The other week I was invited to a luncheon featuring Flemish food and beer. It was a lovely introduction to this region’s fare. The Flemish chefs came from Antwerp and Sint-Marteens-Latem (Near Ghent) to London to showcase their craft and food. Together with Belgium chocolatier Pieter Vaes (The Cacao Project), and Jef Janssens, the brewer of family run Hof Ten Dormall in Tildonk (near Leuven) Flanders.
Hof Ten Dormall is a brewery in a small farm that creates very innovative recipes using seasonal ingredients and a variety of grains, fruits, and vegetables to devise unique and diversely flavoured beers.
 |
| Jef Janssens from Hof Ten Dormall |
The Flemish Region is one of the three official regions of the Kingdom of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. Informally referred to as Flanders.
The chefs
Michael Yates is based in Antwerp at Sail & Anchor, and is originally from Lancashire, north-west England. His passion for the restaurant industry took him to Michelin starred restaurants around the UK, including a role as sous chef at Restaurant Martin Wishart in Edinburgh, to Oud Sluis in the Netherlands. Michael puts his own “Modern British” style on the best local ingredients, giving traditional cookery a refreshing touch.
Sam D’Huyvetter runs a traditional Flemish brasserie, the Brasserie Boulevard in Sint-Martems-Latem close to Ghent, serving sophisticated and modern dishes with creative twists.
The dishes
Starter
Blue asparagus with brown butter and cured egg yolk, that was grated on to our dishes at the table. Paired with Troebel in Paradise from Hof Ten Dormall
Main course
New style Flemish Stoofviees (beef stew) served with pickles, mustard cream, roasted onions and a large fries on top. Paired with The Politician beer from Hof Ten Dormall
Dessert
Ecuadorian dark chocolate, beer foam edible sand & glass and salty crisps paired with Oak aged Armanaf by Hof Ten Dormall.
I thoroughly enjoyed the meal, and I can’t wait to discover more about then Flanders food and drinks scene.
Disclosure: I was a guest of Visit Flanders at this luncheon. All views are my own.
Flanders are a beautiful area, despite the sad past, worth visiting. And I'd love to discover more of the food and beer heritage too!