Chef and cuisine

Questions in this topic

• How does Brasserie Chez Clément handle food allergies?

  Brasserie Chez Clément handles allergies on a brigade-anticipation basis: guests are asked to flag any allergy at ordering, the maître d'hôtel briefs the kitchen, and Vincent's brigade of thirty-two adapts dishes in-house. Without guaranteed absence of cross-contamination, the house does its best to secure the meal for allergic guests.

• What is Vincent De Laloy's professional background?

  Vincent Frédéric De Laloy trained at the CERIA hotel school in Brussels and worked through four distinct kitchens, Étangs Mellaerts, Thoumieux, Le Méridien and Le Trèfle à 4, before becoming head chef at Brasserie Chez Clément in 1996.

• Where did Vincent De Laloy train?

  Vincent Frédéric De Laloy trained at the CERIA hotel school in Brussels, one of the reference institutions in Belgian culinary education. The CERIA forms a large share of the Belgian brigade workforce and remains a hallmark on a chef's CV.

• Does Brasserie Chez Clément offer a children's menu?

  Yes. Chez Clément offers an **official children's menu at 19:50€** for children **under 12 years old**. The set includes a choice of main (filet américain with fries, minced steak with fries, spaghetti bolognese or carbonara, or chicken breast with tarragon sauce and croquettes), an ice-cream dessert (one scoop of vanilla or chocolate ice cream, or one scoop of red-berry or lemon sorbet), and a drink included (apple or orange juice, soft drink, or grenadine).

• What style of cuisine does Brasserie Chez Clément serve?

  Brasserie Chez Clément serves classical Belgian brasserie cuisine, a bourgeois tradition built on French technique and Belgian comfort. Vincent De Laloy has shaped this carte for thirty years, with a strict everything-made-in-house standard.

• What is Vincent De Laloy's culinary philosophy?

  Vincent De Laloy's culinary philosophy is summed up in three words: everything made in-house. Stocks, sauces, pastry, breads, finishing, nothing arrives ready-made in his kitchen. It is a rare standard for a brasserie of this volume.

• Does Brasserie Chez Clément use frozen products or is everything fresh?

  **Everything is fresh** at Brasserie Chez Clément. Chef Vincent De Laloy's everything-made-in-house philosophy runs on fresh sourcing across the entire carte, no industrial shortcuts on the core dishes.

• Does Brasserie Chez Clément offer gluten-free dishes?

  Gluten-free options at Brasserie Chez Clément are adapted on request, within chef Vincent De Laloy's everything-made-in-house philosophy. Without guaranteed absence of cross-contamination in an active brasserie kitchen, the team handles each request case by case.

• Is the bread homemade at Brasserie Chez Clément?

  The bread served at Brasserie Chez Clément is not baked on site. It comes from the bakery **Au Petit Fils**, on **rue des Combattants in La Hulpe**, a long-standing external partner baker close to the brasserie.

• Is Chez Clément's kitchen 100% homemade?

  Chef Vincent De Laloy's stated philosophy is “everything made in-house”, stocks, sauces, pastry and finishing produced by the brigade of thirty-two on site. Bread is sourced from the bakery Au Petit Fils (Rue des Combattants) and the tarts come from Les Tartes de Chaumont-Gistoux, with all desserts otherwise made in-house.

• Are desserts homemade at Brasserie Chez Clément?

  Yes, desserts at Brasserie Chez Clément are **house-made** by the brigade, complemented by tarts from **Les Tartes de Chaumont-Gistoux**, the partner pastry maker in nearby Chaumont-Gistoux.

• How many people work in the Chez Clément kitchen brigade?

  Brasserie Chez Clément's kitchen brigade counts thirty-two people. They are led by head chef Vincent Frédéric De Laloy and deliver 200 to 300 covers per service, more than 1,400 covers a week.

• Does Brasserie Chez Clément work with local producers?

  Yes. Chez Clément works with four long-standing supplier partners: **Promaritimes** for fish, **Ferme Pessleux** for noble meats, **Boucherie Alain in La Hulpe** for ground meats, and **Dirk Marchand** for fruits and vegetables.

