Restaurant in Malonne, Belgium
Plant-forward French in an elegant villa.
Yirmi is a Michelin Plate Creative French restaurant in a Malonne villa, with a glazed wine cellar where you choose your own bottle and flexible course-count dining. At €€€, it delivers more value than the €€€€ Belgian fine dining tier. Book with dietary needs flagged in advance for the full plant-based menu experience.
Yes — particularly if you are looking for creative French cooking at €€€ prices in a part of Belgium that rarely makes the shortlist for serious food tourism. Yirmi holds a 2025 Michelin Plate and a 4.8 Google rating across 182 reviews, which puts it comfortably ahead of most restaurants in the Namur province on both counts. This is not a consolation prize for missing a table in Brussels or Ghent. It is a deliberate choice.
The physical setting at Yirmi does a lot of the work before the first course arrives. The restaurant occupies an elegant villa — the kind of building that signals occasion without demanding formality. The defining spatial feature, confirmed by Michelin inspectors, is the bespoke glazed wine cellar into which guests are invited to select their own bottle at fixed prices tied to the menu they have chosen. The format turns a typically backstage ritual into part of the meal itself, and it is guided by Adrien, whose role as host extends from the front door through to that cellar visit. For anyone who cares about how a room feels and how a dinner unfolds spatially, this arrangement is a genuine differentiator. It is not a gimmick , it gives the room a logic and a sequence that most €€€ restaurants do not bother with.
The villa setting also anchors Yirmi firmly in Malonne rather than despite it. This is a quiet residential commune just outside the city of Namur, and the restaurant does not try to import urban energy it does not have. The elegance here is domestic in the leading sense: proportionate, considered, and built around the idea that you are a guest rather than a customer. For the food and wine explorer looking for context and depth, that distinction matters. Wallonia's restaurant scene tends to be overshadowed by Flanders in the broader conversation about Belgian fine dining, and Yirmi is exactly the kind of venue that deserves to correct that imbalance. See our full Malonne restaurants guide for the wider picture.
Chef Jeremy Vandernoot works within a Creative French framework but has developed a serious commitment to vegetable-led cooking , not as a concession to dietary preferences, but as a point of culinary ambition. We're Smart, the organisation that tracks vegetable-focused restaurants across Europe, has noted the quality of the plant-based creations coming out of Yirmi, confirming that if you request a pure plant menu at the time of booking, the kitchen will deliver it as a considered, composed experience rather than an afterthought. This is worth knowing before you book: proactive communication about your menu preferences unlocks a different version of the meal.
Michelin's inspectors called out the apple brioche and croissant ice cream with butterscotch caramel and cider sabayon as a highlight , a dessert construction that uses French pastry technique as a scaffold for unexpected combinations. The flexible course-count format means you are not locked into a fixed tasting menu progression. You choose the number of courses, which gives the meal a degree of control that longer omakase-style formats do not. For solo diners or couples who want depth without a three-hour commitment, that flexibility is practical rather than cosmetic.
The team's energy, as Michelin's inspectors noted, comes through in the food itself. That is a meaningful signal at this price point. At €€€, you are paying for care and intent, and the evidence suggests both are present.
Against the €€€€ tier in Belgium, Yirmi's €€€ pricing is a genuine advantage. Boury, Vrijmoed, and La Durée all operate at higher price points and in more competitive booking windows. If your priority is spending less while still eating at a Michelin-recognised restaurant with a distinctive room and a chef with a clear creative identity, Yirmi is the stronger value call. The glazed wine cellar format and flexible course count also give it a structural character those restaurants do not replicate.
If you are weighing Yirmi against the Brussels fine dining tier, Bozar Restaurant in Brussels offers a different register , more urban, more architecturally dramatic , but at a higher price and with more competition for tables. d'Eugénie à Emilie in Baudour is the closest Wallonian peer in terms of price tier and creative ambition, and worth comparing directly if you are planning a Wallonia itinerary. For the full Belgian fine dining picture, Hof van Cleve and Zilte represent the Flanders ceiling, but they are a different category of commitment in both price and booking lead time.
For the explorer who wants to cover Wallonia seriously, pair Yirmi with Le Chalet de la Forêt in Brussels for a two-night itinerary that covers both ends of Belgium's French-influenced fine dining range without duplicating the experience.
Reservations: Direct to book , no extended lead time required at this stage, though weekend evenings will fill faster than weekday slots. Dietary needs: Request the pure plant menu at the time of booking , the kitchen delivers it as a full composed experience. Dress: Smart casual to smart; the villa setting invites effort without demanding black tie. Budget: €€€ per head, with wine selected from the glazed cellar at fixed prices aligned to your menu choice. Getting there: Malonne is a short drive from central Namur. Check our Malonne hotels guide if you are staying overnight, and our Malonne bars guide for pre- or post-dinner options.
