4 - Recognised
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The kitchen shows confirmed practice across six areas of responsible cooking. Sourcing is the backbone: named Flemish growers and producers cover almost every category, from asparagus at Spitsbroek and vegetables from Wingene to eggs at Heidi's Hoeve in Pittem, and those names are printed on the menu cards. Seasonality is structural: menus are rebuilt as the year turns and dishes are held to four ingredients.
Waste is addressed through whole animal cookery, with hares, ducks and pheasants broken down from head to foot and bones taken through to sauce, alongside a working fermentation and pickling programme and leek tops turned into oil and powder. Animal products are traced to named farms and to a game dealer in Gent, and Broes Tavernier has been a member of NorthSeaChefs since 2015, cooking the lesser known species and the bycatch landed by Belgian boats.
On the social side the kitchen is run by a long serving team of specialists, with kitchen roles filled by people trained on site and three fixed closing days each week. Vegetables are the other half of the menu rather than a concession: a complete field menu has run at three, four and five courses since 2016 and can be made fully vegan on request. Those practices are recognised outside the restaurant. 't Vijfde Seizoen holds five radishes in the We're Smart Green Guide, that guide's highest level for vegetable led cooking, and the NorthSeaChefs membership carries a charter on responsible fish sourcing.
The impact dimensions
Low waste & circular practices✓
Sustainable animal products✓
Eight named Flemish growers are printed on menu cards and drawn on the terrace wall, all within 35 km.
The restaurant's own suppliers page credits eight food producers by name and place: Asperges Spitsbroek, Biotomaat uit Ruddervoorde, Brasvar in Nevele (farmer Christophe), Heidi's Hoeve in Pittem, cheese from Frederik Vantriccht, Koffiebranderij Viva, Schottenhof in Dudzele (Steven Schramme) and Wild en Gevogelte Diegenant in Gent. All sit in East or West Flanders, roughly 8 to 35 km from Aalter. The practice is given physical form: the producers' names are printed on the menu cards and their faces are drawn on the terrace wall.
Independent coverage corroborates rather than merely repeats the claim. The Michelin Guide records that Tavernier 'hails his suppliers as heroes, which speaks volumes for his commitment to locally sourced produce.' Gault&Millau notes close collaboration with quality local suppliers, and reviews carry per-dish origins: young leeks from Wingene, chicory from Egem, and Belfurn Angus beef from Veurne.
Menus are rebuilt each season: spring asparagus and fresh dishes, summer tomatoes, autumn game and mushrooms, winter chicory and roots.
Seasonality is the founding concept. The restaurant is named for a fifth season, described on its own site as an extra dimension added to each of the four, and its stated position is 'respect for our growers, our product, the region and the season.' Menu formats are named and rebuilt by season: WinterMiddag, Herfstexpressie, Winterexpressie and a summer menu appear across the sources, each a different composition.
In a trade feature the chef describes the kitchen as 'season based product cooking', serving dishes of local seasonal ingredients with a maximum of four ingredients. A November 2023 interview sets out the seasonal turn in detail, from summer tomatoes and fresh dishes to the game season's deep, earthy flavours with mushrooms, chicory, Jerusalem artichoke, Brussels sprouts and quince compote. No out of season ingredient appeared in any menu retrieved.
Whole game animals are processed head to feet with bones into stock and organs into pâté; a fermentation programme produces miso, koji, soy sauce and garum in house.
Food waste is addressed through specific, named practice. In a November 2023 trade interview the chef describes buying whole game and using all of it: 'I always start with whole hares, ducks, pheasants and process everything, from head to feet, even offal', with hare shoulders into civet, liver and organs into pâté and bones into stocks that become sauces. On leek greens: the kitchen must use what nature offers, turning the green part into oil or powder rather than discarding it.
An independent December 2024 review documents a working fermentation programme run by sous chef Lisa Elenbaas, producing miso, koji, soy sauce and garum in house; garum is built from trimmings and offcuts. Preservation appears across menus as pickled winter vegetables, pickled haddock and sauerkraut. NorthSeaChefs membership adds waste valorisation on the fish side, since the collective's purpose is to bring lesser known species and bycatch into use.
Named suppliers for pork, eggs, dairy and game; NorthSeaChefs member since 2015 with a charter on responsible fish sourcing; menus feature North Sea crab, sea bream, cockles and haddock.
Animal products are traced to named suppliers across every category served. The restaurant's suppliers page names Brasvar in Nevele for pork (farmer Christophe), Heidi's Hoeve in Pittem for eggs, Schottenhof in Dudzele for farmhouse butter and dairy (Steven Schramme), and Wild en Gevogelte Diegenant in Gent for game and poultry. On the fish side, Broes Tavernier has been a NorthSeaChefs member since 2015, listed by name and year on the collective's own register.
NorthSeaChefs brings together Belgian chefs to promote Belgian landed fish and in particular lesser known species and bycatch, under an ethical charter covering responsible sourcing, respect for the season and knowledge sharing. Menus bear this out: North Sea crab, sea bream, cockles, haddock and red mullet appear rather than high impact farmed commodities. The kitchen also buys whole wild game and uses all of it.
A long-serving kitchen team includes sous chef Lisa Elenbaas in fermentation and food science and pastry chef Stefanie Devriendt; kitchen roles are open to inexperienced candidates with on-site training; three fixed closing days per week.
The restaurant's vacancies page sets out concrete terms: an attractive wage, meal vouchers, fixed days off on Wednesday, Sunday and Thursday evening, and a kitchen role explicitly open to candidates without extensive experience who will be trained on site, with stated room to develop in hospitality and wine and service knowledge. An independent December 2024 review corroborates the outcome rather than the terms, naming a long serving kitchen team of specialists: sous chef Lisa Elenbaas (fermentation and food science), pastry chef Stefanie Devriendt, Julie De Walsche on amuses, sommelier Ilana Brugmans and Puja Jugjali on preparation.
A complete field menu has run since 2016 at three, four and five courses, a full vegetable counterpart to every tasting menu; vegan versions are arranged when booking.
The vegetable offer is structural rather than a concession. A complete field menu, the Veldmenu, has run alongside the regular menu since September 2016 at every length: Veldgevoel at three courses, Veldverlangen at four and Veldexpressie at five, so each tasting menu has a full vegetable counterpart rather than a single substituted dish. The We're Smart Green Guide, the priority authority on plant forward cooking, records that vegetables play a central role in Tavernier's dishes and that every menu is available in a vegetarian version.
The We're Smart Green Guide holds 't Vijfde Seizoen at five radishes, the guide's highest level. Euro-Toques lists the same twenty chefs as 'We're Smart 5 Radish restaurants' and names Broes Tavernier and 't Vijfde Seizoen explicitly. A vegan specialist blog documents a four course vegan tasting menu arranged when reserving, and the standing position is that the vegetarian menu can be made vegan on request. Independent reviews treat the vegetarian course as a full alternative in its own right.
Sourcing signals
✓
Direct named-farm sourcing
✓
Low-impact beverage program
Eight producers are named with place and in several cases the individual's first name on the restaurant's suppliers page; independent reviews corroborate with per-dish origins.
Stocks and sauces from whole-game bones, liver and offal into pâté, leek tops into oil and powder; fermentation programme produces miso, koji, soy sauce and garum in house.
Specialty coffee from named local roastery Koffiebranderij Viva; craft non-alcoholic drinks made in house as a full alternative to wine pairing.
