João Wengorovius

Through the train window to Ostend, I gaze at the endless plain that is Belgium.
I wonder what Willem Hiele’s food is.
The surfer chef, almost two meters tall, with long hair and a Viking look, who once told me he loved the beaches of my country when I first met him a few years ago.
Coming from a family of fishermen, seafood reigns supreme in his kitchen.
“My mountain is the sea,” he told me when we were talking about another chef whose identity is rooted in the mountains.
Scallops (first in their shell with smoked plums and tomatoes, then with truffles and walnuts), clams, razor clams, mackerel, mussels (with their own miso and pumpkin), monkfish, sea bass, oysters, langoustines (with radishes and caviar) and the essencial small Ostend shrimp.
Meat plays a subtle yet thoughtful role: smoked duck paired unexpectedly with mackerel, tender hare with Trompette de la Mort mushrooms in cherry sauce, and a pristine wild goose consommé with mushrooms and apple.
And then that intriguing vegetable dish, perhaps the most original and accomplished of all, whose correct name I can’t remember, but it would be close to ‘Still life of all the fruits and vegetables of last summer’. Pumpkins, tomatoes, beetroot and figs, and perhaps something else, preserved through brining, drying, and smoking, were thinly sliced and layered like abstract brushstrokes on a small rectangular canvas.
The idea came to Willem when he saw a painting by the French painter of Belarusian origin Chaïm Soutine called ‘Carcass of Beef’.
In fact, there is little or nothing in common between it and the dish, apart from its bold, faded colours. But it was enough to awaken something in Willem, a lateral thought. Things that happen when you look outside your own bubble.
In all of this, the fire.
In the courtyard, as the day draws to a close and the light fades. In the wood-burning oven to my left and in the fireplace lined with pots, pans, and hanging fish bones. The fire he uses to impart unique textures to ingredients—those mussels!—and subtle smoke notes throughout his dishes.
No strict rules, conventions or obvious classical references. A cuisine that is intrinsically intuitive, I felt. And his own. Less

Maybe it was the langoustine with koshihikari rice underneath (puffed?) and ginger.
Or the otoro crudo with Japanese turnip, raw and in the shape of a flower, with fermented strawberry and coffee oil.
Or the turbot “barigoule” with shio kombu & pine.
Or the most perfect Chawanmushi with smoked beef broth and caviar.
Or the king crab with saffron beurre blanc, sea buckthorn and ikura.
Or the duck. Ohhhhh! The duck! With foie gras, kampot pepper & wasabi (and some stunning lemon condiment - I have to ask them what it was) in that fabulous sauce you want to soak your bread in until there’s no bread left.
Or perhaps it was the impeccable Nordic design of the dining room. The fire cooking in the open-plan kitchen (flawless extraction, by the way).
And the wine pairing. The clever mixing of wines and non-alcoholic drinks on a single pairing.
And the little things like the “old style”, very welcome, table-side finishing and plating.
And of course, the playlist. The “Sultons of Swing”, the “I was made to lovin’you”, the Rick James’ “Super Freak”…
Or was it the party I was fortunate enough to share a table with?
I don’t know.
I do know that I had such a good time at @restaurantfzn a few days before it officially opened last Friday at @atlantisthepalm
The way @bjornfrantzen and @torstenvildgaard combine Nordic, French and Asian cuisine is superbly balanced and utterly delicious.
The way they combine fine dining with a sense of playfulness and casualness is sure to make @restaurantfzn a special place indeed. Less

