Restaurant in Emptinne, Belgium
Worth the drive for serious cooking.
La Grange d'Hamois holds a Michelin star for the second consecutive year (2025) in a converted station building in rural Wallonia. The cooking is precise Modern French bistro — serious fish and meat preparations without the formality tax of Belgium's €€€€ tier. Book four to six weeks out minimum; a car is essential. One of Belgium's better-value one-star addresses.
If you have already made the drive out to Emptinne once, the question on a return visit is whether La Grange d'Hamois keeps earning that effort. The short answer: it does. Two consecutive Michelin stars (2024 and 2025) confirm that this is not a venue coasting on a single good season. The cooking at this converted old station building has a consistency that makes the trip from Brussels or Namur feel proportionate, and at the €€€ price point it sits a tier below the €€€€ competition without a meaningful drop in ambition.
La Grange d'Hamois is the project of Grégory Gillain and Gélène Fays, who trained at Pierre Résimont's L'air du Temps in Liernu before taking over this rural station building in the Namur countryside. The move from one of Belgium's most technically demanding kitchens to an independent address in a small village was a deliberate one, and the result is a restaurant with a clear identity: high-class bistro cooking built around precise preparations of fish and meat, with vegetables playing a supporting rather than starring role. The style fits somewhere between rigorous classical technique and accessible modern bistro, which is a harder balance to hold than it sounds.
Chef Alexandre Baule now leads the kitchen, and the transition represents the most meaningful recent change at the restaurant. What the Michelin retention in 2025 signals is that the cooking has not drifted under new direction. For the returning visitor, the room and the ethos remain consistent; the question is whether the menu has evolved enough to reward a second or third visit. Based on the restaurant's track record and its 4.5 Google rating across 383 reviews, the guest experience holds up.
The service question at La Grange d'Hamois is worth addressing directly, because it is central to whether €€€ feels like value or a stretch. A rural Belgian address at this price point lives or dies by whether the front-of-house makes you feel the money was well spent. The kitchen's roots at Pierre Résimont's operation — one of Belgium's most serious dining rooms — suggest a service culture oriented toward precision and intention rather than theatrical hospitality. At 4.5 across 383 reviews, the guest satisfaction data backs that up: this is not a restaurant where the room disappoints after the food impresses.
Where La Grange d'Hamois earns its price is in the combination of technical seriousness and the absence of the formality tax you pay at full four-bracket restaurants. Comparable addresses in Belgium , Boury in Roeselare, Zilte in Antwerp, or Hof van Cleve in Kruishoutem , operate at a higher price bracket and with a more ceremonial service register. La Grange d'Hamois sits at a point where the cooking is technically credible at Michelin level, but the experience is less rigid. For a food-focused visitor who wants substance over ceremony, that is a meaningful advantage.
Emptinne is a small village in the Namur province of Wallonia, and La Grange d'Hamois is not a restaurant you stumble into. You will need a car. The address is Chaussée d'Andenne 10A, 5363 Emptinne, and the converted station building is the destination, not a stop on the way to somewhere else. Plan the visit accordingly: combine it with an overnight stay (see our Emptinne hotels guide) or build a wider Wallonia itinerary. For context on what else is nearby, our full Emptinne restaurants guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide cover the broader area.
Booking difficulty is high. A two-star-retained Michelin address in a rural location with presumably limited covers does not leave much slack in the reservation calendar. Book as far in advance as possible , four to six weeks minimum is a reasonable working assumption for weekend tables, and weekend dates will go first. There is no published booking method in our database, so check the restaurant's own channels directly. Do not assume walk-in availability.
La Grange d'Hamois works leading for a specific kind of visitor: someone who values technical cooking at a Michelin-credible level, does not need the full ceremonial apparatus of a four-bracket restaurant, and is willing to travel to a rural address to get there. It is a stronger choice than most Brussels-based alternatives for that profile, and the €€€ positioning makes it one of the more accessible one-star addresses in Belgium in price terms.
It is less well suited to visitors who want the full production of Belgian fine dining , the drama and theatre of a destination restaurant in a major city. For that, Comme chez Soi or Bozar Restaurant in Brussels will fit the brief better. For visitors curious about the wider Belgian one-star tier, Bartholomeus in Heist, Willem Hiele in Oudenburg, and d'Eugénie à Emilie in Baudour represent comparable ambition in different regional registers. For international context at the same culinary style, Schanz in Piesport and Sketch's Lecture Room and Library in London show how Modern French cooking translates across borders.
