2_DiscoverBenelux_Issue21_Sep_2015_Q9_Scan Magazine 1 28/08/2015 20:47 Page 90
Discover Benelux | Restaurant of the Month | Belgium
Sample some of the finest Belgian cuisine in Belga Queen’s beautiful surroundings.
R E S TA U R A N T O F T H E M O N T H , B E L G I U M
Belgian haute cuisine reigns supreme Belga Queen’s story begins not in Belgium, where this fine restaurant can be found, but in Portugal, where founder Antoine Pinto came from as a 17-year-old political refugee. He fled his native country in 1974 after his political activities caught the attention of the authorities. Leaving at night and hitchhiking across Portugal, Spain and France, he finally reached Belgium. TEXT: LIDIJA LIEGIS | PHOTOS: BELGA QUEEN
Pinto studied architectural interior design at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and financed his studies by cooking in several restaurants. In 1976, he opened his first restaurant Honolulu in Liège, and has since built a career as both a successful interior architect and a celebrated chef, having managed over 30 restaurants. He was named a top European chef by the prestigious German Gault & Millau guide in 1981; in 1986 he was the first non-Italian chef to receive a diploma from the Italian Academy of Gastronomy; and in 1993 he was recognised by the Portuguese Academy.
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Renowned for its first-class Belgian fare, Belga Queen uses ingredients which are all sourced locally. The restaurant serves a vast array of celebrated Belgian beers, as well as a collection of wines from Belgian producers across the world. Pinto describes Belgians as “very modest, with many wonderful, vastly undersold products.” Despite the current trend for molecular cuisine, a way of cooking which explores and focuses on the physical and chemical transformation of food, Pinto says he prefers to stay true to a food’s original con-
sistency. He favours a classic menu, focusing on “the quality and freshness of a product, rather than just its visual aspect.”
Brasserie de luxe Pinto’s restaurants are renowned for their superb interiors, and Belga Queen is no exception. The Brussels restaurant opened 14 years ago in the splendid Hôtel de la Poste in the centre of the city. A former bank with a grand entrance hall and late 19th century stained-glass windows, the building has undergone a transformation from being a belle époque-style bank, to a versatile headquarters. It encompasses a