4 - Recognised
i
Sourcing is the clearest area of the restaurant's practice: around nine in ten of the vegetables, herbs and fruit served come off its own 2.5 hectare holding next door, grown by organic methods across roughly 160 varieties, with honey from the family's own hives on the dessert course and the neighbour's sheep grazing between the beds. Seasonality follows directly from that, because the day's harvest sets the day's plate; the menu is rebuilt every six weeks and the autumn card reads entirely of autumn produce.
On waste, the kitchen preserves its own surplus for the winter months by pickling, fermenting and salting, draws juices, broths and crisps from foraged nettle and dandelion, and includes water with every menu. The menu itself is built from the plant: one of the two menus is fully vegetarian, and the other sets the same vegetable dishes at its centre. The restaurant is listed in the We're Smart Green Guide at three radishes, the guide's recognition of kitchens that put vegetables in the lead.
The impact dimensions
Low waste & circular practices✓
Sustainable animal products✓
Around nine in ten of the vegetables, herbs and fruit served come off the restaurant's own 2.5 hectare holding, grown by organic methods.
The restaurant is built around its own garden: a 2.5 hectare holding beside the Laarkapel in Schelle, where around 160 varieties of vegetables, fruit, herbs and edible flowers are grown by organic methods. Editorial coverage reports roughly 90 percent of the vegetables, herbs and fruit served coming from this cultivation in the first year of trading, and Gault&Millau independently describes the own farm as the centre of the concept.
Supporting local and on-site inputs include honey from Andreas Van den Wyngaert's own hives, foraged nettle and dandelion from the holding, the neighbour's sheep grazing between the beds, a Belgian wine selection, and Hereford cattle reported as grazing in Schelle. Producer proximity is at its maximum for the plant categories, since there is no intermediary at all. The restaurant is not scored 5 because the animal, dairy and dry-goods categories carry no named, verifiable supplier (fish and meat are described only as sourced locally when needed) and no third-party organic or sourcing certification was found.
Seasonality is the founding principle: the menu is rebuilt every six weeks, and what the garden harvests determines what the kitchen cooks that evening.
The restaurant states "het seizoen is de enige regel die telt" (the season is the only rule that counts) and "Wat Andreas oogst, bepaalt wat Lodewijk die avond op het bord brengt" (what Andreas harvests determines what Lodewijk puts on the plate that evening). Menus are renewed every six weeks, and the published card valid to 7 November 2026 reads entirely of autumn produce: white cabbage, courgette, pepper and aubergine, savoy cabbage with onion, leek and kale, red cabbage with mirabelle and celeriac, Jerusalem artichoke with honey and gooseberry.
Surplus is preserved by pickling, fermenting and salting to carry the winter service, which is a structural seasonal practice rather than a decorative one. Gault&Millau independently cites the strong seasonality and the harvest-driven menu, and the We're Smart listing describes a menu built from the plant. Chef and restaurant are publicly associated with the seasonal ethos across guide and editorial coverage.
Surplus garden produce is preserved in house by pickling, fermenting and salting for the winter service, and foraged nettle and dandelion become juices and broths.
Concrete named practices are evidenced in the food waste sub-area. Surplus garden produce is preserved in house by pickling, fermenting and salting for the winter service, and foraged nettle and dandelion are turned into juices, broths and crisps, which is whole-plant use of what the holding yields. Growing and cooking on one site removes transport and packaging from the main ingredient flow, and the garden sits in a small on-farm loop: the brothers' bees pollinate the beds and supply honey to the kitchen, and the neighbour's sheep graze between the beds.
One packaging practice is documented: "Water is steeds inbegrepen" (water is always included) on the menu. The dimension is scored 3 rather than 4 because no composting scheme, waste partner or measured target is named, no packaging or single-use policy is described beyond the water, and no energy measure was found. Named partners or technologies, which level 4 requires, are absent.
