Restaurant in Villers-sur-Lesse, Belgium
One star, castle setting, book early.
A Michelin one-star French Contemporary restaurant inside a restored Ardennes castle, with a royal vegetable garden, 365-label wine list, and floor-to-ceiling views over the Lesse. Priced at €€€€ and best suited to special occasions. Book six to eight weeks out minimum; staying the night in the castle makes the full experience considerably stronger.
Arden earns its Michelin star and deserves a booking, but go in with the right expectations. This is a special-occasion restaurant inside a restored castle in the Belgian Ardennes, priced at €€€€, and the experience is built as much around the setting as the plate. Chef Erik Van Kley works with produce from a royal vegetable garden on-site, and the kitchen's French Contemporary output is technically accomplished. If you are driving from Brussels or Liège for a celebratory dinner, this is one of the strongest options in the region. Book at least six to eight weeks out. The room fills on weekends, and the castle accommodation means guests staying overnight often claim the most desirable reservation slots.
The first thing you register at Arden is the room itself. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame the Ardennes countryside, and the patio looks directly out over the Lesse river. For a special-occasion dinner, few restaurants in Belgium deliver this kind of visual impact the moment you sit down. The space occupies a modern wing of a tastefully restored castle, and the contrast between the contemporary interior and the rural setting outside is the defining aesthetic of the experience.
Chef Erik Van Kley draws on the castle's royal vegetable garden as a primary sourcing point, and the seasonal produce from that garden does appear throughout the menu. The Michelin inspectors noted, honestly, that vegetables remain a secondary feature rather than the conceptual centre of the cooking, and that the kitchen has not yet fully committed to giving them a leading role. That tension is worth knowing before you book. What you are getting is accomplished French Contemporary technique applied to regional Ardennes ingredients, with garden vegetables offering context and texture rather than structure. Think of dishes that use warm aromatic herbs and vin jaune to frame North Sea fish, or pine kernels and broccoli oil in place of conventional risotto rice. The cooking is precise and confident; it simply does not yet make the garden its main argument.
For a first visit, focus on the full tasting menu. It gives the broadest read on Van Kley's range, and at €€€€ pricing the per-course value holds up better when you commit to the whole experience rather than ordering à la carte. The wine programme is a genuine asset: 365 selections, an inventory of 1,460 bottles, and particular depth in Oregon, Burgundy, and broader France and Italy. The in-house sommelier team can guide pairings with real knowledge. Corkage is €30 if you choose to bring your own.
For a second visit, the garden itself becomes more interesting. The seasonal shifts in what Van Kley can source from the royal vegetable garden mean the menu changes meaningfully across the year. A visit in late spring or early summer, when the garden is producing at its peak, will give you a materially different experience from an autumn dinner. If you are planning two trips, separate them by at least a season. The kitchen's relationship with its garden produce is still developing by the Michelin inspectors' own read, and return visits are the leading way to track whether that relationship is deepening.
A third visit, or a stay, changes the equation entirely. The castle has rooms, and booking accommodation alongside dinner is worth considering for any occasion where you want to fully decompress. Staying overnight means you can take the patio aperitif without watching the clock, ask to see the Wine Bible (a genuine talking point according to verified source notes), and let the Ardennes setting do its full work. The view of the Lesse from the patio at dusk is the kind of detail that makes the full castle stay more than a convenience.
On timing: weekends from May through September are the hardest to book and the most atmospheric. The Ardennes landscape is at its most persuasive in summer and early autumn. Winter visits are quieter and easier to secure, but the floor-to-ceiling windows that define the room lose some of their argument when the trees are bare. That said, a winter dinner by candlelight in a restored castle is its own proposition, and the kitchen does not slow down seasonally.
Arden holds a Google rating of 4.6 from 27 reviews, which is a small sample but consistent with the Michelin assessment: strong quality, no significant service failures reported, with the setting repeatedly cited as a reason to return. The 27 reviews also reflect how destination-specific this restaurant is. Most guests are making a deliberate trip, not stumbling in, and that self-selection tends to inflate satisfaction scores somewhat. Read those reviews as a signal that the experience matches the premise, not as a measure of volume.
