4 - Recognised
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Produce comes through Calabi, the Flemish short chain platform that links restaurants directly to local growers, and Karen Shu speaks with those growers every week; she also forages for wild ingredients. Because the growers tell her what is ready, the card is written around the harvest and turns over month by month rather than holding to a fixed list.
Waste is dealt with at the ingredient level: stems are cooked into broths and trimmings into powders and soups, so almost all of a vegetable is used, and Shu asks her suppliers to deliver in wooden crates in place of plastic packaging.
The menu is entirely plant based, with vegetables at the centre of each dish rather than at its edge, so no meat, poultry or seafood is bought at all.
and/or is listed in the We're Smart Green Guide, the international guide to vegetable led restaurants, and appears in Calabi's Lokaalgids Vlaanderen directory of short chain kitchens. It also holds a Bib Gourmand in the 2026 Michelin Guide Belgium and Luxembourg and scores 13.5 out of 20 with Gault&Millau Belgium.
The impact dimensions
Low waste & circular practices✓
Sustainable animal products
Sourced through Calabi, the Flemish short chain platform linking kitchens to local growers, with weekly direct grower contact that shapes the monthly menu.
Calabi is the named sourcing channel, a documented platform that connects restaurants to Flemish producers directly. The Michelin Guide reports that growers communicate weekly what is available, and the kitchen adapts the menu to that availability. This is strong producer proximity: direct supply through a single named intermediary with structured weekly engagement.
Calabi's Lokaalgids Vlaanderen, the platform's own directory of short chain kitchens, independently lists and/or and describes Karen Shu as a chef with strong local engagement. The restaurant's own positioning emphasizes local and wild ingredients through foraging and collaboration with local farmers. Producer proximity therefore sets the level, and the evidence for L3 is strong: a single named sourcing channel with verified weekly grower contact, rather than multiple named suppliers across categories.
Monthly menu changes driven by what local growers report as ready, with seasonality structural to the kitchen's entire offering.
The Michelin Guide records that growers tell the kitchen what is available and the offering is adapted to match, which the chef describes as what enables seasonal cooking. The restaurant runs entirely a la carte with no fixed menu. An independent interview reports that the card changes monthly in rhythm with what is in season.
Calabi's short chain guide independently describes the dishes as arriving in rhythm with the season. The restaurant's own positioning is local, seasonal and plant based, with no fixed reference menu, the card is written around the harvest and turns over month by month. Seasonality is therefore structural, not decorative.
Stems are cooked into broths and trimmings into powders and soups; suppliers deliver in returnable wooden crates instead of plastic.
Food waste: the Michelin Guide reports that nearly all components of the produce are repurposed, with stems becoming broths and offcuts becoming powders or soups, and notes the chef's observation that a household produces more waste than her operation. Packaging: the same source records that she coordinates with her farmers weekly and asks them to deliver in wooden crates rather than plastic packaging, a returnable transport solution.
The restaurant's own site states a commitment to promoting a no or low waste approach within the hospitality community. Two specific sub-areas are therefore documented across the food and packaging blocks, with independent corroboration.
Not applicable. The restaurant is fully plant-based.
The kitchen is entirely plant-based: no meat, poultry, fish or seafood appears on any part of the offering. The Michelin Guide describes the cooking as plant-based and invariably vegan, Gault&Millau classifies the cuisine as vegan, the We're Smart Green Guide listing describes a pure plant-based concept, and the published a la carte menu contains no animal products.
Counter service keeps pricing accessible; short chain sourcing returns value to local producers.
The counter service model lets the chef and sous chef plate directly, which supports accessible pricing by avoiding reservation-heavy multi-course service. The kitchen deliberately keeps seats available for walk-ins and diner choice rather than a fixed tasting structure. Buying through Calabi, the short chain platform, returns a larger share of value to local producers than conventional supply.
Fully plant-based; vegetables are unambiguously the centre of every dish.
The We're Smart Green Guide, the international guide to vegetable-led restaurants, lists and/or and describes a pure plant-based sharing concept under chef Karen Shu. The Michelin Guide describes the cooking as plant-based and invariably vegan, crisp and light, with skilled use of spices and umami balanced by herbs and acidity. Gault&Millau Belgium classifies the cuisine as vegan and vegetarian and awards 13.5 out of 20.
The published a la carte is built entirely on vegetables and plant ingredients, with no animal protein anywhere and no optional animal garnish. Vegetables are unambiguously the centre of the kitchen's identity, defining its entire offer.
Sourcing signals
✓
Direct named-farm sourcing
Produces through Calabi, the Flemish short chain ordering platform connecting local producers to restaurants; the chef speaks with growers weekly and the menu is built around their harvest.
House-made breads, butters, creams, and stocks, stems and trimmings are cooked into broths, powders and soups rather than bought in bases.
