Restaurant in Liège, Belgium
Starred French cooking outside Liège. Book early.
Héliport Brasserie earned its first Michelin star in 2025, operating out of a small castle 10km from central Liège. Chef Frédéric Salpetier runs a kitchen grounded in classical French technique with personal, occasionally Asian-inflected departures. At €€€ with a 4.4 Google rating, it is the strongest special-occasion option in the Liège region — but book four to six weeks out minimum.
Héliport Brasserie earned its first Michelin star in 2025, which immediately changed the booking calculus for anyone considering a special-occasion dinner in the Liège region. With a 4.4 Google rating across 261 reviews and a price point of €€€, this is not a casual drop-in. If you are planning a celebration dinner, a serious date, or a business meal where the setting needs to do some work, Héliport deserves close consideration — but book well in advance and read what follows before you commit.
Héliport operates out of a small castle roughly 10 kilometres from central Liège, at Allée des Érables, 4000 Liège. The building carries the kind of architectural weight that a purpose-built restaurant cannot manufacture: old beams, close-fitted interiors, and the particular quietness that comes with stone walls and a rural address. The energy here is unhurried and contained , this is not a noisy brasserie floor on a Saturday night, but a room where conversation carries and the pace is set by the kitchen rather than the crowd. In summer, a terrace opens for alfresco dining, which shifts the atmosphere considerably: open air, greenery, and the kind of lunch or dinner that takes most of an afternoon if you let it. For a special occasion, the terrace booking is the one to request.
The name nods to the helicopter landing pad that once occupied the grounds , a piece of local history that gives the venue an identity beyond its culinary credentials. It is a useful reminder that this place has a character of its own, separate from whatever Michelin thinks of it this year.
Chef Frédéric Salpetier runs a kitchen that starts from classical French brasserie technique and then makes deliberate, sometimes Asian-inflected departures from it. This is not fusion in the loose sense , it is a chef with a clear point of view about when a traditional recipe benefits from intervention and when it does not. According to Michelin's own assessment, a dish of Anjou pigeon pairs breast and confit leg with girolles à la Bordelaise, a rich gravy, and mashed potato. The sauces are the technical centrepiece of the cooking. Portions follow brasserie logic: generous, not precious.
The cuisine type is listed as Creative French, and that framing is accurate. You are not coming here for a minimalist tasting menu of twelve courses and two bites each. The food is rooted, satisfying, and technically serious , a combination that justifies the €€€ pricing for diners who value execution over novelty.
Contact information and a website are not publicly listed for Héliport, which makes confirming counter or bar seating arrangements difficult without calling directly or booking through a third-party reservation platform. What the setting implies, though, is worth considering. A small castle with a character-led interior and a kitchen clearly focused on individual flavour development is the kind of environment where counter or chef-adjacent seating , if available , would offer a different register of experience from a standard table. For a solo diner or a pair with genuine interest in the cooking, it is worth asking at the time of booking whether any counter access is possible. In Michelin-starred kitchens of this scale, those seats are often the most informative way to spend an evening, and they tend to be the last to be discussed and the first to fill.
For comparison: at venues like Restaurant Haerlin in Hamburg or Atelier in Munich , both operating in the creative French register , counter access is formally structured and bookable. Héliport's more intimate, castle-based format may offer something less formal but equally direct.
The 2025 Michelin star makes this a hard booking. Expect to plan four to six weeks out at minimum for weekend tables, and potentially longer for prime summer terrace slots. No website or phone number is listed in current public records, which means your leading route is a reservation platform (TheFork, OpenTable, or Resy depending on availability in Belgium) or a direct approach via the address. The €€€ price range places Héliport above Le Cabochon and the casual end of Liège dining, but below the four-symbol ceiling. Budget for a full evening: courses, wine, and the unhurried pace the room encourages will stretch a meal to two and a half to three hours without effort.
Dress code is not formally stated, but a castle dining room with a Michelin star sets its own expectations. Smart casual at minimum; anything that reads as effort will fit the room better than anything that does not.
For dietary restrictions, the absence of a public website and phone number makes advance communication harder than it should be. Contact through your reservation platform or enquire directly when you book , this is not a venue where you want to arrive with significant dietary needs unannounced. Michelin-starred kitchens at this scale generally accommodate with notice, but confirmation in advance is the only safe approach.
Belgium's starred restaurant network is strong and geographically spread. If you are making a dedicated trip to eat well, Héliport sits in a different category from the multi-starred Belgian benchmarks: Hof van Cleve in Kruishoutem, Boury in Roeselare, Zilte in Antwerp, and Willem Hiele in Oudenburg all carry more stars and higher international profiles. Héliport's appeal is different: it is a one-star in a castle outside a second-city, with a chef doing something personal and technically serious in an atmosphere that those bigger-name venues cannot replicate. Bozar Restaurant in Brussels and d'Eugénie à Emilie in Baudour round out the wider Wallonia creative French context worth knowing if you are building a Belgian itinerary.
Within Liège itself, explore our full Liège restaurants guide for the broader picture. For accommodation, our Liège hotels guide covers where to stay. The Liège bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide are useful if you are spending more than a night.
Other Liège restaurants worth knowing: ¡Toma! for creative cooking at the leading of the local price range, Al Piccolo Mondo for Italian, Au Moriane for creative cooking, Caudalie for French contemporary, and Como en Casa for something more casual.
