Zilte is located in the 8th floor of MAS Museum in central Antwerp. I booked a reservation there as a nice pre-game for myself before going to see Olivia Rodrigo. This was one of my favorite meals I’ve had so far - the service, atmoshpere and food is an amazing gateway into what makes a restaurant a 3 star.

I was brought to the top floor after checking in near the museum entrance. From there I was escorted over to a waiting area with a ton of different furniture pieces ranging from light pink sofas to dark armchairs with tables made of wood, steel and marble. I had to get the signature cocktail which had sichuan pepper and shiso and yuzu but still very sweet. The perfect type of cocktail to have at noon! It was cloudy out but there was still a ton of sunlight coming through so it was a massive mood lifter!

Zilte served the pre-menu foods at my coffee table and every single one stood out. The caviar slice (of pie?) that had so much citrus to pair with the saltiness. There was a base of crunchiness along with all of the different styles of creme that blended with each other. The 3 tarts they gave me were perfectly crispy and thin and had solid contrasts of earthy and tangy flavors. I sometimes wonder if small plates have such extreme flavors that they only work because they are so small? Would the flavors in a plate 3x bigger be too overwhelming?

I like when the pre-menu little dishes are a preview of what is to come in the menu! This is probably also a way to re-use some sauces and foods to have more plates, but I’m not really complaining.

I don’t even like bread that much, but holy shit this was some of the best I’ve had. Zilte pairs these loafs with each plate and recommends dipping/spreading food throughout the meal. I’m pretty sure they gave me enough for 2, but I tried to stuff as much bread as I could in the 5 course meal. There was so much contrast between the crust(?) and insides of the slices and they actually paired with the flavors instead of just being some gluten vehicles. The Langoustine that started off the meal came with a pairing of egg that gave me a good idea of how the aesthetic of this would go.

All of the plates were unique and SO beautiful with the lighting. The texture and colors all fit together perfectly and definitely hit that “food art” vibe that Michelins try to achieve.

The second starter plate was a Brill that came paired with a lobster dumpling with yuzu flavors and bright bimi greens. This plate had the most tart flavor with the seafood which I liked. It was muted down from the tangyness of the apps, but there was a lot more broth and soy influences (obivously very asian) which I am a sucker for. Something interesting about Zilte is that they keep their food very Belgian but use asian flavors in most of their dishes. I recently talked to a friend about dining trending towards being very french with different asian palates of flavors. I can’t tell if this is becoming uninspired, or if it just works so well that everyone wants to do it.

Sometimes I don’t love the main courses of a meal as much, but this was not one of those times. The Prawn dish with the sushi rice and the sauce presentation?? That was my favorite plate I’ve eaten this year! The orange slice on top of a bottaraga which is a salmon-like fish that is pickled and it brought together all the savory elements of the dish. They also pickled the prawn for 3 days which made it a bit more umami and not completely sweet. There were added pandan bubbles around the island of food, which seemed to bring a lot of the sweetness into the plate that may have been taken from the prawn from the aging?

The waygu is a lot less exciting in presentation but still had so many flavors incorporated perfectly. There was black garlic and abalone added on top of the cuts of tenderloin which was perfectly cooked.

This Rhubarb dish was my favorite dessert I’ve had this year and that is a very large list at the moment. The rhubarb was so fresh and sweet and the dish itself looks like a peachy Christmas tree celebrating the end of your meal! There was hibiscus and honey and so many sweet elements but it never was overpowering, it was like I was having a fresh fruit plate but also a pastry at the same time.

At the very end they brought me back out to the sitting area to bombard me with more small dessert plates. I ordered an espresso to pair with all the desserts which ended up costing a bit more than I would like (12 EUROS 🫨). The truffle looked like a starry black hole and the dark chocolate in it was just as good as it looked. These plates were pretty tame compared to the rest of the meal in terms of flavor and presentation, but I’m never going to complain about extra dessert. I liked that the meal started and ended slowly in the same area and it made the whole trip feel like an experience. I’m hoping to save more to be able to have meals to compare this one to soon. There are so many of these types of meals that it can be overwhelming to find the next big meal and not to get desensitized to this type of experience if you have it too often.

I’m hoping to add a couple more of these meals and even make a few small plates of my own for fun in the coming months!