The story
On the boulevard de la Sauvenière, a few steps from the city’s ancient ramparts, ¡Toma! redefines what a restaurant can be. Chef Thomas Troupin describes his cooking as “a cuisine of encounter”—one that expresses the relationships he nurtures with producers, his team, and every guest who sits at his table. It is a philosophy that earned the restaurant a Michelin star, retained in 2025 and again in 2026, alongside a Gault&Millau “Restaurant Philosophy Award” for its immersive approach.
The name itself is a tribute to Troupin’s roots. “¡Toma!” is what his Spanish grandmother, his abuela, would say as she served a meal—meaning “take” or “here you go.” It is a gesture of generosity that sets the tone for the entire experience.
At ¡Toma!, the distance between kitchen and dining room is deliberately erased. The team works as a single unit, not as separate brigades of cooks and servers. The aim is to make every guest feel the pulse of the kitchen—the rhythm of the pass, the precision of a plating, the warmth of a shared moment. This is what Troupin calls “cuisine immersive,” a concept born from a desire to bring artisans, chefs, and diners together around refined, seasonal food.
Menus evolve with the seasons, drawing from a network of local producers who are treated as true partners. Troupin’s TEDxLiège talk on the dehumanisation of consumption frames this commitment: by putting faces back on the food we eat, we restore respect and consciousness to our choices. That conviction is tangible in every dish—a cooking style that is local, sustainable, and deeply human.
¡Toma! is also the story of a meeting between chef Thomas Troupin and entrepreneur Roger Gehlen. Two worlds, one shared vision: to create a gastronomic space that breaks conventions. After years spent in the Ardennes refining his craft, Troupin returned to Liège, the city where he grew up, to build something that felt like home. The result is a restaurant that feels both ambitious and intimate—a place where the boundaries between producer, chef, and guest dissolve over a meal that is as thoughtful as it is delicious.
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¡Toma! Come y cálla! “Take it, eat and shut up!” his Spanish grandmother would say. What better name for the new joint from Liège chef Thomas Troupin (ex-Menuiserie in Waimes) and Roger Gehlen. With its chiaroscuro dining room contrasted with the neon-lit dry-aging fridge in the background, velvety seats, an opening out onto the vegetable garden and ringside tables in front of the burning stoves, boy does ¡Toma! shine. That evening, the chef showed off his locavore-led “immersive cuisine”: perfect trout churros as an appetizer; a Petits Gris de Namur snail pizzette; puffed up bread with tortilla cream and black garlic aiolii, olé!; then a divine toasted bread layered structure with mushroom butter, mustard mayo, black truffle shavings and thin slices of flash-smoked veal from Lothar Vilz (which later appears shredded in a massive beetroot gnocchi – zero waste!); extremely tender Ondenval trout buttered with coffee and crowned with caviar made in Belgium; Menapii pork from Dierendonck, prepared three different ways (shredded on dauphine potatoes, slow-cooked with hoisin broth, and braised on a Japanese BBQ). And for the finale, a myriad of bite-sized Humberto root vegetable and citrus sweets, including a vibrant roasted celeriac flan with uda pepper and candied kumquat. // Lea Pelotti
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