At the end of March 2023, Aster appeared like a bolt from the blue on Brussels’ restaurant scene, thanks to sommelier Ydris Gryson and chef Túbo Logier. Nothing will ever be quite the same again. Barely in their thirties, the duo have already worked at the legendary In de Wulf (Dranouter) and Chambre Séparée (Ghent) alongside Kobe Desramaults – whose mentoring led them to inject a little modernity into the capital that’s it’s never known before. Starting with the kitchen, with the embers up front, which looks like a roadside stall in Asia with its brill carcasses hanging above the burning stoves. There’s a wood-fire atmosphere guaranteed, which warms up the two concrete and bare-brick dining rooms, where long tables for eight or ten take center stage. The menu? It’s concise, but features some epic dish titles: braised wild garlic root; rock salmon glazed in chestnut miso; “dolmade” revisited and stuffed with walnuts, served with buttermilk chard; nori croissant; and cabbage carbonara. It’s enough to help you get your kicks, without forgetting the indecent dessert combining kombu and potato – it’s oh so creamy! // Salty Litchi

FEELING THIRSTY? Spoil yourself rotten! Cider (Xtra Brut from Cidrerie du Golfe, €30), beer (Super Noah from ‘t Verzet, €4) and, of course, natural wines (Môl, an Auvergne red from Patrick Bouju at €40 a bottle), without snubbing the more classic appellations, as long as they have a biodynamic pedigree (Saint-Émilion, Cornas… at prices with some bite to them!).
PRICE: Menu €68, food and wine pairing €38.