The second live edition of the Dolce Grillardeurs Trophy took place over the weekend of April 2-4 in the charming town of Houffalize, specifically at the Café Coureur.

This beautiful spot was the arena for top teams, each of which created four courses based on using the ingredients from a black box. Not an easy feat, especially if you know that the preparations needed to be done on charcoal barbecues and grills.

This year a full Chaîne team competed. It consisted of: Chargé de Presse Fred Haentjes and Dame de la Chaîne Soetekin Haentjes (both visiting from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates), Chargé de Missions Jelbrich Hendrickx and Chevalier Kurt Van Tendelo.

They went for an Arabian twist on their black box ingredients by creating a menu comprising:
- Quail and beetroot
- Sharazad’s Flame (Mowi farm-raised salmon reinvented)
- Succulent beef steak with fragrant Arabic spice
- Wafalat Al-Fursan for dessert - a Middle Eastern-inspired culinary masterpiece, a beautiful fusion of the traditional Belgian waffle and the exotic flavours of the Emirates.

Chevalier Tom De Block led his “Belgium Barrel Alliance” team. Being an excellent beer maker, he made sure all the teams had a piece of Montalcino barrel wood in their black box. Tom also served us a special edition 2019 barley wine which had been aged in Brunello di Montalcino barrels.

Their menu was:
- Feast of smoked and tartare of salmon on roasted onion gel
- ‘Surf & Turf’: beef tataki and puff pastry calamares
- Grilled steak with smoked carrot and quail in wine sauce
- Greek style stuffed pancakes with Montalcino sabayon

The day of the competition began at 7am with a shot of rum offered by Maître Rôtisseur Florent Collignon. For the watching crowd Dame de la Chaîne Annemie Dedulle did a great tasting direct from the tin featuring Ramón Peña fine canned seafood from Galicia.

The jury was made up of Chefs from Michelin starred restaurants including:
- Archibald de Prince - Château Bourglinster
- Jonas Bovri - Château du Mylord
- Dean Hoebeeck - Table22

After an exciting battle, the podium places were declared as follows:
1. Handwerk (a team empowered by Dame de la Chaîne Els Vlieghe)
2. Porkies
3. The Smokey Devils

The jury highly praised the level of the competition. The term ‘high quality’ was used a lot! There is no doubt that this successful second edition will be followed by many more to come.

Ilse Duponcheel
Bailli Délégué
Member of the Conseil Magistral