Book Héliport if you want a Michelin-starred meal outside the main Belgian fine-dining circuit, in a setting that has genuine character and at a price point that does not require a significant occasion to justify. The food is technically serious, the atmosphere is quiet and considered, and the 2025 star means demand is only going up. For a celebration or a long dinner that earns its time, this is the right call in the Liège region. For something easier to book or lower in price, the alternatives below are worth your attention first.
Yes, for what you get. At €€€, Héliport sits at the upper end of Liège dining, but a 2025 Michelin star and 4.4 Google rating across 261 reviews confirm this is not a venue inflating its prices without justification. The cooking is technically serious , classical French foundations with personal, occasionally Asian-inflected departures , and the castle setting adds experiential value that a city-centre restaurant at the same price cannot match. If you are comparing on pure value, Le Cabochon at €€ delivers Modern French at a lower cost, but without the star or the setting. For a special occasion, Héliport earns its price point.
There is no public website or phone number listed for Héliport, which makes advance communication harder than it should be. The practical advice is to flag dietary requirements clearly when you make your reservation , through whichever platform you use , and follow up if you do not receive confirmation. Michelin-starred kitchens of this scale generally accommodate dietary needs with sufficient notice, but arriving with significant restrictions unannounced is not advisable here or anywhere in this category.
Plan for four to six weeks minimum, and longer for weekend tables or summer terrace slots following the 2025 Michelin star. Demand for starred restaurants in smaller Belgian cities tends to be local and loyal , these tables fill without relying on tourism. Do not treat this like a walk-in option. If you are visiting Liège and Héliport is a priority, book before you finalise transport and accommodation.
Bar or counter seating is not confirmed in current public records for Héliport. The venue's castle format and intimate interior suggest that any counter-adjacent access would be limited and worth asking about specifically at the time of booking. For solo diners or pairs with an interest in the kitchen's approach, it is the right question to raise. Do not assume it is available without confirming directly through your reservation.
For creative cooking at an equivalent or higher price, ¡Toma! is the main local alternative at €€€€. For French at €€€ without the Michelin distinction, Riva is worth considering. If budget is the priority, Le Cabochon (Modern French, €€) and Le Bistrot d'en Face (country cooking, €€) both offer quality at lower spend, and both are easier to book. See our full Liège restaurant guide for a complete picture.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Héliport Brasserie | Creative French | €€€ | Michelin 1 Star (2025); Héliport is so much more than a brasserie! It is established in a pretty little castle 10km outside of Liège. Depicted by a patchwork of old beams and snug details, it oozes with character and boasts a lovely alfresco terrace for summer dining. The food is also light years from your run-of-the-mill brasserie fare. The recipes may well be traditional, but Frédéric Salpetier gives each one a fascinating personal, sometimes Asian twist. He may pair juicy breast and confit leg of Anjou pigeon with girolles à la Bordelaise, coated in a gutsy gravy and flanked by melt-in-the-mouth mashed potato. The sauces are quite simply out of this world. Rather than prissy, superfluous effects, Frédéric seeks to exalt each individual flavour. Traditional brasserie values are however respected in the lavish helpings. Héliport is the quintessence of innovative tradition. | Hard | — |
| ¡Toma! | Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Enoteca | Italian | €€ | Unknown | — | |
| Le Cabochon | Modern French | €€ | Unknown | — | |
| Riva | French | €€€ | Unknown | — | |
| Le Bistrot d'en Face | Country cooking | €€ | Unknown | — |
A quick look at how Héliport Brasserie measures up.
At €€€ pricing with a 2025 Michelin star attached, Héliport delivers strong value for the tier. Chef Frédéric Salpetier works from classical French brasserie technique, but the portions are generous and the cooking has a personal edge — Asian-inflected departures on traditional French foundations — which justifies the price better than more rigidly formal starred rooms. If you want a technically serious meal without the austerity of a tasting-menu-only format, this is one of the better arguments in Wallonia.
No dietary policy is documented in available venue data, so confirm directly before booking. What the kitchen does do well is technique-led cooking with defined saucing and classical French structure, which historically accommodates some modifications more readily than highly composed tasting menus. Contact the restaurant ahead of your visit; given the Michelin star awarded in 2025, the kitchen is unlikely to be caught off guard by a reasonable request.
Plan four to six weeks out for weekend tables at minimum, and longer for prime Friday or Saturday evening slots. The 2025 Michelin star changed the booking difficulty materially — this is no longer a restaurant you can approach on short notice and expect availability. Midweek bookings are more attainable, and if your schedule allows a Tuesday or Wednesday dinner, you may find two to three weeks sufficient.
Counter or bar seating arrangements are not publicly documented, and the venue does not list a website or phone number through standard channels. The safest route is to raise this when making your reservation. The castle setting suggests a formal dining room is the primary format, so arriving expecting bar seating without confirming first is a risk not worth taking at this price point.
Le Cabochon and Le Bistrot d'en Face are the most direct Liège-area comparisons for French-leaning cooking at a lower commitment level, useful if you want something easier to book or less formal. Enoteca and Riva are worth considering if you want a different cuisine angle in the city. ¡Toma! suits a casual or group meal where the starred-restaurant format of Héliport would feel like overkill. None currently match Héliport's Michelin standing in the immediate area.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
