Kobe Desramaults (°1980)

Kobe Desramaults was born and bred in Dranouter. He grew up in an old farmhouse, which was converted with modest resources by his mother into a tavern/brasserie/hotel. Following an incredible transformation the 'In De Wulf' hotel-restaurant is now established in this same farmhouse.

You could scarcely call Kobe an exemplary student; he just had a very wide range of interests and refused to be pigeonholed. On his seventeenth birthday his mother, Heidi Foulon, took action and arranged his first employment (an apprenticeship) in the kitchen of the Picasso restaurant in the neighbouring village of Westouter. What he learnt there would undoubtedly be of use in her brasserie. Mothers are always right, even though she had no idea at that time how right she was.

After that apprenticeship he went to work in Sergio Herman's three-star restaurant, the Oud Sluis. This is where his love of his profession grew. It sparked his interest and the passion has never left him since. Kobe's first three months in the Netherlands were the hardest of his life. But he persevered. It is this perseverance, together with the support of his great teacher Sergio Herman, which has laid the foundation for his innovative and daring kitchen of today.

He worked at the Oud Sluis for two years. In the world of the gastronomy it is however an unwritten rule that you go in search of new horizons after 2 years. Kobe chose for the sunny south and Sergio had connections in Barcelona. He managed to arrange a place for his mentee with Carles Abbelan at Commerç 24. Kobe gained 10 months experience at the highest level. He wanted to stay longer, but his mother Heidi needed him in the kitchen in Dranouter…

Kobe Desramaults chose for his roots. He returned to steer the restaurant in the right direction. His chief interest however was not with the brasserie kitchen. He wanted to do his own thing. A new menu was created with traditional Flemish dishes on the one hand and Kobe's innovative menu on the other. It was a difficult period. Old customers stopped coming because they didn't appreciate the new philosophy. New customers who could appreciate the culinary innovation had not yet found their way to Dranouter.

Everything changed in 2004, when Pieter van Doveren, again prompted by Sergio Herman from the Oud Sluis, wrote a favourable article in Weekend Knack. At the end of 2004 Knack awarded Kobe the Golden Whisk for Young Talent. In no time at all 'In De Wulf' became a popular dining place for connoisseurs. There was soon no longer room for the brasserie kitchen. Out of sheer necessity the menu became a fixed menu, to be able to offer the quality that Kobe had imposed on himself. Additional staff were employed, the guest rooms were rebuilt.

The hard work of the entire team was rewarded at the end of 2005 when ‘In De Wulf’ received its first Michelin star, making Kobe Desramaults one of the youngest Belgian star chefs ever.