On our trip to Leuven, after our great meal at Fragma we went to EssenCiel for lunch, which has one-star Michelin. 

EssenCiel belongs to the young chef Niels Brants and his partner Romina Charels, both were formed at Nuance, the two stars Michelin in Duffel, Belgium under the chef Thierry Theys. 

The restaurant is small with maximum 20 seats, but it has an elegant design with open kitchen where we can see the chef and his team at work. On the basement, there is a private room with a view on the wine cellar for groups. 

The menu for lunch was quite reasonable, for three courses menu are 45 euros, four courses are 66 euros and five courses are 88 euros. 

We started our lunch with a beautiful and delicious cocktail bases on citrus and bergamot and three delicacies as amuse-bouche. There were three types of bread served for our lunch a mini olive focaccia, a brioche and a mini baguette, all perfectly baked. 

Our entrée was a small scallop, otoro and bergamot which was conceived like tapas where we can swallow in bite and our main dish was a haddock fish cooked with seasonal vegetables like yellow carrots and Jerusalem artichoke, it was so good that we forgot to take a picture of the dish. The dessert, the chocolate from Madagascar, hibiscus and equinox was a beautiful treat to end our meal.

Our hostess and sommelier were very pertinence in her suggestion of wines by glass, the Spanish wine “Y tu de quien eres?” 2019 and the Italien wine Trej from Grasso family 

The service by our hostess was very nice, casual and relax. 

EssenCiel was an excellent choice for lunch, the food, the service and the wines are top notch.

EssenCiel

Naamsestraat 47,

3000 Leuven, Belgium

Téléphone :+32 16 29 06 00

www.essenciel.be