Hertog Jan

Un véritable coup de cœur jusqu’ici indétronable !! Maîtrise des goûts et plats tous plus originaux les uns que les autres. J’en rêve encore 5 ans plus tard !! Une explosion de produits frais et de légumes récoltés dans leur potager.
Ce n’est sans doute pas le genre de restaurant que l’on peut budgétiser toutes les semaines mais c’est clairement à tester pour une grande occasion ou juste si l’on veut avoir les yeux remplis d’étoiles pendant toute une soirée :-) !
Pour né rien enlever au charme de la soirée, vous repartirez avec le menu complet sur un petit papier, histoire de né rien oublier !

The Mr & I tried getting reservations at 3-​Michelin Star Hertog Jan, for a Saturday, over 2 months in advance but they were completely booked — if you’re seeking a weekend treat, you’ll want to book right away!
However all was not lost as we were fortunate enough to be arriving in Bruges on a Friday afternoon so we were able to take advantage of their Friday evening availability (still reserving 2+ months in advance) — score!
The place is very modern in appearance and the dining area reminds me of 2-​Michelin Star restaurant Atelier Crenn in San Francisco — but much larger in scale. There is a farm right outside & this is the very farm from which they get their herbs & veggies & if that’s not as close to farm to table as one can get, I don’t know what is
We chose their Vegetarian Tasting Menu & this 3-​Michelin Star restaurant lived up to their rating in every aspect from atmosphere to staff to food… & in fact, we rank our overall experience among the very best meals we’ve ever, ever, had… ever!
Started our evening with a nice stroll around the gardens while sipping a homemade lemonade with basil and rosemary — it was lovely!
After being seated, we were presented with a choice of Andre Clouet champagnes. The Mr chose a dry Brut & I selected the 1911-​limited edition blend which was among the best sparkling wines I’ve ever had — it was fruity yet dry with lots of flavor — we could have had a whole bottle of this! Then our feast commenced…
* Eggplant mousse nest with cheese log
* Chef’s version of pizza — like freeze dried tomato that came back to life in the mouth
* Avocado in tomato powder & sea salt with olive oil from Spain
* Asparagus mousses (green & white) & egg yolk on top of thinly sliced asparagus
* Cream of coffee, potato, & cheese
* Roasted red pepper stuffed with goat cheese in red pepper broth
* Local asparagus with herbs & flowers, flavored with clarified butter & nutmeg
* Beetroot & raspberry with vanilla aroma
* Mushrooms, spinach, cabbage, & something else (cannot remember)
* Celeriac & mushrooms
* «Walk through the garden». Lots of different veggies — fennel root, leek, asparagus, radish, pea pod yellow carrot, beet red & yellow, purple carrot, herbs
* Cheese course — huge cart offering local cheeses from surrounding regions
* Rhubarb & 1^st flowers from garden — eat together. Paired with a late harvest Gewürztraminer
* Bergamot & freeze-​dried olives
* Dessert Cart — we chose: canale, bread pudding, cream puff & cookie
About halfway through the meal, tables were presented the opportunity to take a tour through the kitchen & meet the chef — we kindly declined as it is not really our «thing» to meet the chef and intrude on the kitchen, plus, there is a large picture window between the dining room and kitchen so we were watching the team preparing our masterpieces all evening… so the Mr & I already felt included in the whole experience — but it was such a nice touch to offer & many tables were eager to take the tour
As the evening came to an end, we were among 3 – 4 other tables who all closed out the place, departing at the same time… thank goodness there were taxis waiting for us all as we were definitely a merry bunch given all the wine & delish food…& did I mention wine?
TOTAL
2 people
4 hours
15 courses
2 champagnes, 2 glasses reisling, 1 bottle pinot noir, 2 dessert wines
€ 800 before tip

Several years ago, we had the privilege of touring the vegetable garden and the chef, Gert de Mangeleer told us his plan to build his new restaurant at the location. Now years later we were back to dine at the spanking new restaurant. It’s located outside of Brugge in a charming town called Zedelgem. The transformation of the farm to the restaurant was amazing.
The Hertog Jan restaurant (3 Michelin Stars) was a spacious contemporary designed restaurant, the old barn, a historically preserved site, was transformed into the kitchen equipped with the most state of the art kitchen appliances. The dining room separated by all glass windows and doors, veery minimalistic, facing a spectacular view of the vegetable garden. Gert was well known for produces from his vegetable garden. We were seated near the window with a majestic view of the garden.
We chose the «Intense Experience» menu, starting with several highly technically prepared amuse bouche they were so packed with flavors we were occupied with enjoying them. The presentations were amazing of course. Course after course we were like «WoW». Some of favorite courses: 1) fresh garden radish with Belgian caviar, mozzarella and marinated watermelon: everything was packed with fresh flavors and perfectly balanced. 2) the scallop with smoked bone marrow and curry oil — that was a masterfully prepared dish (my fav of all) 3) the tete de veau with langoustine coiled in kunife pastry, fresh mushrooms and tomato powder — it was the best surf and turf in the making. 4) braised oxtail and Carpentras black truffles and cream of polder potatoes — very intense umami flavors that kept lingering in the mouth. We chose a wonderful bottle of Meursault a full bodied yet elegant wine. The sommeliers are award winning so you know you are in good hands. The service was impeccable too! It was a wonderful experience, looking forward to visit again.