Smart casual is the practical answer. The villa setting and the Michelin Plate recognition both suggest the meal is an occasion, so lean toward effort , but there is no evidence of a strict dress code. A jacket for dinner is a reasonable read of the room.
Yes. The flexible course-count format works well for solo diners who want to calibrate depth and duration. Malonne is a quieter setting than a city-centre restaurant, which suits a solo meal focused on the food and wine rather than the scene. At €€€, the bill stays manageable for a solo outing at this level.
It is one of the stronger special-occasion choices in Wallonia at this price tier. The glazed wine cellar ritual, the elegant villa, and Adrien's hosting style all frame the meal as an event. The Michelin Plate gives it external validation you can communicate to guests who need that reassurance before they agree to drive to Malonne.
Yes, with a specific note: if you want the full plant-based menu, flag it at the time of booking. The kitchen has invested in vegetable-led creativity as a serious culinary direction, and the We're Smart recognition confirms it. Do not wait until you arrive , the request needs to be made in advance to get the composed version.
At €€€, yes. You get a Michelin Plate restaurant, a distinctive room with an active wine cellar ritual, flexible course structure, and cooking that has been recognised for genuine vegetable-led creativity. The comparable €€€€ Belgian restaurants , Boury, Vrijmoed, La Durée , cost more and are harder to book. The value case here is clear.
The format at Yirmi is not a fixed tasting menu , you choose the number of courses, which is a meaningful distinction. That flexibility makes the experience accessible for diners who do not want a full multi-hour progression. If you want depth, order more courses and request the plant menu in advance. If you want a focused meal, a shorter course count still delivers the kitchen's character, as the Michelin inspector's note on the apple brioche dessert confirms.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yirmi | Creative French | €€€ | In Wallonia too, chefs and restaurants are increasingly discovering the assets of vegetables, not only for health or climate reasons, but above all for creativity and taste. At Yirmi restaurant, we can say that chef Jeremy Vandernoot has been experimenting and we at We're Smart can confirm that the new creations are quite something. If you let them know when booking that you are opting for a pure plant menu, you too can enjoy it!; Michelin Plate (2025); A meal in this elegant villa starts with the solicitous welcome of Adrien, who will later be your host in the bespoke glazed wine cellar where you are invited to select your own bottle at fixed prices depending on your menu (watch out for bargains!). Jeremy Vandernoot has harnessed his creativity to devising a formula in which you are free to choose the number of courses. Our inspectors were particularly impressed by the chef’s apple brioche and croissant ice cream, served with butterscotch caramel and cider sabayon. The team’s enthusiasm can be tasted in each bite. | Easy | — |
| Boury | Modern Frlemish, Creative French | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star | Unknown | — |
| Comme chez Soi | French - Belgian, Classic Cuisine | €€€€ | Michelin 1 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Vrijmoed | Modern Flemish, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| La Durée | French-Belgian, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Cuchara | Modern European, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
How Yirmi stacks up against the competition.
Yirmi occupies an elegant villa setting with a bespoke glazed wine cellar, which signals a polished but not formal dress code. Think neat, put-together clothes — a jacket for dinner is a reasonable call. This is not a jeans-and-trainers crowd, but black tie would be out of place.
The flexible course format at Yirmi — where you choose how many dishes you want — works well for solo diners who want to control the pace and spend. The attentive hosting from Adrien and the wine cellar selection ritual give solo visits a personalised feel rather than an afterthought. It is a reasonable solo choice at €€€ in Wallonia.
Yes. The villa setting, the wine cellar experience where you select your own bottle at fixed prices, and the Michelin Plate 2025 recognition all make Yirmi a solid pick for a birthday dinner or anniversary in the Namur area. It delivers occasion-appropriate atmosphere without the stiffness of a two- or three-star room.
Yirmi explicitly offers a pure plant menu if you flag it at booking — We're Smart has confirmed the vegetable-led creations here are a genuine focus, not a workaround. Mention your requirements when reserving and the kitchen will accommodate. This is one of the stronger plant-menu offerings in Wallonia at this price point.
At €€€, Yirmi delivers a Michelin Plate-recognised meal with a flexible course structure, a personalised wine cellar experience, and cooking that Michelin inspectors specifically highlighted for creativity and enthusiasm. For Wallonia, that combination is good value — comparable ambition in Brussels or Ghent would cost more. If you are driving from Namur, the case is easy.
Yirmi does not impose a fixed tasting menu — you choose the number of courses, which makes it more flexible than most restaurants at this level. Michelin inspectors called out the apple brioche and croissant ice cream with butterscotch caramel and cider sabayon as a standout, so going further through the menu is likely to reward you. If you want full creative range from Jeremy Vandernoot's kitchen, book more courses rather than fewer.
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