will this well-known restaurant be the new Belgian starred restaurant?

There are evenings when you want to take the pulse of Brussels, absorb its flow, breathe the city in full. Then there are evenings when our agitated mind deserves just a little calm and silence, a different landscape, more accommodating, almost considerate. We then head towards green communities like Woluwé-Saint-Pierre. There, on Avenue de Tervueren, hides from view a sublime cubist house from the 1930s in which a restaurant has been set up inspired by different cuisines from around the world, notably Nikkei cuisine, a culinary trend that mixes South American flavors and Asians.

Discover the Sanzarù restaurant in video:

New direction in cooking

In the field, Sanzarù quickly established itself as a must-have. Which does not prevent the address from wanting to reinvent its concept today. No change in terms of decor. In this large house with a modern classic style, we still find these pretty colorful frescoes painted on the immaculate white walls and the long Klein blue benches facing the garden. It is towards their new menu that we must look to detect the new direction of the address, which has swapped its sharing-food concept for a gourmet menu orchestrated by chef Nathan Urbanowiez.

We remain on a fusion cuisine between Japan and Peru, but we have raised the level with the stated objective of perhaps one day winning the star. We tested the experience on a Wednesday evening in a packed room. Couples, families, a group of friends, two girlfriends… We look at the cocktail menu and opt for a Sint-Ginger made with Saint-Germain, ginger and apple cider. We then challenge you: order freely from the menu, or let yourself be guided through a surprise 6-course menu. There is the 100% plant-based menu at €95 or the Umami menu at €115 (the food and wine pairing amounts to €65 for both menus). Both are six courses and give the chef complete freedom as to what you will taste throughout the evening. Before that, we take care to ask you if there are any allergies or really objectionable ingredients. A little flexibility that could encourage the less adventurous to embark on an adventure.

On the menu ?

We start strong with an original appetizer that mixes a cappuccino with mushrooms and whelks and a tartlet that recreates the sensation of a real vol-au-vent. It hits straight. Ditto with, in the second act, a fried maki with smoked eel, celery and foie gras that is eaten with chopsticks. The following ? A salmon ceviche bubbled in leche del tigre and topped with a mango leaf and baked avocado. Nice little tornado of flavors. We will also mention the revisitation of Flemish-style asparagus, orientalized with ponzu and gomasio and enhanced with a brown tapioca butter whose pieces melt on the tongue.

What stands out here is the constant appeal to the senses, from the hypnotizing aesthetic of the plates to the play on textures that make the palate tingle. Like this pre-dessert composed of a kiwi ceviche, a white chocolate mousse and an artichoke sorbet on which a sparkling cider is poured. We will regret one small thing, some plates do not manage to rise to the same threshold of requirement as the others, like the rack of lamb and the turbot which pale in comparison to the originality of the rest. We’re losing the main thread a bit. The multiplicity of servers and sommeliers takes away a little of the personal and intimate character of the experience. For the rest, Sanzarù succeeds in an enlightened way in merging the different cuisines of the world in a playful, regressive but above all varied and subtle spirit. All with zero hassle.