Fish and meat are sourced locally when needed, with Hereford cattle reported grazing in Schelle and species such as mussel, wood pigeon and wild boar named on the menu.
The kitchen is not fully plant based, so this dimension applies. The Vangst menu adds animal items to the same vegetable dishes: mussel, wood pigeon and wild boar on the card valid to 7 November 2026, with scallop and sea bass reported in guide coverage. Partial sourcing signals exist: editorial coverage states that fish and meat are sourced locally when needed, and reports Hereford cattle grazing in Schelle, naming a breed and a locality.
What is missing is traceability: no butcher, fishmonger, game dealer or farm is named anywhere, no welfare label (Beter Leven, free-range, organic) or seafood certification (MSC, ASC) is cited, and no source confirms whether the Schelle Hereford arrangement was realised. The dimension is held at score 2 because no named supplier and no verifiable certification appear, which is the score cap for this dimension. The v3.9 guardrail also applies: the holding's organic growing method does not cover the animal dimension, which needs animal-specific evidence.
The operation is structured as a family business with a recurring volunteer team managing the kitchen garden, and the restaurant has restored a heritage farm site beside the Laarkapel.
This is a family operation with a recurring volunteer component. The restaurant's own Erfgoed page describes "een team enthousiaste vrijwilligers" working the beds, with the brothers' mother Kristel taking the role of "boerin van dienst" (farm manager on duty), and Gault&Millau independently confirms that the land is managed with a team of volunteers and family. Editorial coverage reports that the operation is structured around a health condition affecting one of the two founders, with his daily growing hours limited and the volunteer and family team covering the rest, which is a genuine workplace accommodation inside the business.
The restaurant is rooted in its immediate surroundings, restoring a heritage farm beside the Laarkapel, and has stated an intention to open a neighbourhood shop. The dimension is scored 2 because none of this reaches a named, cross-referenceable social commitment: no charity, community project, employment initiative, training scheme or social partner organisation is named, and no employment terms are described.
Every course on the menu is titled by its vegetable; the Oogst menu is fully vegetarian, while Vangst sets a single animal item beside the identical vegetable composition.
The menu is structurally built from vegetables. Every course on the published card is titled by its vegetable (white cabbage with tomato and herbs, courgette with apple and walnut, pepper with aubergine and verbena, savoy cabbage with onion, leek and kale, red cabbage with mirabelle and celeriac, Jerusalem artichoke with honey and gooseberry), and the two menu lines share those same dishes: Oogst is fully vegetarian, while Vangst sets a single animal item beside the identical vegetable composition.
The restaurant's own positioning is "Pure keuken, groente in de hoofdrol" (pure cooking, vegetables in the leading role), supported by a 2.5 hectare holding of around 160 varieties. The We're Smart Green Guide lists the restaurant at three radishes and writes "We love that vegetables are mentioned as the main ingredient, top!" and "Since the menu is built from the plant, it is not difficult to skip any fish or meat and come and enjoy 100% pure plant". Gault&Millau describes both a vegetable-forward and an omnivorous option. The dimension is scored 4 rather than 5 because level 5 requires animal proteins present to be responsibly sourced, and animal sourcing here is untraced, and the restaurant states a fully vegan menu cannot be guaranteed.
Sourcing signals
✓
Direct named-farm sourcing
The restaurant grows around 160 varieties of vegetables, fruit, herbs and edible flowers across its own 2.5 hectare holding beside the Laarkapel, with editorial coverage reporting roughly 90 percent of the vegetables, herbs and fruit served coming from this cultivation.
The named grower is the restaurant's own holding, Erfgoed at Laarhofstraat 61, worked by Andreas Van den Wyngaert, which supplies the great majority of plant ingredients with no intermediary; traceability is complete for those categories and is independently confirmed by Gault&Millau and editorial coverage.
Surplus garden produce is pickled, fermented and salted for the winter service, and foraged nettle and dandelion are turned into juices, broths and crisps; honey from the brothers' own hives is used in desserts and the tea service.
