Ukiyo

French base, Japanese edge, one presbytery

Local product comes first at Ukiyo in Stekene, where Bodi de Munck leads the kitchen. The restaurant occupies a renovated historical presbytery on Polenlaan, a house remade for a French-Japanese kitchen, a cocktail bar and guest rooms, and it is run by two brothers, Bodi on the food and Timothy on the drink. Omakase is the main rhythm, five to seven courses, with an à la carte list held alongside it. In a region where Belgian brasserie cooking sets the norm and sake pairings are still rare at the table, that combination is the whole proposition. The Michelin Guide lists the house under modern cuisine and its inspectors single out the sauces, a range of them built to lift local ingredients rather than cover them. Gault&Millau reads the same cooking as an innovative mix that builds in crescendo, with acidity held through the meal to keep it moving.

Five to seven courses, built in tension

The omakase runs in five to seven courses, a compact format that gives the kitchen room for progression without turning the meal into spectacle. A sea bass course brings apple, sake and fingerlime into the same register; the point is not novelty, but lift. Crispy sweetbreads arrive with pippali, truffle and red shiso, a French offal discipline pulled toward a sharper, darker spice line. Ocean beef has been paired with Brussels sprouts, nikiri and Jerusalem artichoke. Rare Anjou pigeon has appeared with morel mushrooms and a rich gravy. The method depends on contrast held close. Ponzu accents sit beside fish. Bisque and mousseline keep a French base under Japanese seasoning. Nikiri, sake and shiso do not flatten the cooking into theme; they give the pass another set of edges. The beverage side follows the same argument, with sake, cocktails, wines and juice pairings treated as part of the progression rather than a separate performance.

The presbytery and the open kitchen

The room keeps the old pastorijgebouw in view while letting the restaurant feel current. There is an open kitchen, an elegant dining room, a cocktail bar with a jungle-toned mood, and a garden beyond the building. The sequence matters: counter, pass, glass, garden. It lets the craft change register without leaving the house. Four guest rooms sit above it, two classic and two facing the garden, so the evening can end where it started. During service the kitchen works calm, ordered and in full view, which matters in a dining room built around omakase, where the bench is read as closely as the plate. The noise stays conversational and the atmosphere warm rather than hushed, which suits food that moves between bisque, ponzu, sweetbreads and sake without asking for ceremony at every turn.

What remains on the plate

What holds Ukiyo together is the continuity of its method: local products, French structure, Japanese acidity, and a beverage program willing to put sake next to wine without apology. Guest reports across 2023 to 2025 track a kitchen tightening rather than coasting, with the early misses giving way to consistency. The clearest statement of it is still the sea bass at Ukiyo, with apple, sake and fingerlime doing the work.