Brussels Airlines and Star Chef Thierry Theys create fine-dining experience at 30,000 feet

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Every year, Brussels Airlines works with another talented Michelin starred chef, each one promoting a different region of Belgium. By incorporating local ingredients, the Brussels Airlines Star Chefs bring the best of Belgian cuisine to the skies with their Business Class menus on long-haul flights. In 2019, Brussels Airlines will indulge its Business Class guests, on their way to the U.S., Canada or Africa, with a premium culinary experience created by Thierry Theys from Michelin-starred restaurant Nuance.

Together with his wife, Sofie Willemarck, Chef Theys opened the restaurant Nuance, located in Duffel (Antwerp), in 2008. Serving a menu built upon French haute cuisine, Nuance has gone straight to the top of the culinary charts. Thierry Theys was previously chosen as ‘inventive Chef of the Year’ and ‘Top young Chef in Flanders’. Nuance has been awarded two Michelin stars and Gault&Millau, the renowned French restaurant guide, consistently awards the restaurant marks of 16 and 17 out of 20.

Chef Theys has designed an exclusive menu for every quarter of this year, using Belgian seasonal products supplemented by a touch of international ingredients, perfectly combining intriguing and complex flavors to present a delightful dining experience at 30,000 feet. The first menu contains a truffle and pecorino biscuit, a starter of crispy duck salad, grapefruit and crispy rice or king crab, potato, citrus and Japanese curry. For the main course, guests can choose among beef cheek “à l ’orange”, carrot, spinach and garlic, salted cod, celery, miso and yuzu or feuilleté, sunroot, silver skin onion and plum with cabernet vinegar. To round off the menu a fine selection of cheese is followed by a dessert of sable shortbread biscuit, lemon cream and kaffir lime.

As an ambassador of its country, Brussels Airlines brings the best of Belgium to the world. In fact, the airline offers its guests a choice of eight Belgian beers on board, whereof one ‘beer of the month’ is always chosen by the Belgian Star Chef and has its roots in the chef’s region. For the first two months, the François Grand Cru Beer and 888 Tripel Eight are chef Theys’ choice.

“We continue to invest in the experience for our guests on board, as well as on the ground. Together with Thierry Theys, we are able to offer our Business Class guests on the long-haul, a premium culinary experience. It is a great challenge for a chef to bring his meals to the air as many restrictions apply and tastes change at higher altitudes. It was an intense collaboration, but we are proud of the result.”, said Gregory Baillet, Head of Product at Brussels Airlines.

Thierry Theys’ menus will be served on board from January until December 2019.

About Brussels Airlines
Brussels Airlines connects the capital of Europe to more than 100 destinations, whereof 3 destinations in North America: New York, Washington and Toronto. Belgium’s national airline also offers flights to 23 destinations in Africa, as well as to Tel Aviv and 90 cities in Europe. The company counts more than 4,000 employees and has 52 aircraft operating some 250 flights a day. Thanks to its no compromise positioning, Brussels Airlines combines competitive fares with the highest service quality.  With yearly changing Belgian Star Chefs, its wide offer of Belgian food and drinks and the five Belgian Icons, Brussels Airlines is an ambassador of its country, bringing the world to Belgium and the best of Belgium to the world.