4 - Recognised
i
't Korennaer builds its cooking around named producers and seasonal availability.
Sourcing is the clearest signal. The kitchen buys from specific people rather than anonymous wholesale: asparagus from grower Els Vercauteren, dry aged beef from master butcher Hendrik Dierendonck, and a run of products from its own village, including vegetables, goat's milk, red fruit and beer. Menus are rewritten month by month and follow what is in season, so game and root vegetables in autumn give way to asparagus and hop shoots in spring. Edwin Van Goethem is a member of NorthSeaChefs, a Belgian collective that works with lesser known North Sea species and bycatch, and plaice reaches the card as catch of the day through it.
The restaurant is listed in the We're Smart Green Guide, which recognises the place vegetables and fruit hold in the cooking.
The impact dimensions
Low waste & circular practices✓
Sustainable animal products✓
Named producers supply meat, vegetables, fish and village dairy; premium imported items also on the menu.
Sourcing rests on named producers rather than anonymous wholesale. The Michelin Guide names master butcher Hendrik Dierendonck for the dry aged beef and Els Vercauteren for asparagus, and cites eel from the Oosterschelde. The September carte prints Dierendonck beside the eight week aged Oudslach côte à l'os and lists Oosterschelde eel and hand peeled North Sea shrimp.
The restaurant states that several categories carry named local or regional origin: meat, vegetables, fish and village dairy, with limiting the ecological footprint given as the reason. Against that, the premium end of the carte is imported, including A5 Kagoshima wagyu, Scottish langoustines, Spanish lardo and Breton butter.
Monthly menu cycles. Autumn brings partridge, pumpkin and chicory; spring brings asparagus and hop shoots.
Menus carry a month stamp and are reissued on that cycle: the carte, the Promenade tasting menu and the lunch and four course dinner formulas all read September 2026 and are published as dated files. The current line up is seasonally coherent for autumn in Flanders, with grey partridge, pumpkin, Conference pear, fig, field grown chicory, salsify and wild mushrooms.
Sources describing other seasons show a materially different menu, which points to real rotation rather than seasonal decoration. The Michelin entry cites hop shoots and asparagus, and the We're Smart Green Guide listing describes winter truffle with salsify, celeriac with truffle and apple, and young pigeon from Anjou.
Member of NorthSeaChefs, the Belgian collective working with lesser known North Sea species and bycatch. Catch of the day is plaice through the collective.
Edwin Van Goethem is a member of NorthSeaChefs, the Belgian chefs' collective whose stated purpose is the responsible use of lesser known and under appreciated North Sea fish species and of bycatch landed by Belgian and Dutch fishermen. The organisation carries his own chef profile.
The practice reaches the plate: the September 2026 carte and tasting menu both list Catch of the day North Sea Chefs Schol, plaice being exactly the kind of under used species the collective exists to promote. The restaurant also gives limiting its ecological footprint as its reason for buying local.
Named suppliers: master butcher Hendrik Dierendonck for aged beef; Oosterschelde eel and hand peeled North Sea shrimp. Foie gras and A5 Kagoshima wagyu also on menu.
Animal sourcing carries real traceability. Meat comes from master butcher Hendrik Dierendonck, named in both the Michelin Guide and Gault&Millau entries and printed on the carte. Fish sourcing is stronger: the chef is a NorthSeaChefs member and the menus carry the collective's catch of the day as plaice, alongside hand peeled North Sea shrimp and Oosterschelde eel.
A goose liver terrine appears on both the September 2026 carte and the Promenade tasting menu, and A5 Kagoshima wagyu is flown in as the chef's signature dish. No welfare certification such as MSC, ASC or an organic animal label was evidenced for any category.
Edwin Van Goethem is listed with the Mastercooks of Belgium and Young Masters groups. Vacancies page describes an ambitious, warm environment where quality and creativity are central.
Social evidence is incidental and self declared. The founding story on the restaurant's own site is about bringing people together around the table. The vacancies page describes an ambitious, warm environment where quality and creativity are central, and states that experience is not required for several kitchen and dining room roles.
Edwin Van Goethem is listed with the Mastercooks of Belgium and Young Masters groups on his NorthSeaChefs profile, which are professional associations. No named charity, community project or employment initiative was found in any channel.
We're Smart Green Guide lists the restaurant and describes vegetable led cooking. One vegetarian creation on the carte as starter or main; no vegan offer published.
The restaurant is listed in the We're Smart Green Guide, whose entry describes Edwin Van Goethem interweaving fresh vegetables and fruits into his recipes and names vegetable led combinations such as celeriac with truffle and apple, and salsify with winter truffle. Vegetables are substantial components across the September 2026 menus, including pumpkin, courgette, fennel, young spinach, field grown chicory, celeriac and wild mushrooms.
Structurally, the card remains protein led: the carte offers one vegetarian item, a chef's creation available as either a starter or a main, against eight animal protein mains, and the Promenade tasting menu carries no vegetarian course, with vegetarian wishes taken in advance instead. No vegan offer is published.
Sourcing signals
✓
Direct named-farm sourcing
Master butcher Hendrik Dierendonck for aged beef; asparagus grower Els Vercauteren; Oosterschelde eel through independent guides and the restaurant's own carte.
Vanilla ice cream churned day fresh; chips hand cut; North Sea shrimp hand peeled; daily bread stone baked sourdough of spelt, seeds, wheat and rye.
