Caketail competition - presentation of the candidates: Duo #1

11/14/2022 

On the CHEF side:

As there is no boat without a captain, there is no Domaine Vertes-Feuilles (in St-Sauveur) without its Chef, Pascal Martens, who selects every day the most beautiful products to give this place a little something extra, its authenticity.

If he had only one motto, it would be "Good, clean and fair", three words that characterize his cuisine. Trained at the Ter Duinen hotel school in Koksijde and graduate in hotel management, it isn’t in the papers that we find him, but behind his piano, or his stoves if you prefer, talking about ingredients. But what will he ask of them? Above all, he wants to know their origin, their history and the flavors behind the richness of the perfumes they release.

If there was only one success to mention on Pascal Martens' record, it would be his position as sous-chef at the Château du Mylord in Ellezelles. This 2 Michelin star is not the only establishment to its credit. He worked in no less than 12 restaurants from 1993 to 2009.

In 2007, he was named by the King "Laureate of Labour, Tourism Section". In 2015, he won the "Let's Cook Cobia" competition, organized by Gault & Millau. A guide in which the restaurant has been listed since 2018.

But let's focus on the most important thing about his cooking: the values he defends. Close to the products of nature and small producers, he also grows his own vegetables, fruits and aromatic plants. The breakfast offered at the estate is composed of homemade and local products. No question of simply ordering a basket of organic vegetables, quality products are the result of constant research and meetings with their producers.

On the bartender side:

Born in Charleroi on August 13, 1989, Thomas Beifnot has been a bartender since 2013.  First waiter in an Irish cocktail bar, he replaces the bartender at the departure of the latter. A trade that quickly becomes a passion, more than a job.

Trained on the job, but also with professionals, he gained experience in a brasserie in Louvain-la-Neuve before joining the world of hospitality as a head bartender in a new establishment in Charleroi. It is in the famous Alice Cocktail Bar in Brussels that he refines his techniques by working for a year, one evening a week.

Since February 2020, Thomas Beifnot has been head bartender at the prestigious Petrus Bar, within the recently renovated Hotel Nivelles-Sud Van der Valk.