After an amazing dinner last night in Ghent at Chambre Séparée, this morning I drove about an hour West to the coast to visit Restaurant Willem Hiele Fine Dining in the town of Koksijde.
I am amazed this place does not have more recognition from the Michelin guide. It really was a spectacular meal. Willem cooks using herbs and vegetables from his own garden, locally sourced meat and seafood only from the North Sea which is only a few hundred yards away. The food is inventive and delicious.
Even though Willem and his wife have been running this restaurant for 6 years now, he still spends his spare time flying off to do stages in other restaurants in order to gain even more experience. Recently he has done stages under Mikael Jonsson at Hedone in London and Bittor Arguinzoniz at Etxebarri in the Basque Country.
This goes some way to explaining why I enjoyed Willem’s cooking so much as he chose to stage under two of my favourite chefs on the planet.
Anyway, as you may be able to deduce, I liked this meal a lot and I highly recommend you visit if you are in the area, or like me, even if you are not in the area.
Thanks to Lou for the rec.