Belgium has long been a serious beer drinker’s destination, and when combined with great foods, a week’s trip is a delight. The entire country—Wallonia in the south and Flanders in the north—is chock-full of great breweries and restaurants. That’s too much to tackle in one week so we focused on Flanders—with a visit to the capitol, Brussels, which straddles the north-south political, social and psychological divide of the country.
Gasthof ‘t Hommelhof Brasserie
Where to start? Anywhere is perfect, but the sleepy village of Watou in the southwest part of Flanders, almost a stone’s throw from the French border, is as good as any.
“I arrived 17 years ago from Antwerp in a village between two breweries, so it was an easy decision to cook with beer,” said Chef Stefaan Couttenye of Gasthof ’t Hommelhof Brasserie in Watou. The two breweries Chef Couttenye referred to are Brouwerij Van Eecke, a three- minute walk past the church and across the village square, and Brouwerij St. Bernard, also in Watou.
As a result of all this, Chef Couttenye has not only turned ’t Hommelhof into a destination restaurant for food and beer lovers, he’s also become a beer cookbook author with Het Bierkeukenboek (The Beer Kitchen Book).
One of Chef Couttenye’s great-grandfathers was a brewer in nearby Dranouter, so he figured that “beer was in my blood.” He was raised in Antwerp and, against his parents’ wishes, he studied cooking at the Hotelschool Ter Duinen in Koksijde, Belgium. After years of apprenticeship and working as a sous chef in restaurants in Belgium and France, he was presented with the opportunity to open his own restaurant in what was a run-down dance hall in Watou. At that time, the village was becoming a summer destination for artists and poets. To set himself apart and attract customers, he focused on beer in his kitchen.
“It was clear in which direction I had to go,” Chef Couttenye said. “I would start experimenting with beer. I would attempt to revitalize the ancient tradition of cooking with beer and creating a new, modern version more in tune with modern eating habits.”
