Restaurant in Lier, Belgium
Michelin star, vegetable-forward, book early.
Neon is Lier's only Michelin-starred restaurant, earning its star in 2024, and it is the hardest table to book in the area. Chef Nils Proost runs five micro-seasonal set menus built around local vegetables, North Sea fish, and zero-waste creativity. At €€€, it delivers better value than comparably starred rooms in Antwerp. Book three to four weeks out minimum.
Yes, and sooner than you think. Neon earned its Michelin star in 2024 and seats fill up fast for a restaurant of this calibre in a town the size of Lier. If you have been once and are wondering whether a second visit is worth it, the answer is the same: book it, and this time request a seat by the original canteen architecture — the spatial contrast between the building's institutional past and the precision on the plate is worth experiencing deliberately. For first-timers in the €€€ price range in Lier, there is no comparable room doing what Nils Proost does here.
Neon operates out of a refurbished canteen inside a former teacher training college in Lier. That setting matters for two reasons. First, the space carries a scale and structural honesty that most Belgian fine-dining rooms do not have: high ceilings, a utilitarian shell transformed rather than disguised. If you care about where you are sitting as much as what you are eating, this room delivers. Second, the building anchors the cooking philosophically. Proost is not performing fine dining in a neutral box; he is doing something that feels continuous with the neighbourhood, with local supply chains, and with the low-waste, high-creativity approach that defines the whole project.
The kitchen sources vegetables, herbs, and fruit from the Vercammen brothers in Koningshooikt — two young brothers who run a market gardening operation together. North Sea fish comes in, as does occasional meat from whole carcasses. The zero-waste commitment is not a marketing tag: it shapes what appears on the plate and in the glass. The house kombucha, for instance, exists because of it. Five set menus rotate across the year, each one calibrated to a specific micro-season rather than a broad quarter. If you visited in spring last time, an autumn booking will give you a substantially different meal, not just a swap of one or two dishes.
The cooking that comes out of this kitchen is described consistently as well-balanced and uncomplicated in structure, but the flavour combinations are anything but timid. Dishes like green asparagus with celeriac, wild spinach, and lovage sit alongside combinations of belly bacon and cod cheek with sweet potato, white beans, and green curry. Vegetables do not play a supporting role here , they are frequently the main event, and the kitchen builds enough complexity around them that you do not miss heavier proteins. Fermentations appear throughout, adding acidity and depth. Hazelnut sauce, tarragon vinegar, smoky BBQ aromatics in mussel preparations: the flavour register is wide, and the kitchen moves between registers without losing coherence.
Worth noting for regulars: the five-menu annual rotation means timing your visit matters. The kitchen's micro-seasonal approach rewards planning ahead rather than booking whenever a table opens up. Check what stage of the year you are booking into and go in knowing the menu will reflect that window specifically.
Neon does not position itself as a late-night venue, and Lier is not Antwerp. But for a town of this size, having a Michelin-starred room that runs full tasting menus means evening pacing is genuinely unhurried. Tasting menus at this level typically run two and a half to three hours, which means a booking at 7:30 PM will carry you well into the later part of the evening. The space, a converted canteen with presence rather than intimacy, holds that duration comfortably. If you are looking for somewhere to extend a dinner occasion in the Lier area rather than driving back into Antwerp for a final drink, Neon gives you the full arc of an evening in one address. The Lier bar scene is worth exploring afterwards for a nightcap, but the meal itself is long enough to be the evening.
Belgium runs deep in the one-star category. Proost's approach at Neon sits in a different register from coastal fish-driven rooms like Bartholomeus in Heist or Willem Hiele in Oudenburg. It is closer in spirit to kitchens that foreground vegetables and regional supply chains, though the Neon menu is not vegetarian. Compared to Antwerp's Zilte, which operates at a higher price point and with more conventional fine-dining ambition, Neon is a better choice if the cooking philosophy and the space matter as much as the prestige of the address. For two-star and three-star ambition in the broader region, Boury in Roeselare and Hof van Cleve in Kruishoutem are the logical next step, but Neon sits comfortably as a destination in its own right rather than a stepping stone. Country cooking at this level is also worth comparing internationally: 21.9 in Piobesi d'Alba and Andrea Monesi at Locanda di Orta operate in a similar mode if you are building a broader itinerary around this style of cooking.
For a broader picture of where to eat, stay, or drink around Lier, see our full Lier restaurants guide, hotels guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide.
