Hoeve De Bies

Verdict: Book It; With Planning

Hoeve De Bies is worth the effort to reach. A two-time Michelin-starred address (2024 and 2025) set on a working farm in the Voeren hills, it delivers the kind of farm-to-table cooking that most restaurants only gesture at. If you are visiting Belgium's fine dining circuit for the first time and want something that combines serious cooking with a genuinely rural setting, this is the booking to prioritise. Just know that seats are limited, demand is real, St-Martens-Voeren requires deliberate travel; you are not stumbling across this one.

What to Expect as a First-Timer

The address alone signals what Hoeve De Bies is doing differently from a Brussels or Antwerp tasting-menu restaurant. The Voeren region, tucked into Belgium's eastern corner, bordering the Netherlands and Germany, is farming country, the kitchen here is built around that reality. Chef Maurice Huynen works with the agricultural produce of the surrounding area: meat, vegetables, fish, fresh herbs, composed into menus that shift with what the land and season are offering. In autumn and winter, expect rooted, earthy combinations; the menu tilts heavier and warmer as the season deepens, which is the right moment to visit if you want the full character of the cooking.

For a first visit, the most important thing to know is that the menu is not fixed in the way a city tasting menu tends to be. It is a balanced composition across protein and vegetable, if you want a fully plant-based experience, you can request it at the time of booking, not as an afterthought on the night. Flag it early.

The setting is a farm, which means the approach and the room will feel different from the polished interiors of urban fine dining. That contrast is part of the point. You are eating at the source, not in a room decorated to evoke a source.

Late Evening at Hoeve De Bies

Hoeve De Bies is not a late-night venue in the conventional sense, no cocktail bar, no walk-in counter at midnight. But for special-occasion dining in a region where options after 9 PM are thin, it functions as the destination of the evening. The meal itself is the event. Pacing at this level of restaurant tends to be unhurried: a full tasting progression at Hoeve De Bies is an evening's commitment, not a dinner before something else. If you are planning around it, treat the meal as the close of the day rather than the start of the night. For drinks before or after, our full St-Martens-Voeren bars guide is the place to start, though options in the village are limited, factor accommodation into your plan if you are travelling from further afield.

Booking: Expect a Wait

Book as far ahead as you can, a minimum of four to six weeks is a practical baseline, for weekend dinners or holiday periods, further out is safer. Michelin recognition for two consecutive years has raised the profile of Hoeve De Bies well beyond the local audience. The restaurant is small, the farm setting limits seat count, the combination of a destination address with serious culinary credentials means availability does not hold. This is a hard booking, treating it as easy will cost you the date you want.

There is no online booking information in the public record at the time of writing, so direct contact with the restaurant is the route. Check the current booking channel before you travel. If you are building a broader itinerary around the region, pair the booking research with our full St-Martens-Voeren hotels guide, staying nearby is the practical choice.

Price and Value

At the €€€€ price point, Hoeve De Bies sits alongside Belgium's other top-tier tasting-menu restaurants. What you are paying for here is not just the cooking, it is the specificity of the produce, the farm context, a Michelin-starred experience that is genuinely removed from the urban fine dining circuit. Compared to similar-tier addresses in Brussels or Ghent, you are trading convenience and ease of access for something more singular in its sourcing and setting. Whether that trade-off suits you depends on how much the farm-to-table premise matters to you as a material experience rather than a menu description. If it matters, the price holds up. If you would be equally satisfied with accomplished Modern French cooking in a city room, consider Bozar Restaurant in Brussels or Vrijmoed in Gent as alternatives that remove the travel variable.

Getting the Most from the Visit

A few practical notes for first-timers. Arrive with time to take in the setting, the farm environment and the Voeren landscape are part of the experience, arriving rushed shortens what the venue does well. Request the plant-based menu in advance if that is your preference. Dress smart-casual at minimum; a Michelin-starred farm restaurant does not mean casual, the room will reflect the seriousness of the cooking. And plan your transport: this is not a restaurant you reach by public transit from a major city without significant effort. A car or a driver is the practical answer, which also frees you to make the most of the evening without managing a last train.

For broader context on eating and staying in the region, see our full St-Martens-Voeren restaurants guide, our full St-Martens-Voeren experiences guide, and our full St-Martens-Voeren wineries guide. If you are building a Belgium fine dining trip with multiple stops, Hof van Cleve in Kruishoutem, Zilte in Antwerp, and Willem Hiele in Oudenburg are the comparators worth stacking against Hoeve De Bies when deciding how to allocate your high-spend nights.

Quick reference: Michelin 1 Star (2024, 2025) | €€€€ | Modern French, farm-sourced | Book 4-6 weeks minimum | Plant-based menu available on request | Car required.

How It Compares