The story
In the quiet village of Goeferdinge, just outside Geraardsbergen, Atelier Gist offers a dining experience rooted in nature and personal connection. The restaurant is the work of Laurence and Jason, who previously ran the acclaimed ‘Burnt’ in Aalst. Their new project carries forward the same philosophy: a large communal counter where guests watch every preparation unfold in the open kitchen. The intimacy of a private experience meets the warmth of a shared table.
The team describes itself as family, and that spirit is evident from the moment you arrive. Every service is a chance to give the best of themselves, and the result is a meal that feels both precise and generous. Atelier Gist’s recognition as a Michelin Recommended restaurant for 2026 confirms what regulars already know: this is a kitchen of real ambition and skill.
The menu is a fixed tasting sequence, currently priced at €140. Dishes change with the seasons, but the current offering gives a clear sense of the kitchen’s direction. It opens with a Dashi, followed by an Oyster with gooseberry. A signature dish appears next, then a Croustade with aged Comté. Aged wild sea bass arrives with crème cru, and Coquille Saint-Jacques is paired with Cévennes onion and XO sauce. Takoyaki, Skrei with potato and caviar, and Entrecôte with truffle and eringy mushrooms follow. The meal closes with a Galette of pumpkin and sea buckthorn, and a Pastinak with pecan and coffee kombucha.
The kitchen does not accommodate vegan, lactose-free, or gluten-free diets, but a vegetarian or pescatarian menu is available if specified at booking. Allergies should also be noted at reservation.
Atelier Gist is open Thursday through Saturday from 19:30. Payment is by Bancontact or cash only; Visa and Mastercard are not accepted. For those who want to extend the experience, the restaurant offers ‘Tiny House Tijm’, a small house set in a patch of woodland a few minutes from Geraardsbergen. It can be booked in combination with a dinner and breakfast, or as a standalone stay on days the restaurant is closed.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
Intoxicating! After playing with fire at Burnt and then at L’Histoire 32 in Aalst, self-taught chef Jason Spinoy and his wife Laurence Menten have finally found their own corner of paradise. And nothing’s going to get in their way! At this old renovated farmhouse (exposed timber beams, large wooden counter bordering the open kitchen and its burning flames) in the middle of the countryside, it’s charring and fermenting a-gogo! That evening, there were 12 courses alternating between mains and appetizers: delicious crispy chicken skin spread with creamy brown butter, topped with flame-grilled wild garlic; coffee meringue with a dollop of smoked eel cream, black garlic, burnt onions and lardo di Colonnata; marvelous raw scallops reigning upon a chawanmushi bathed in a koji and fermented celery juice and dotted with finger lime; perfectly poached meagre atop grilled kohlrabi chunks and a caramelized cream, which the chef himself drizzles with an umami-esque chicken broth infused with razor clams cut with chervil oil; perfect just-cooked langoustine accompanied by butternut squash in various forms (pickled, mashed and as a kosho-flavored foam), all whipped up with an intense langoustine head juice; smoked lamb leisurely cooked over the fireplace, served with a truffled onion cream, morels and koji gravy. And for a soft landing, a milky foam hiding a wild berry sorbet and a rose and white chocolate crumble. There’s more: the excellent homemade sourdough bread is available to take-away when ordered in advance. // Alba Nebbioli
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