2015 Guide best superqualichti-cathodiquexquis-miamdelicious restaurant

At 7pm sharp, the blue door on Rue des Bouchers opens onto a small alley adorned with bales of hay and lanterns. At the back, in a former joiner’s workshop (exposed bricks, timeworn wood), a young brigade of chefs generously cooks up Florent Ladeyn’s personal recipes for his hometown. The night we went, the flavorful €60 tasting menu featured: funky spinach with an egg yolk confit and a beer-infused tuile; intense braised broccoletti with double cream, apple and rabbit liver; poetic white asparagus surrounded by flowers of all kinds (lemon geranium, leek, marigold…); conceptual scallops with dried turnips that were rehydrated with a lobster jus and a coral powder; chic raw and cooked shiitake mushrooms, red purslane, cherries in vinegar and sunflower seeds; a good cut of veal (slightly burned) from the BBQ, a gourmet jus, wild garlic and potato spaghetti; before a punchy meringue adorned with grated horseradish (!) and an acacia flower, followed by a comforting parsnip mousse with confit potato and a subtle honey ice cream. // M.F.

FEELING THIRSTY? Natural wines: an Arbois white from the Tissots (€7 a glass), Pur Ju, a Juliénas from the Bertrands (€39 a bottle), Racines, a 2014 Solognot red from Claude Courtois (€60), etc. Or a beer on tap brewed with rye sourdough in Bierbuik, the chef’s new gastro pub in Lilles (€4 for a half-pint).

PRICE: Tasting menus €40 (food and wine pairings +€20) and €60 (+€30).