Thomas Gellynck

The Path

The pop-up format at Commotie (pop-up) in Ghent, Belgium, until 2019, gave Thomas Gellynck an early working base in the restaurant’s language of service and pace. That same role at Commotie (pop-up) in Kortrijk, Belgium, extended the work and kept the focus on ease without slackening the standard. The shift from one location to the next reads as a steady refinement of the same core approach rather than a change in direction. Since 2020, the position of chef and co-owner at Commotie has placed Thomas Gellynck inside both the kitchen and the business of the restaurant. The role signals involvement in how the place functions as a whole: not only what is cooked, but how the room is held, how guests are received, and how the restaurant keeps its relaxed frame.

The Work Today

The catering brief at Commotie extends the same working logic beyond daily service. Thomas Gellynck frames it as a way to organise weddings, baptisms and more, which puts the restaurant’s emphasis on shared food into larger-scale use. The craft here is not about shifting identity for events; it is about carrying the same hospitality standards into different settings. That approach is practical in the strongest sense. The kitchen is being used to support occasions where timing, atmosphere, and table flow matter as much as the plate. Under Thomas Gellynck, Commotie’s work stays close to its own terms: comfort, conviviality, and a calm confidence that can serve both ordinary meals and marked occasions.

In Their Words “We want our guests to feel at home and the food which is meant to be shared is also relaxed.”