Book La Grange d'Hamois if you are a food-focused traveller prepared to make the drive to rural Wallonia for technically grounded, Michelin-retained cooking at a price point below the Belgian fine dining ceiling. The combination of two consecutive stars, a strong public rating, and a €€€ rather than €€€€ bracket makes it a well-evidenced choice. The caveat is logistics: you need to plan ahead, you need a car, and you need to book early. If those conditions suit your trip, this is one of the more direct affirmative decisions in the Belgian one-star tier.
Come expecting precise, technically serious cooking focused on fish and meat, in a rural converted station building rather than a polished urban dining room. The atmosphere is high-class bistro rather than full fine dining ceremony. At €€€, it is one of the more accessible Michelin one-star addresses in Belgium by price, and the 4.5 Google rating across 383 reviews suggests the experience holds up consistently. Drive is required , there is no public transport option that makes practical sense for this address.
Book four to six weeks out as a minimum for weekends. A Michelin-starred restaurant in a rural location with limited covers fills quickly, and the 2025 star retention will have renewed demand. If your dates are fixed, book the moment you confirm your travel. There is no published online booking method in our current data, so contact the restaurant directly to confirm how to reserve.
We do not have confirmed data on bar seating or walk-in counter availability at La Grange d'Hamois. Given the rural location and the Michelin-starred format, it is unlikely to operate with casual bar dining in the way an urban bistro might. Contact the restaurant directly before assuming informal walk-in access is possible.
Emptinne itself has very limited dining options beyond La Grange d'Hamois. If you are looking at the wider Belgian one-star tier at a comparable price, d'Eugénie à Emilie in Baudour and L'air du Temps in Liernu (the restaurant where the founders trained) both offer serious cooking in Wallonia. For the full Belgian fine dining tier at €€€€, Castor in Beveren and Cuchara in Lommel are worth considering, though the price step up is real.
Yes, with the right expectations. The Michelin star and the technical seriousness of the cooking give it the weight a special occasion calls for, and the €€€ price point means you are not paying the full premium of Belgium's top-tier restaurants. It works especially well for a food-focused celebration where the meal itself is the event. If you want dramatic service theatre or a prestige city address as part of the occasion, Boury or Comme chez Soi may suit better. For an intimate occasion where cooking quality matters more than setting grandeur, La Grange d'Hamois is a strong choice.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Grange d'Hamois | €€€ | Hard | — |
| Boury | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Comme chez Soi | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Castor | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Cuchara | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| De Jonkman | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
What to weigh when choosing between La Grange d'Hamois and alternatives.
This is a destination restaurant in the fullest sense: a converted station building in the village of Emptinne, Namur province, run by Grégory Gillain and Gélène Fays, who trained at Pierre Résimont's L'Eau Vive before setting up here. It holds a Michelin star and prices at €€€, so come expecting a serious, technically focused meal rather than a relaxed neighbourhood dinner. A car is essential — there is no practical public transport to Emptinne. First-timers should plan around the meal as the main event of the day.
Book at least three to four weeks ahead for weekend slots; a Michelin-starred room with limited covers in a rural setting fills on reputation alone. Weekday bookings may have more flexibility, but the restaurant's remote location means tables don't sit empty by chance. Check the website or check the venue's official channels for current availability, as hours and service days are not publicly confirmed.
There is no confirmed bar-seating option in the available venue data for La Grange d'Hamois. Given its format as a high-class bistro in a converted station building rather than a conventional restaurant with a bar counter, informal drop-in dining is unlikely. Book a table to be certain of a seat.
There are no other Michelin-level restaurants in Emptinne itself — this is a very small village. If you want a comparable Michelin-starred experience without the rural drive, Boury in Roeselare or De Jonkman near Bruges offer technically grounded cooking at similar price points, though the setting and character differ significantly. La Grange d'Hamois is the only serious dining option in its immediate area.
Yes, with one practical caveat: the occasion needs to suit a rural, intimate format rather than a grand city dining room. La Grange d'Hamois has held its Michelin star through both 2024 and 2025, which makes the €€€ price point defensible for a celebratory meal. It works well for two people who value cooking over spectacle. For larger groups expecting a more theatrical setting, Comme chez Soi in Brussels offers more of that traditional grand-occasion atmosphere.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
