Restaurant in St-Martens-Voeren, Belgium
Two Michelin stars. One working farm.
Hoeve De Bies holds a Michelin star (2024 and 2025) for farm-sourced Modern French cooking in the Voeren hills — Belgium's most genuinely rural fine dining address at this level. Book four to six weeks out minimum; seats are limited and demand has grown sharply with the Michelin recognition. Worth the journey if the farm-to-table premise matters to you as an actual experience, not just a menu descriptor.
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, and St-Martens-Voeren requires deliberate travel — you are not stumbling across this one.
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, and the kitchen here is built around that reality. Chef Maurice Huynen works with the agricultural produce of the surrounding area: meat, vegetables, fish, and 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, and 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. The Google rating sits at 4.7 from over 200 reviews, which is a reliable indicator that the experience lands consistently for guests who make the journey.
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.
Book as far ahead as you can , a minimum of four to six weeks is a practical baseline, and 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, and the combination of a destination address with serious culinary credentials means availability does not hold. This is a hard booking, and 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.
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, and 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.
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, and 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, and 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.
The menu at Hoeve De Bies is set rather than à la carte, so the main decision is whether to follow the standard tasting progression or request a fully plant-based alternative. The kitchen draws on regional Voeren produce , meat, vegetables, fish, and fresh herbs , and the menu composition changes with the season. Your one actionable choice: if you want the plant-based version, request it at booking, not on arrival. First-timers should commit to the full menu rather than asking for modifications; the balance across the courses is intentional.
Four to six weeks is the minimum for a realistic chance at your preferred date, and further out for weekends or holidays. Two consecutive Michelin stars (2024 and 2025) have made this a destination booking well beyond the local catchment. The restaurant is small and the setting limits capacity, so the window between deciding you want to go and actually getting a table is longer here than at most €€€€ restaurants in Belgian cities. Treat this as a hard booking and plan accordingly.
At €€€€, yes , if the farm-to-table premise is meaningful to you as an actual experience rather than a description. The Michelin recognition over two consecutive years confirms the cooking quality. What you are paying for beyond the food is the specificity of the sourcing and a setting that is genuinely agricultural rather than decorative. If you would be equally happy with accomplished Modern French cooking in a city room, Vrijmoed in Gent or La Durée in Izegem offer comparable tiers without the travel requirement. But for the specific experience Hoeve De Bies delivers, the price is justified.
There are no direct fine dining alternatives within St-Martens-Voeren itself , Hoeve De Bies is the destination address for the area. If you are widening the search to the broader Belgian fine dining circuit at the same price tier, Boury in Roeselare and Vrijmoed in Gent are the closest comparators in terms of creative ambition. For something closer to the German border and similarly rural in character, Schanz in Piesport is worth considering if your itinerary extends that far. See also Ralf Berendsen in Neerharen for a regional alternative.
Smart casual is the floor, not the ceiling. A Michelin-starred restaurant set on a farm still expects guests to dress for the occasion , the rural setting does not lower the expectation. Men should be fine in smart trousers and a collared shirt; women in equivalent smart-casual. A jacket is appropriate and will not feel out of place. Avoid anything you would wear to a casual lunch. If in doubt, dress as you would for any other €€€€ tasting-menu restaurant in Belgium.
Yes , and it is effectively your only option, so the question is more about whether the format suits you than whether it delivers value. The tasting menu here is built around seasonal Voeren produce, with a balance across meat, fish, and vegetables. It is the format that leading expresses what the kitchen is doing, and at Michelin-starred level it should be paced and composed rather than relentless. If you have strong dietary preferences, flag them at booking. Compared to tasting menus at similar Belgian addresses, the farm-sourcing context gives Hoeve De Bies a coherence that more urban kitchens cannot replicate in the same way.
Yes, and it is well suited to occasions where the setting matters as much as the meal. An anniversary, a significant birthday, or a milestone dinner benefit from the sense of occasion that a Michelin-starred farm restaurant in a quiet Belgian valley provides , it feels considered rather than performative. The trade-off is logistics: you need a car, the area has limited late-night options, and you should plan accommodation nearby if you are making an evening of it. For a special occasion where convenience matters more, Le Chalet de la Forêt in Uccle or d'Eugénie à Emilie in Baudour offer comparable seriousness with easier access from Brussels.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hoeve De Bies | €€€€ | Hard | — |
| Boury | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Comme chez Soi | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Vrijmoed | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| La Durée | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Cuchara | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in St-Martens-Voeren for this tier.
Hoeve De Bies operates as a tasting-menu format, so ordering à la carte is not the model here. The menu draws on the Voeren region's agricultural produce — meat, vegetables, fish, and fresh herbs sourced close to the farm. If you eat plant-based, flag it at the time of booking: the kitchen accommodates fully plant-based guests when notified in advance.
Book a minimum of four to six weeks out as a baseline. For weekend slots or holiday periods, booking further ahead is the safer move. Hoeve De Bies holds two consecutive Michelin stars (2024 and 2025), which means demand consistently outpaces availability — last-minute options are unlikely.
At €€€€, yes — provided the format suits you. Two consecutive Michelin stars (2024, 2025) and a genuinely farm-rooted kitchen in the Voeren hills give this restaurant a case that few Belgian addresses can match at this price tier. If you want urban convenience or a shorter menu, look at Vrijmoed in Ghent instead.
There are no direct competitors within St-Martens-Voeren itself at this level — the village is small and rural. The nearest comparable fine-dining options require travel: Boury in Roeselare and Comme chez Soi in Brussels both hold serious Michelin credentials, while Vrijmoed in Ghent offers a more accessible urban tasting-menu alternative.
The venue is set on a working farm in the Voeren countryside, which suggests the atmosphere leans toward relaxed formality rather than strict dress codes. Neat, presentable clothing fits the setting — think dinner-out rather than black-tie. Overly casual dress would feel out of place given the €€€€ price point and Michelin-starred kitchen.
For the right diner, yes. The tasting menu here is built around regional Voeren produce cooked with precision — meat, fish, vegetables, and herbs — and the farm setting is a genuine part of the experience, not decoration. At €€€€ with two Michelin stars, it competes with Belgium's top tables. If tasting menus are not your format, this address will not convert you.
It is one of the stronger cases for a special-occasion dinner in eastern Belgium. Two Michelin stars (2024 and 2025), a farm setting with real landscape around it, and a kitchen that can accommodate plant-based guests on request make it flexible enough for most groups. Factor in the rural location when planning — guests will need transport, and the area does not have much in the way of nearby hotels.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
