Zilte

Zilte is chef Viki Geunes' tasting-menu restaurant on the ninth floor of the MAS museum in Antwerp, with a wide view over the city. It is one of the two Belgian restaurants with three Michelin stars.

Geunes and his wife Viviane opened 't Zilte in the center of Mol in 1996. He taught himself to cook after training in industrial sciences, and the restaurant won its first Michelin star there and a second four years later. It then moved to the top of the new Museum aan de Stroom, into a room designed by Vittorio Simoni with works by Koen van den Broek. A later move to the other side of the museum brought the shorter name Zilte, a warmer interior in natural colors and, in January 2021, the third star.

Geunes sums up his kitchen in a few words: it stands for the product. Flavors from around the world meet in contrast or in harmony, and the house speaks of pure, powerful tastes in balanced creations. A vegetarian menu has been on offer since the move to the MAS. Gault&Millau named Geunes its chef of the year and gives the restaurant 18.5 out of 20.

Zilte is a family house: Viviane Plaquet welcomes the guests, daughter Gitte Geunes works in the room, and son-in-law Aaron Moeraert is part of the team. Gitte and Viviane received the Michelin service award. Jazz plays in the dining room, drawn from the chef's own collection of LPs. Geunes has written cookbooks, among them Just cooking and a book about the restaurant at the MAS, and Zilte belongs to Relais & Châteaux.