Maxime Collard, Chef of the Year 2024 Belgium

Almost a month after the Gault&Millau France gala, the Guide Jaune celebrated the Belux region (Belgium and Luxembourg) on November 27, 2023 at Brussels Expo. In front of an audience of over 1,800 restaurateurs, journalists and partners, the guide celebrated its twenty-first edition, featuring over 1,385 addresses.

Maxime Collard, Belgian chef based in Paliseul

The title of Chef of the Year 2024 went to Maxime Collard, of Restaurant La Table de Maxime in Paliseul (Belgium). "Maxime draws the best from his region for his style of cooking, a cuisine with classic foundations but coupled with great creativity. With his brigade, Maxime is constantly striving to improve the level of his creations, his signature not being overshadowed by unnecessary artifice. All his dishes are characterized by excellent basic techniques, respect for the seasons, aesthetics and the expression of original flavors", assures Gault&Millau. "The coherence of his cuisine and the exemplary career of this chef, a culinary promise we have been following for 15 years, have reinforced our decision to designate Maxime Collard as Chef of the Year 2024", added CEO Marc Declerck.

For his part, Maxime Collard sees the award as "recognition of [his] work over the last 15 years" with his teams. "We've always wanted to do better and better, and to promote our region and its products. We don't do all this for the price, we do it above all for the food we love. We try to give the best of ourselves, and then the awards are a bonus," he declared after the ceremony.

Gault&Millau Belgium also awarded other prizes, such as Young Chef of the Year. This year, three chefs were honored: Marius Bosmans (Restaurant Arden - Rochefort) for Wallonia, Niels Brants (Restaurant EssenCiel - Leuven) for Flanders and Georges Athanassopoulos (Restaurant Màloma Comptoir Culinaire - Brussels) for the Brussels region.