Smart casual is the right call. Neon is a Michelin-starred room (€€€) but it occupies a converted canteen in Lier, not a formal hotel dining room. There is no published dress code, but given the price point and the level of cooking, jeans and a clean shirt or equivalent is a reasonable floor. Do not arrive in activewear; do not feel you need a tie. Comparable Belgian one-star rooms at this price tier follow the same informal-but-considered dress expectation.
Plan for at least three to four weeks in advance as a minimum, and longer if you are targeting a specific weekend. Neon holds a Michelin star awarded in 2024, operates in a small city, and runs set menus with finite covers. That combination makes last-minute bookings difficult. Unlike easier-to-book Lier options at the same price tier, Neon does not have walk-in flexibility as a realistic fallback. Book early and treat any short-notice availability as a fortunate gap, not an expectation.
The kitchen's approach, heavy use of vegetables, North Sea fish, and selective meat, means it already skews flexibly for pescatarians and vegetable-forward diners. However, specific dietary requirements should be communicated at the time of booking. With no publicly available phone number or website listed, the most reliable route is through the reservation platform you use to book. Do not arrive with complex dietary needs unannounced at a set-menu restaurant of this format.
Yes, at €€€ for a Michelin-starred tasting menu in a town the size of Lier, Neon represents strong value relative to equivalently starred rooms in Antwerp or Brussels. Zilte in Antwerp operates at a higher price point for a comparable star level. Bozar in Brussels serves a different kind of occasion. If you want a full Michelin-starred tasting menu experience at the lower end of the three-euro-sign range, with a Google rating of 4.9 across 114 reviews backing the consistency, Neon delivers the value case clearly.
Yes. The tasting menu is the only format Neon offers, and it is well-constructed for the micro-seasonal approach the kitchen runs. Five distinct menus across the year means repeat visits produce genuinely different meals rather than minor variations. The combination of zero-waste creativity, regional sourcing from the Vercammen brothers, and Nils Proost's flavour-balance approach makes the set menu format feel purposeful rather than imposed. If you are coming back for a second visit, plan your timing to land in a different micro-season than your first visit. That is where the value of the format compounds.
The closest Lier alternatives at the same price tier are Numerus Clausus and Salto!, both farm-to-table at €€€. Neither holds a Michelin star, which makes them easier to book and a reasonable fallback if Neon is full. Barrel is a further option worth checking if the format or availability does not align. For a wider view of where to eat in Lier, see our full Lier restaurants guide. If you are willing to travel to Antwerp, Zilte operates at a higher price point but with more booking options.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neon | Country cooking | €€€ | Hard |
| Numerus Clausus | Farm to table | €€€ | Unknown |
| Barrel | Unknown | ||
| Salto! | Farm to table | €€€ | Unknown |
What to weigh when choosing between Neon and alternatives.
Neon occupies a refurbished former teacher training college canteen, which signals a setting that is considered but not stiff. Dress neatly — think dinner-out clothes rather than black tie. The €€€ price range and Michelin star suggest guests tend to dress accordingly, but the converted-canteen space and chef Nils Proost's unpretentious cooking philosophy point away from formal codes.
Book at least 3–4 weeks out, and further if you are targeting a weekend. Neon earned its Michelin star in 2024, and Lier is a small city — that combination means a limited number of covers filling quickly once word travels. Proost runs five set menus across the year, so if you want a specific seasonal menu, time your booking accordingly and don't leave it late.
Neon's kitchen is already vegetable-led by design, with the Vercammen brothers supplying local produce that takes a central role in every menu. That makes the format more accommodating for plant-forward diets than most €€€ tasting-menu rooms. For specific allergies or requirements, check the venue's official channels before booking — no dietary policy is documented in available records.
At €€€ with a 2024 Michelin star, Neon delivers serious cooking at a price point that is competitive within Belgian fine dining. Chef Nils Proost sources from named local growers, runs a zero-waste ethos, and changes menus five times a year — that level of kitchen discipline justifies the spend. If you are comparing it to Antwerp restaurants at the same tier, Neon offers a quieter, more focused experience without the city premium.
Yes, particularly if you book around a seasonal transition. Proost rolls out five distinct set menus across the year, each built around what the Vercammen brothers are growing and what the season demands from North Sea fish or occasional whole-carcass meat. The format rewards guests who let the kitchen lead — if you prefer à la carte flexibility, this is not the right room.
Lier does not have a deep bench of comparable rooms at this level, so the practical alternatives are in Antwerp, roughly 20 km away. Within Neon's Belgian one-star peer group, Numerus Clausus and Barrel offer different registers worth considering depending on what you are after. If Neon is fully booked, that is the realistic fallback — Lier itself does not offer a direct substitute for Proost's cooking at this standard.
Location
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