“Our philosophy is to create an experience that is honest about who and where we are, the constraints of our philosophy are both our biggest challenge and our motivating force. Our kitchen is therefore sometimes brutal, sometimes soft, but always natural.”
– Kobe Desramaults
When booking our Belgium trip I didn’t know what to think about our reservation at In De Wulf . In 2014 In De Wulf was number 61 in the top 100 of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. In 2015 it vanished.
Once a farm, In De Wulf is a restaurant and bed and breakfast in the backwoods of Belgium just few hundred meters from the French border. Unpretentious from the outside, it’s (as you will read) a culinary paradise inside.
In order to fully appreciate the experience of In De Wulf I highly encourage anyone visiting to have dinner and spend the night. After savoring an exciting tasting menu you can adjourn to your room and enjoy being serenaded by cows as you fall asleep in a rustic room furnished with elegant Flemish decor. And just when you think your stay cannot get any more magical, you will awake to the smell of a wood fire oven baking bread. You will transcend to the breakfast room where the loaves of bread that awakened you minutes ago are served with aged butter, local cheese and freshly made rillettes. Fresh farm eggs are made to order by a cook on an antique gas stove. And an apple rosette cake, ALMOST to pretty to eat, sits next to a bowl of home made muesli and fresh cow’s milk.
If there is a heaven I’m hoping In De Wulf was used at the blueprint.
The main restaurant is dimly lit with rustic decor and a dramatic centerpiece . Much like the food at In De Wulf, the restaurant is warm and inviting with bold accents.
The menu of Flemish inspired cuisine is both seasonal and local. Most of the ingredients are sourced from local farmers in France and Belgium. We savored dishes with exquisite yet gentle flavors like a warm egg custard with shrimp miso and turbot roe drizzled with hazelnut oil. You were surprised by dishes a like grilled mackerel presented on smoking curry leaves. Or the pork pie, a flax seed crust filled with tender pork cheeks and other tasty pork bits topped with a layer of pork jam served on an animal skull.
Our meal challenge all of our sense. It was also a bit of roller coaster. One dish was soft and subtle then POW, big bold flavors.
Accompanying our meal was a 24 hour fermented sourdough bread served with homemade cultured butter and first cold pressed rapeseed oil from a town near Brussels.
The bread was magical. It was baked in a wood-fired oven located outside in the back of the restaurant. The bread was crusty on the outside and warm and spongy on the inside with deep nooks and crannies perfect for a slathering of butter.
Our wine pairing were as adventurous as the food. We enjoyed wines from Spain and France as well as a local “champagne” made from just down the road from the restaurant. I highly recommend the wine pairings as the sommelier has an adventerous palate. The wines selected were both complimentary and interesting.
We finished our dinner by retiring to the parlor. Charlie sipped port and I drank coffee while savoring freshly made donuts and mini fruit tarts garnished with the sweetest raspberries I have ever tasted.
Everything about In De Wulf far exceeded my expectations. If you plan to go to In De Wulf, you need to go soon. It was announced in late October that they will be shuttering their doors in December of 2016. I have no plans to return to Belgium in 2016 but I might need to rethink my travel plans to have one last meal at In De Wulf.
8950, Heuvelland
(Dranouter), Belgium
Diner on Wednesday till Sunday
lunch only on Friday and Sunday
Lunch on Thursday in July/August
Closed on (Annual leave) 2016:
21st of December untill 12th of Jan
1st of March until 14th of March
31st of Aug. until 13th of Sept
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