What traditional Belgian dishes does Chez Clément serve?

Chez Clément's identity is that of a Belgian bourgeois brasserie, anchored in the Walloon Brabant town of Genval / La Hulpe since 1858. The kitchen, led for thirty years by Chef Vincent Frédéric De Laloy, runs an everything-homemade policy, sauces, croquettes, stocks, doughs and finishes are all built on site by a brigade of thirty-two for more than 1,400 covers a week. The menu sits squarely inside the great Belgian repertoire, with seasonal rotations that follow the natural calendar of Belgian produce.

The permanent classics expected of a Belgian brasserie include vol-au-vent à la financière, carbonnade flamande, grey shrimp croquettes, eels in green sauce, sausage with apple compote, stoemp with vegetables, beef tartare prepared to order, and Chef Vincent's signature cabillaud florentine (cabillaud florentine, a poached cod fillet on a bed of spinach with a mornay sauce gratin). Seasonal additions structure the year: mussels and fries from July to March, autumn game (venison, wild boar, pheasant, hare) from September to January, and asparagus from Mechelen in April-May-June.

One particular detail of the house cuisine matters for British diners: the kitchen's tone is generous and uncomplicated. The bourgeois brasserie philosophy does not chase culinary fireworks, it chases craft and consistency, the same care applied to the grey shrimp croquettes (one of the nine carte signatures) as to the meatloaf with stoemp and vegetables. The kitchen porter has been at the sink for twenty years, an unheard-of figure of brigade stability that says something about how the house treats its own.

Beyond the kitchen, the experience is rounded out by drinks of equal seriousness. The Belgian beer list highlights two Trappists (Chimay Blue, Orval), wheat beers and abbey ambers, plus Bertinchamps Triple and Lutgarde white as house signatures (lambics and gueuzes are not on the permanent list). The wine cellar, opened in 1976 by third-generation Marcel and Andrée Clément, carries a distinct Bordeaux accent that pairs beautifully with slow-cooked stews when they appear on the seasonal carte. The exact list of dishes available on a given day shifts with the season; the maître d'hôtel walks guests through the current carte at the table.