HAUT

Seabass, dashi, and a kitchen at height

The seabass is carried through dashi made from its own bones before the plate reaches the pass. That gesture sets the register at HAUT in Oostende, where chef Dimitri Proost leads the kitchen alongside maître Randy Degroote, nearly 100 meters above ground on the 28th floor of SKY Tower One at Leopold III-Laan. Proost's vision draws on his travels, on local coastal culture and on the product landing at the door, transcribing the seascape into dishes that set modern French foundations against Japanese influence. The name is French for high, and it was chosen for both the perch and the ambition. HAUT opened in May 2024 as a primeur in Belgium, the country's highest restaurant, and the room was conceived as accessible yet chic rather than as seaside casual fare.

A tasting menu built from the coast

HAUT works through a tasting menu of 6 or 9 courses, the longer sequence reserved for dinner. The method is not fusion as decoration. It is a French base tightened by Japanese notes: dashi from fish bones, briny shellfish, smoked butter mousseline, Japanese curry, burned cauliflower florets. The strongest dishes keep their structure visible. Seabass stays linked to its own bones through the broth. North Sea crab brings the coastline onto the plate without needing much explanation. Bresse poultry moves in another register, prepared four ways, including a truffle-flavored breast. Langoustine with bisque and curry works because the pass holds the line between heat, sweetness and salinity, and the kitchen's measurement is often in sequence rather than weight: a course carries enough depth for its own moment, then leaves room for the next. The wine program is curated around that rhythm, with the glass following the menu rather than competing with the view.

The room above the North Sea

The lift delivers the diner to floor-to-ceiling windows that turn the pass into part of a larger coastal instrument, with a 360° view over Oostende, the harbor, the North Sea and the coastline in the same field of vision as the plates. Ethnicraft furnished the interior with timeless pieces, natural materials and neutral tones, and the space flows out to an outdoor lounge for seasonal evenings. Service moves formally, but the best moments belong to the handover: a plate set down while the light changes over the water, a glass placed before the next course begins. The kitchen works with local sourcing and seafood from a city that has always looked outward, the Stad aan Zee, while the dining room keeps the gaze wide.

A new station with a narrow margin

Recognition came quickly. Gault&Millau named HAUT the highest newcomer of the year for Flanders with a score of 15.5 and three chef's hats on debut, and the 2025 Michelin Guide awarded the restaurant One Star for high quality cooking. The house is still young enough that its habits are becoming legible, but the discipline is already clear: a coastal tasting menu, a high room, and a pass asked to make altitude feel like craft rather than ornament. The measure will be whether that restraint holds as attention grows around HAUT's seabass in dashi.