French cuisine may be known the world over, but little Belgium can certainly hold its own. Many consider fine dining to be almost a religious experience, as the sheer number of restaurants – many of them tiny and family-owned – can attest to.

Michelin three-star chefs like Pierre Wynants of Brussels’ Comme Chez Soi and Geert Van Hecke of Bruges’ De Karmeliet have put Belgium on the world gastronomic map, but there’s a whole generation of young talents destined to follow in their footsteps.

It was a tough job, but someone had to do it: We scoured the country for the crème de la crème and are putting our bets on these restaurateurs, all under age 40 – two in Brussels, one in Wallonia, one in Flanders – for future star status.

Simon Saidi
Le Poulbot de Bruxelles
A trained chemist, 29-year-old Simon Saidi can’t imagine doing anything other than cooking. “I love everything about it,” he says as the final lunch customers clear out around 3pm at his restaurant. Le Poulbot de Bruxelles is named after the street urchins (le poulbot) of Paris’ Montmartre district, as depicted on the business card by Saidi’s cherubic infant son.

A disciple of Belgium’s Alain Troubat and Philippe Gillet – the latter of whom he helped earn a Michelin star for Brussels’ Au Vieux Boitsfort – Saidi insists he doesn’t want a star himself. Given his original cuisine and penchant for presentation, he may get one anyway.

Saidi has dreamed of running his own restaurant for as long as he can remember. As a child he helped out in his parents’ eatery, some years later he opened Le Poulbot in June 2000 in a low-rent district near the Belgian and Flemish parliaments.

The décor of Le Poulbot is basic – the opposite of Saidi’s beautifully crafted dishes. The menu changes monthly, though some favourites – like tatin of endives with sweetbread and morel mushrooms and lobster canelloni, paired with garlic-roasted langoustines – do encores.

While Saidi doesn’t advertise, winning a bronze medal from Brussels’ 2003 Delta Restaurant Guide was a major boost to his career. Saidi has also recently opened a delicatessen, and runs a chef-at-home business offering customers the opportunity of having a gourmet meal cooked in their home.

While he doesn’t mind all the work, Saidi would rather his seven-year-old son, who enjoys peeling carrots, not follow in his footsteps. “What I do is all-consuming,” he admits.

Le Poulbot de Bruxelles, 29 rue de la Croix de Fer, 1000 Brussels, tel/fax: +32 (0)2 513 3861, www.lepoulbot.be

Damien Vanderhoeven
Le Coriandre, Brussels

In the decade since Damien Vanderhoeven opened Le Coriandre in Brussels’ Watermael-Boitsfort commune near the Forêt de Soignes, he has never repeated a dish on the menu.

That’s something in which the 37- year-old restaurateur takes particular pride, as well as the fact that everything he serves is made on the premises.

Vanderhoeven says the most important thing about cooking is to use fresh ingredients. “One must always adhere to the highest quality,” says the fan of France’s Pierre Gagnaire and Michel Bras. For Vanderhoeven, that means keeping dishes light and simple, using garnishes sparingly and going light on cream and butter.

His delicate touch is reflected in concoctions such as sole stuffed with truffles, surrounded by a pale green coulis of watercress and a splash of walnut oil. While satisfying, these dishes aren’t over-filling and they are also fairly priced, something which earned Le Coriandre a Bib Gourmand from the 2004 Michelin dining guide.

Although Vanderhoeven rarely cooks with coriander, he does sometimes use it as garnish, for example with terrine of duck foie gras, served with fig jelly and a type of pungent Malaysian pepper (the condiment, not the vegetable).

While Vanderhoeven presides over the kitchen, his charming wife, Agnes, a trained sommelier, greets diners and guides them through the 180-strong, mainly French wine list.
An avid tennis player, Vanderhoeven would relish cooking for a top Belgian athlete like Justine Henin or Kim Clijsters. He dreams of getting a Michelin star, but dreads the stress it could bring. “Once you get one, you have to work hard to keep it,” he says.