For the broader Villers-sur-Lesse area, see our full Villers-sur-Lesse restaurants guide, our full Villers-sur-Lesse hotels guide, our full Villers-sur-Lesse bars guide, and our full Villers-sur-Lesse experiences guide. For comparable French Contemporary cooking at the Michelin level elsewhere in Belgium, L'air du Temps in Liernu and Boury in Roeselare are the reference points. If you are exploring the broader Belgian fine dining circuit, Hof van Cleve in Kruishoutem, Zilte in Antwerp, and Bozar Restaurant in Brussels round out the tier. For international French Contemporary comparisons, Odette in Singapore and Amber in Hong Kong represent the format at its most refined.
Address: Rue de Montainpré 27, 5580 Rochefort, Belgium. Reservations: Book six to eight weeks out minimum for weekend slots; weekday availability is somewhat looser but do not assume you can book late. Price: €€€€ (expect a full tasting menu to sit at the higher end of the Belgian Michelin bracket). Wine: 365 selections, 1,460-bottle inventory; Oregon, Burgundy, France, and Italy are the strengths; corkage €30. Dress: Smart; the castle setting and price point call for effort. Leading for: Couples celebrating a significant occasion, small groups willing to commit to the full tasting menu, anyone combining dinner with a castle stay.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arden | €€€€ | Hard | — |
| Boury | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Comme chez Soi | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Castor | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| Cuchara | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
| De Jonkman | €€€€ | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in Villers-sur-Lesse for this tier.
Arden is set inside a restored castle, which typically includes private or semi-private dining spaces suited to small groups. That said, as a Michelin-starred restaurant at the €€€€ price tier, it works best for intimate parties of two to six — larger groups should check the venue's official channels to confirm availability and any minimum spend requirements.
The room is the first thing that hits you: floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Ardennes countryside, inside a tastefully restored castle. Chef Erik Van Kley runs a French contemporary kitchen with strong seasonal and regional produce at its core. Come for a special occasion at the €€€€ price point, not a casual weeknight dinner, and consider booking a room in the castle if you can.
Book six to eight weeks out for weekend slots minimum. Weekday tables are somewhat easier to secure, but given Arden's Michelin star status since 2024 and its destination setting in the Ardennes, last-minute availability is not something to count on. Plan ahead.
At €€€€, Arden is a destination spend, and it delivers the setting and kitchen credentials to justify it — a 2024 Michelin star, a strong regional produce focus, and a castle room that few Belgian restaurants can match. If you want comparable cooking at a lower price tier, Castor is worth comparing. Arden earns its price for a once-or-twice-a-year occasion; it's harder to justify for routine fine dining.
Arden sits in a relatively quiet part of the Ardennes, so direct local competition is thin. For a step up in formality and reputation, Boury in Roeselare holds two Michelin stars and is a stronger call if cooking ambition is the priority. Comme chez Soi in Brussels offers classical French cooking with deeper heritage. Within the Ardennes region itself, Arden is the leading fine dining option at this tier.
The kitchen's strength lies in precise, seasonal French contemporary cooking with regional Ardennes produce — the 2024 Michelin star confirms the tasting menu format is working. The one documented note of ambiguity is whether vegetables from the estate garden fully drive the menu or remain a supporting element. If you want a produce-led tasting menu where vegetables are the headline, that question is worth bearing in mind.
Yes, and it's one of the stronger special-occasion cases in this part of Belgium. The castle setting, Ardennes countryside views from the dining room, and a 2024 Michelin star give it the credentials. Staying overnight in the castle is a practical option that makes the occasion easier to justify at the €€€€ price point. For pure cooking prestige over setting, Boury or Comme chez Soi would compete, but neither offers this kind of environment.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
