Restaurant Hof van Cleve has been in a lovely farmhouse in the fields of Flanders for over 30 years. It has had 3 Michelin stars since 2005 and it is currently ranked 63rd in San Pellegrino’s top 100 restaurants in the world. The restaurant is owned and operated by chef Peter Goossens and his wife Lieve Goossens, who runs the front of house. We opted for the large tasting menu and enjoyed every dish that was presented.
We started with a little bite of shrimp, kamut and horseradish. The Oriental wheat cracker was a great base for the shrimp mousse with dill and horseradish. Our next little teaser course was a thick tomato soup with pureed rocket salad and basil oil. There was a choice of bread on a cart that was passed through: Spelt – Meule; Rye – Liefmans; Wheat – Orval; Durum – Foccacia; Wheat – Campagne; Camp Remy – Baguette; Sprouted Spelt – Kamut. They were served with a fabulous whipped butter with sea salt that had one of the specially designed Antoine Van Loocke knives for us to use.
Our next course was a Hamachi yellowtail in a miso broth with slumber peas and noodles. This was followed with chicken liver with langoustine and mango. This flavor combination was amazing and so inventive. It was definitely at this point of the evening where I knew this was going to be one of my favorite experiences. The next dish confirmed that. It was probably the best octopus dish I’ve ever had. The octopus was served with chorizo and goat cheese.
The heart of the menu began with King crab with cucumber, basil, tomato and stracchino cheese. I’m not sure how he does it but that slice of tomato was perfectly peeled and sliced. Langoustine from Guilvinec, France was served with fennel, Old Bruges cheese and sake with a side dish of the langoustine with miso and seaweed. He treated this iconic product of Guilvinec with exceptional care.
A beautifully prepared monkfish with artichoke, eggplant and mussel came next. The next dish was spicy fish served with zucchini, olive and tomato. The menu listed salmon but I do not care for it and the chef was nice enough to switch out salmon with turbot. As you can see, the dishes look almost identical and even with the strong spice, my turbot dish was delicious.
Squab from the Anjou region of France was also prepared two ways. The primary preparation was with lettuce, chanterelles and chick peas. The pigeon was perfectly cooked. The side preparation had a tariyaki glaze and corn slaw. It was fun to see two takes on squab and I loved both of them. The next dish was a palate cleanser of white peach, raspberry, elderflower and rose water.
We were then presented with the gorgeous cheese course which was an optional add-on or replacement for dessert and a little bite of truffle with 70% Mexican chocolate with sea buckthorn, bergamot and apple. They then wheeled over the dessert cart and served whatever we wanted off of that with a nicely prepared warm chocolate Madeleine and perfect beignets. The whole experience was wonderful and has made a space into my top ten restaurant dinners.
Hof Van Cleve, Riemegemstraat 1, 9770 Kruishoutem, Belgium; Tel. +32 9 383 58 48; Reservations required; Lunch Wed – Sat 12-13/closed at 17. Dinner Tue – Sat 19:30 – 20:30/closed at 0:30.
Food Travel & Me 