Through the train window to Ostend, I gaze at the endless plain that is Belgium.
I wonder what Willem Hiele’s food is.
The surfer chef, almost two meters tall, with long hair and a Viking look, who once told me he loved the beaches of my country when I first met him a few years ago.
Coming from a family of fishermen, seafood reigns supreme in his kitchen.
“My mountain is the sea,” he told me when we were talking about another chef whose identity is rooted in the mountains.
Scallops (first in their shell with smoked plums and tomatoes, then with truffles and walnuts), clams, razor clams, mackerel, mussels (with their own miso and pumpkin), monkfish, sea bass, oysters, langoustines (with radishes and caviar) and the essencial small Ostend shrimp.
Meat plays a subtle yet thoughtful role: smoked duck paired unexpectedly with mackerel, tender hare with Trompette de la Mort mushrooms in cherry sauce, and a pristine wild goose consommé with mushrooms and apple.
And then that intriguing vegetable dish, perhaps the most original and accomplished of all, whose correct name I can’t remember, but it would be close to ‘Still life of all the fruits and vegetables of last summer’. Pumpkins, tomatoes, beetroot and figs, and perhaps something else, preserved through brining, drying, and smoking, were thinly sliced and layered like abstract brushstrokes on a small rectangular canvas.
The idea came to Willem when he saw a painting by the French painter of Belarusian origin Chaïm Soutine called ‘Carcass of Beef’.
In fact, there is little or nothing in common between it and the dish, apart from its bold, faded colours. But it was enough to awaken something in Willem, a lateral thought. Things that happen when you look outside your own bubble.
In all of this, the fire.
In the courtyard, as the day draws to a close and the light fades. In the wood-burning oven to my left and in the fireplace lined with pots, pans, and hanging fish bones. The fire he uses to impart unique textures to ingredients—those mussels!—and subtle smoke notes throughout his dishes.
No strict rules, conventions or obvious classical references. A cuisine that is intrinsically intuitive, I felt. And his own. Less

Maybe it was the langoustine with koshihikari rice underneath (puffed?) and ginger.
Or the otoro crudo with Japanese turnip, raw and in the shape of a flower, with fermented strawberry and coffee oil.
Or the turbot “barigoule” with shio kombu & pine.
Or the most perfect Chawanmushi with smoked beef broth and caviar.
Or the king crab with saffron beurre blanc, sea buckthorn and ikura.
Or the duck. Ohhhhh! The duck! With foie gras, kampot pepper & wasabi (and some stunning lemon condiment - I have to ask them what it was) in that fabulous sauce you want to soak your bread in until there’s no bread left.
Or perhaps it was the impeccable Nordic design of the dining room. The fire cooking in the open-plan kitchen (flawless extraction, by the way).
And the wine pairing. The clever mixing of wines and non-alcoholic drinks on a single pairing.
And the little things like the “old style”, very welcome, table-side finishing and plating.
And of course, the playlist. The “Sultons of Swing”, the “I was made to lovin’you”, the Rick James’ “Super Freak”…
Or was it the party I was fortunate enough to share a table with?
I don’t know.
I do know that I had such a good time at @restaurantfzn a few days before it officially opened last Friday at @atlantisthepalm
The way @bjornfrantzen and @torstenvildgaard combine Nordic, French and Asian cuisine is superbly balanced and utterly delicious.
The way they combine fine dining with a sense of playfulness and casualness is sure to make @restaurantfzn a special place indeed. Less

I don’t know if it’s always sunny on Lake Garda, I’m told it isn’t, but I do know that something shines brightly at @ristorantelido84 . In the kitchen, on the table, in the colours of the dining room, full of artworks by @stefanobombardierisculptor, in the garden with its feet almost in the water, in the Rigatoni Cacio e Pepe ‘en Vessie’, in the tiles on the outside tables with drawings by Giò Ponti, in the Fusillone 84 hours, in the lights by Davide Groppi, in the sea urchin, beautiful, with Mushrooms Broth, Red Spruce Hydrolate and Marsala, opening the menu.
You never want to leave. Less

3 Michelin Star @hisafranko from @anaros40 keeps getting better and better. A true sense of place, lightness, freshness and perfect seasoning. Plus a young, professional and in “their element” front of house staff. “Cooking and hosting is an art” says Ana. Indeed.
Pics: “Trout the queen”/“Hay baked potato, fenugreek &e roasted yeast infused sour cream”, a HF classic/“Autumn harvest”, super good. Less