Watch the Action at the Chef's Counter of Restaurant Bon Bon in Brussels

Brussels is the capital of Belgium and considered by many to be the heart of Europe since the EU's headquarters are here. Because of this, the city's food scene is influenced by many different cultures and some of the best restaurants are found here, like Bon Bon, located on the outskirts of Brussels in Wallouis-Saint-Pierre. Tonight, we're dining at the two Michelin-starred restaurant Bon Bon C'est Bon. Chef Christophe Hartequist's tasting menu takes Belgian tradition and brings it into the new era. My name is Christophe Hartequist and this is the restaurant Bon Bon. I'm 45 years old and I'm running my restaurant since 20 years now. I'm thinking about the name of my restaurant and we were always in the kitchen and we say, C'est Bon, C'est Bon Bon. And it was very easy. I got two Michelin stars. I moved here 10 years ago from my bistro and the second stars arrived maybe at 2014. Now we are working as a third one can come, you know? And it's always like that. And if the third one come, we are working as the fourth one existing, you know? Belgian, modern, signature cuisine. How can I describe my cuisine? It's something like that. When I started Bon Bon, it was not the same cuisine as today. Today, I think I'm very based in the Belgian tradition and I give a new vision of the Belgian tradition in my cuisine. It's nice to work on the territory of your country to have a maximum of identity in the plate. For me, gastronomy, modern gastronomy, it's identity in the plate. Otherwise, we can eat the same thing everywhere. I'm working with local product, horse mackerel, for example. Nobody knows that here in Belgium, they don't know about horse mackerel. And for me, it's a kind of fish I love because I'm loving the Japanese food. So tonight, we will present you a jewel of oysters from Zeeland oysters from the borders with Holland. It's served with just a little cream and it comes with a white celery, jelly of cucumber and mint, and jelly vodka and tonic. What people found funny, it's find a traditional recipe cooked in another way, in a lighter way, and redeveloping the vision of the dish. We are cooking for Belgian people, especially when Belgian are discovering this kind of food. They are saying, I know this taste. It's a mother taste. It's a childhood taste. And another one, it's tomato crevettes. Tomato crevettes, they are little gray shrimps. And usually, they are cooked on the boat in the salt water because they are very fragile. I asked the fishermen to bring me the shrimps alive. We are killing them, but they are raw. When we are serving them, they are raw. And it's so interesting because they are 3D. The taste is completely different. We are serving tomato crevettes, tomato shrimps in the Belgian tradition. You will have also pork alberdouille. Usually, it's made with pork chop and it's deglazed with picalili. We call it spirling. It's a kind of pork chop, but the neck. I created these desserts 15 years ago for a winemaker. Botrytisé, it means with the flavors of mushrooms. I said, it smells like mushrooms. So I will create something with mushrooms. It was 15 years ago. And I created the Sepp Café, Sepp Mushroom Coffee. It's a mix of caramel ice cream with the sabayon, a kind of emulsion with Sepp mushrooms and coffee. We are making a dried slice of Sepp mushrooms. Everybody loves that because it's completely unbelievable to have mushroom flavors at the end of the meal. You can't cook today if you don't have a story to tell. So behind each recipe, there is a real story. If you like our work, support us on Patreon, where we also have a food community called The Hungry. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more food and travel videos. And be sure to follow us on Instagram at Andershusa and Carnivore. Thanks for watching.