Kim Devisschere

The Climb

Volta and Publiek gave Kim Devisschere a disciplined start: kitchens where repetition, timing, and control matter more than display. The line from one to the other reads as Belgian hospitality at work—technique accumulated through service, and taste clarified by pressure rather than by theatrics. Today, Kim Devisschere is former chef of Roots in Ghent; the restaurant is closing soon. It is the sort of kitchen post that asks for consistency, judgement, and a steady hand at service, with the work showing up in the daily rhythm before it appears in the menu.

Today

At Roots, a full vegetarian menu is possible, which says something about breadth without waste. Building a complete menu on that basis takes restraint and structure: texture doing the heavy lifting, balance holding the line, and no need to lean on excess to make a point. In that setting, Devisschere’s cooking reads as practical and current, built to serve different ways of eating without losing shape.

In Their Words The detail in that memory matters. It places taste in the context of service—late, direct, and unsentimental—where food needs to deliver immediate satisfaction. An Adanaci sandwich, with lamb grilled on a skewer over charcoal, is the kind of order that makes sense after a shift: smoked, concise, and built for the end of the day.

Recognition

That specificity mirrors the through-line from Volta and Publiek to Roots: a preference for food that is clear in purpose, grounded in service, and memorable because it does the basics well.