On Wednesday, January 10, Floris Van Der Veken headed his own restaurant for the first time, renamed Hof van Cleve, floris van der veken. We are not even eight weeks further and at the Michelin ceremony in Antwerp the chef was already allowed to don the chef’s vest with two stars.
When Peter Goossens appointed Floris Van Der Veken as his successor a year ago, he was still a noble unknown. But when it was announced at the Zoo that the young chef had won an award, all the cameramen jumped to capture the moment. It can go that fast.
It was therefore the main question in the room: how many stars does Hof van Cleve get after it had to give up all its stars when Goossens left? So two, and it was Peter Goossens himself who was invited by Michelin to announce the new two-star restaurants on stage. Goossens said shortly afterwards: “The first envelope was for Sir Kwinten, who does a great job. And yes, there are never ten new two stars. But then there was a second envelope, and it was for Hof van Cleve.”
The former chef has sent his successor well prepared. “We looked at how we were going to do the transfer for a long time. If you start from scratch, that is not possible with the prices we had. I had a team of 28 people. We then looked at how we could scale down that team, and also how we could work out good pricing.”
After about ten days, Goossens himself sat down at the table with Floris Van Der Veken and he was satisfied. “They did that incredibly well. Of course I know the kitchen, Floris has worked for me for ten years. He knows what he wants. They continue the DNA of the past, in taste, in quality, in everything, but with a smaller team.”
Learn from the best
Van Der Veken (35) learned the trade at Hotelschool ter Duinen. He ended up in Hof van Cleve for his last school internship. “He must have been eighteen or twenty years old at the time,” remembers maître Serge Sierens. The maître is one of the restaurant’s strongholds, with 22 years of service under his belt. Sierens already saw that Van Der Veken had it in him.
“He was extremely eager to learn, always listening and watching. He was someone who always wanted to improve, and therefore moved from one business to another.” From Peter Goossens it went to Sergio Herman, then still at Oud Sluis. The Zeeland chef had to miss the ceremony because he had to go to Tokyo, but Van Der Veken is close to his heart and so he wanted to say this just before boarding. “It doesn’t surprise me that Floris immediately shoots to two stars. That boy has focus, radiates calm and competence, stands among his people, and simply continues on the path he has taken. If he proves the same consistency in the case, they will (Michelin inspectors, MK) standing at his door again, and that’s nice too. You also have to have something to look forward to!”
After his time at Oud Sluis, Floris Van Der Veken returned to Kruishoutem, this time as Peter Goossens’ right-hand man, when sous chef Maarten Bouckaert had to be replaced. Over the past ten years, Van Der Veken has gradually been prepared for major work.
Maître Serge Sierens worked with Van Der Veken all these years and is full of praise. “Taking over such a monument, with an existing team, is not an obvious thing. There are many characters together. Chapeau how he orchestrates that and pushes everyone in the same direction.” He knows the chef as someone who does not easily show his emotions, and an introvert too. And the pressure was certainly there. “But he never showed that, not even today,” says Sierens. “From the outside, we were more nervous than Floris. Maybe it was different inside, but he would never show that.”
Young hostess and sommelier
The amazing thing is that those two stars came, despite the departure of several key figures. For example, hostess Lieve Fermans quit with her husband Peter Goossens, and sommelier Tom Iven wanted to work closer to home. The new hostess was the young Céline Vandenberghe, who has been working at the venue for five years.
A notable addition is Elizio Masson, the new sommelier, barely 19 years old. It was Pieter Verheyde from restaurant Terminus in Watou, himself a former sommelier of the house, who discovered the young talent early on. “Elizio had not yet attended hotel school when he came to work with us at the weekend and later did his internship. Like myself, Elizio was a born cook. He started to delve into wine, with a taste here and a taste there, and one thing led to another. I took him to a tasting once, and I still do.” An internship with the best sommelier in the world in Paris, at the Georges V, completed the CV.
Verheyde would like to hire the talent himself, but “it is not easy to keep someone with his profile in Belgium. Elizio is someone who is very open, friendly, trustworthy. I have the feeling that he has a good bond with Floris, I think that 1 plus 1 can also be a 3.”
Praise from colleagues
Tim Boury from Boury (***) in Roeselare congratulates the new two-star colleague. “To achieve something like that after eight weeks, with three Michelin checks, and with shifts in the team… Floris of course has the great advantage that he was able to continue what he has done in recent years. That is different from creating a business from scratch. He has a big advantage that someone else doesn’t have, but you still have to do it. It has been molded over the past year, from the announcement to where we are now. The good stock is made in advance, but it is well finished into the perfect sauce.”
Viki Geunes van Zilte (***) also agrees that there has been a correct confirmation. “It is good that Floris is now going through this growth process, finding continuity for himself, and discovering his own signature.”
The fellow three-star chefs don’t say it in so many words, but you can read between the lines: there is more to this.