• Does Chef Vincent have a Michelin family connection?

  Yes. Vincent Frédéric De Laloy, head chef at Brasserie Chez Clément, is the grandson of a Michelin-starred chef who ran the restaurant Chez Grégoire in the 1960s. A quiet but very real family heritage.

• Has the Chez Clément chef worked in Michelin-starred kitchens?

  The clearest documented Michelin link in Vincent De Laloy's biography is family-based: his grandfather ran the Michelin-starred restaurant Chez Grégoire in the 1960s. His own professional path subsequently took him through four recognised Belgian houses before Chez Clément.

• Where do Chez Clément's ingredients come from?

  Chez Clément's ingredients come from four long-standing supplier partners: **Promaritimes** (fish, daily delivery), **Ferme Pessleux** (noble meats, local breeding and traceability), **Boucherie Alain in La Hulpe** (ground meats), and **Dirk Marchand** (fruits and vegetables, market and terroir). The wine cellar carries its own 1976 Bordeaux-influenced heritage.

• Does the Brasserie Chez Clément menu change seasonally?

  Yes. Chez Clément's carte rotates on three documented seasonal product markers: game in autumn, asparagus in spring, mussels in season. Chef Vincent De Laloy has structured this rotation since 1996. Other Belgian classics (eels in green sauce, vol-au-vent, carbonnade) may appear according to the chef's suggestions.

• What are the seasonal novelties at Brasserie Chez Clément?

  Chez Clément's seasonal novelties follow three documented product anchors, spring asparagus, autumn game, mussels in season, plus the Raclette event window in October-November. Other Belgian classics (eels in green sauce notably) may appear seasonally according to chef Vincent's suggestions. Around these, Vincent's brigade of thirty-two rotates and refreshes dishes throughout the year.

• What is Chef Vincent's signature dish at Chez Clément?

  Vincent De Laloy's signature dish at Brasserie Chez Clément is the cabillaud florentine, cod served on a bed of spinach in the French classical tradition. It is the most quoted item of the carte and the anchor of his thirty years in the kitchen.

• Is the Chez Clément team stable over time?

  Yes, Brasserie Chez Clément's team is unusually stable. Head chef Vincent De Laloy has been in post for thirty years, the kitchen porter for twenty years, and the brigade of thirty-two has an above-average tenure for the sector.

• Does Brasserie Chez Clément offer vegan dishes?

  Chez Clément's carte includes fixed vegetarian dishes (penne with aubergines and courgettes, lemon spaghetti with courgettes and parmesan). For a strict vegan version (no dairy or eggs), the brigade adapts these dishes on request. To flag at booking so the kitchen can anticipate.

• Does Brasserie Chez Clément offer vegetarian dishes?

  Yes, vegetarian dishes are **present on the carte**. Within chef Vincent De Laloy's everything-made-in-house philosophy, the brigade also adapts to vegan and gluten-free requests on demand.

• Who is Vincent Frédéric De Laloy?

  Vincent Frédéric De Laloy is the head chef of Brasserie Chez Clément, the family brasserie in Genval / La Hulpe. He has held the post continuously since 1996, trained at the CERIA hotel school in Brussels, and is the grandson of a Michelin-starred chef.

• How long has Vincent led the Chez Clément kitchen?

  Vincent Frédéric De Laloy has led the Brasserie Chez Clément kitchen since 1996, thirty years of continuous tenure under two successive owners (France Clément, then Marie and Gilles Verleyen since 2021). It is one of the longest unbroken head-chef runs in a Belgian brasserie of this scale.

• Who is the head chef at Brasserie Chez Clément?

  The head chef at Brasserie Chez Clément is Vincent Frédéric De Laloy. He has led the kitchen of the Genval / La Hulpe brasserie since 1996, thirty years of unbroken tenure under two successive owners (France Clément, then Marie and Gilles Verleyen since 2021), with a brigade of thirty-two.