A Brussels-based restaurant was crowned the best vegan restaurant in the world, beating 800 other venues from around the world at the 2019 edition of the We’re Smart Taste Summit in Amsterdam.
humus x hortense, a vegan restaurant located in the heart of Ixelles' Flagey neighbourhood, is led by Flemish Chef Nicolas Decloedt.
Decloedt was named best Vegetable Chef of the Year in the 2018 edition of the prestigious Gault et Millau restaurant guide.
"We only work with seasonal produce," Decloedt told Het Laatste Nieuws. "Everything is organic and local, from suppliers who we trust."
Decloedt trained at some of Europe's best fine dining restaurants, including Michelin-starred Belgian venues In de Wulf, Bon Bon and Le Chalet de la Forêt.
The wine served at the restaurant comes from organic vineyards and mixologist Matthieu Chaumont, who joined the restaurant's team in 2017, crafts "unique cuisine-inspired cocktails paired with each dish."
The restaurant's dishes are "fresh and light, rich in taste and completely in the spirit of the times," a representative of the competition told Belgian media.
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"[Decloedt] works with herbs and vegetables from his own garden and from local producers and serves local beers and natural cocktails and wines," the representative added.
The summit is organised by We’re Smart, a Belgian initiative launched by Belgian chef Frank Fol, aiming to provide guidance for "ecological and sustainable approaches to food.”
Numerous other Belgian restaurants also made it into the competition's top ten spots, in which over 800 restaurants from 38 different countries participated.
Vrijmoed in Ghent, Graanmarkt 13 in Antwerp, and Arabelle Meirlaen in Marchin ranked second, fifth, and eighth respectively.
Gabriela Galindo and Georgia McHaffie
The Brussels Times