Le Coriandre, 21 rue Middelbourg, 1170 Brussels, tel: +32 (0)2 672 4565, www.lecoriandre.be

In the decade since Vanderhoeven opened
Le Coriandre he has never repeated a dish

Paul Hendrickx
Aneth, Bruges

Paul Hendrickx decided he wanted to be a cook at the tender age of six. Two years later, he began cooking pancakes and simple desserts after receiving his first cookbook.

Today, the 38-year-old Antwerp native with numerous culinary awards to his name runs Aneth, a restaurant specialising in seafood, in a refurbished 1920s-era house in Bruges. Aneth is French for dill, which Hendrickx often uses in the summer, and it is also a pun on his wife’s name, Annette. Her role is to welcome the customers.

Initially Aneth specialised exclusively in seafood, but a couple of years ago it began experimenting with different fish and meat combinations.

“Sometimes the customers ask how do you do it, but after so many years my head is like a big dictionary,” he says. A huge customer favourite is the prawn with sweet potatoes, spring onions and pork tongue, accompanied by smoked garlic sauce.

Hendrickx also concocts his own range of liqueurs each flavoured with a single herb like tarragon or lemon verbena. He and partner Bart Werbrouck sell these liqueurs to other restaurants in Belgium, France, Netherlands and Luxembourg, through a separate business called Herbae.

Although the former doctors’
residence that houses Aneth is a 20th- century dwelling, the wood-panelled interior with its crystal chandeliers, wood-beamed ceiling and stained glass windows evokes the work of 17th- century Dutch painter Jan Vermeer.

Hendrickx draws his inspiration from the late French culinary legend Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935) and his own mentor, Belgium’s Eddie Van Maelle, but tries whenever possible to use local ingredients. The seafood, however, comes primarily from France’s Brittany coast. Hendrickx changes the menu every six to eight weeks, and says he never serves scallops in summer, when they’re out of season.

Hendrickx never serves scallops in the
summer, when they’re out of season

And what about a Michelin star? “When it comes we will be glad, but so long as the customers are happy, I’m happy.”

Aneth, Maria Van Bourgondiëlaan 1, 8000 Bruges, tel: +32 (0)50 31 11 89, www.aneth.be

Frédéric Salpetier
Heliport Restaurant, Liège

In July 2004, best friends Frédéric Salpetier and Emmanuel Nava opened a restaurant on the banks of the Meuse river in Liège. The eatery, called Héliport, is located next to an actual heliport and has already become popular among the local business elite.

If it’s not the food they come for, it’s the view of the river or even the chance of combining a meal with a short sightseeing helicopter ride. Salpetier is
keeping mum on the prices, but says it’s already becoming popular among corporate clients.

The wood-panelled interior with its oversized windows and port-holed doors feels very much like the hull of a ship, and indeed the restaurant that was there before was named Le Bateau Ivre (literally, “the drunken boat”).

Salpetier, who changes the menu about five times a year, does not specialise in any one dish. He is, however, partial to fish – undoubtedly a reflection of his time at Brussels’ two Michelin-starred restaurant, Sea Grill.

A veteran in the business for nearly two decades and an admirer of France’s Alain Ducasse and Michel Bras, the 38-year-old Libramont native was named Liège province’s top young chef of tomorrow in the 2005 GaultMillau Benelux dining guide.

Though the father of two young children has little free time to travel, he believes the Belgian palate has become much more demanding as a result of people travelling to exotic places and getting acquainted with new flavours.

Heliport’s wine list helpfully features
descriptions of lesser-known varieties

Salpetier likes to make interesting combinations, as evidenced in a light foamy lentil soup featuring leek ravioli and fois gras added just before serving. The wine list helpfully features detailed descriptions of lesser-known varieties from non-French countries, and spotlights several smaller vintners.

Nava runs his own garage and leaves the running of the restaurant to Salpetier, who enjoys mingling with customers as much as he loves cooking. “What I like most about the job is the variety,” Salpetier beams.

Heliport Restaurant, 37z Boulevald Frere Orban, 4000 Liège, tel: +32 (0)4 252 1321, www.restaurantheliport.be