De Pastorale
Tomato Water
Welcoming Finger Foods – Cucumber with Tobiko and Vinegar / Seasame with Mozzarella and Aloe Vera / Cake of Green Olive and Anchovy / Monkfish with Smoked Eel Mousse / Potato with Mustard and Manchego / Chicken Skin with Goose Liver, Apple, Red Onion
Bread – Rye, Cereal Sourdough, Baguette with Watercress, Butter, Olive Oil, Pepper, Smoked Salt, Fleur de Sel
Garden on Your Plate – Asparagus, Fines Herbes, Pea Pudding, Garlic Blossoms, Grains
Mackerel – Butterhead Lettuce, Fresh Cheese, Flat Bean, Elder Blossom, Grapefruit
Cod – Stockfish, Legumes, Summer Savoury,White Asparagus, Whey
Lobster “East Scheldt” – Asparagus from Werchter, Sea Lavender, Tarragon, Smoked Butter
Sweetbreads – Puffed Cereal, Oatmeal, Morel, Bear’s Garlic
Kobe Wagyu – Shoulder, Kimchi, Noodles, Black Beans
Goose Liver – Roasted Cauliflower, Curry, Raisins, Shiso
Nougat – Peanut, Calamansi, Yogurt, Kaffir Lime, Passion Fruit
Strawberries – Gariguette, Fennel, Granny Smith Apples, Lavender
Speculoos Smile – Speculoos, Milk Jam, Canele
Located approximately 7 kilometers from Antwerp, in a large house built in the late 1800s, Bart de Pooter’s Pastorale Restaurant has held two Michelin Stars since 2007 and essentially making a dining destination out of the small town of Reet the Chef promises to offer only things Extraordinary throughout the course of a meal, the pledge found to be almost entirely truthful from beginning to end.
Offering several menus, the “Sensation I Expression” a comprehensive 11-course experience taking a look at de Pooter’s classics and items taken in-step with the season, it was just past 11h30 that a seat was taken at the far end of a dining room decorated with a wood spiral, the contemporary feel of the restaurant furthered by LED screens with moving wireframes and a statue featuring a golden astronaut conducting a symphony outdoors.
Served by a team of four throughout the 210-minute meal, pacing as well as atmosphere compromised by a table of four loudly-conversing Energy Specialists at an adjacent table that kept rotating out members for a large meeting upstairs, it was mere moments after ordering and declining wine service that six stone pillars each arrived topped with welcoming finger foods, each a brilliant bite with the chicken skin and olive cake particularly memorable.
Palate opened wide by the diversity of snacks it was after a short delay that Pastorale’s bakery sent forth a trio of breads with a half-dozen condiments, the rustic sourdough loaf still warm and requested as seconds later in the afternoon as the crusty texture and supple crumb was simply too good to resist.
Not entirely certain where the snacks and amuses end or where the menu itself began it was nonetheless that a Michel Bras inspired “Garden on Your Plate” arrived featuring Asparagus, Pea Pudding, Garlic Blossoms plus several grains and with light acid from the vinaigrette leading nicely into Grapefruit paired to Mackerel with Lettuce alongside Fresh Cheese de Pooter showed the first of several plates that prove great skill in pairing divergent ingredients, a similar balance struck by meaty Cod with Legumes and creamy Whey.
Going heavier as the meal progressed, butter poached segments of Lobster tail dancing in a broth of smoked butter with Sea Lavender and Tarragon, the followup of Sweetbreads with Morels, Puffed Cereal and Oatmeal bathed in “Bear’s” Garlic was truly a showstopper in terms of unanticipated taste as well as texture, especially when compared to the followup of Wagyu Shoulder that seemed as if it were brought in from another kitchen as the combination of Kimchee, Black Beans and Soy gave it an Americanized Chinese Take-Out flavor.
Smiling at the kitchen’s choice to offer Goose Foie Gras in the place where the Carte du Fromage normally arrives, the arrangement with Roasted Cauliflower, Curry and Golden Raisins actually eating much like a composed warm cheese course, it was onward to sweets that De Pastorale’s menu marched onward, the Passion Fruit orb easily cast aside from Nougat and Peanuts while the followup of Strawberries with Fennel, Apples and Lavender struck a fine balance of sweet and aromatic, the full-sized “Speculoos Smile” generally reserved for large parties proving a perfectly fitting end to a meal that will surely leave most beaming.
www.depastorale.be/