, when De
Mangeleer needed someone to run the farm.
They are planning to transform the farm’s late 18th century
barn into a kitchen and to attach a glass-enclosed restaurant.
Boudens and De Mangeleer are waiting for permits to alter the
building, but it will take up to two years to renovate once they
are approved.
Just as in the early days at Hertog Jan earning three
Michelin stars seemed crazy.
“In that moment, we still believed in it because we wanted
three stars,” De Mangeleer said. “And when we want something, we
will have it.”
(Editing by Charlie Dunmore and Patricia Reaney)
