Chez Flo: Living, and then reliving beautiful stories

In Flémalle, on the banks of the Meuse, a pale local stone façade almost blends into the landscape. A modest wall that says nothing — or almost nothing — of what it hides. Yet, pushing open the wooden door reveals a bright, serene space: blonde wood, soft stone, soothing textures... and on the left, the kitchen, wide open, like a heart laid bare before the dining room.

Formerly a confidential "table d’hôtes," the address has blossomed into a true restaurant under Florence's leadership. An impressive career path lights the foundations: Robuchon — from the three-star flagship to the Atelier in Las Vegas —, La Cadière-d’Azur, and above all, a cardinal influence: Edgard Bovier at the Lausanne Palace. A demanding, complete training, for both the hand and the soul. Back on her home soil by the Meuse, Florence set up her kitchen in her grandfather’s former medical practice. Where bodies were once healed, she now heals emotions.

At Chez Flo, you enter a Home. A real one. A house where the cuisine breathes purity, clarity, and mastered simplicity. A cuisine that doesn't seek showy effects, but rightness; that magnifies the product without masking it; that tells a sincere, deep, and grounded story of taste. By her side stands Pauline. More than a right hand: a perfect fit. Their complicity sets the pace of the room. A glance, a gesture, a well-placed movement... Everything glides, everything breathes, everything converges toward the guest's pleasure.

The seasons here are chapters. The menus unfold in two, three, or four courses, always with that legibility that makes you hungry just by reading the descriptions... and yet surprises with its contrasts, millimetric reductions, and plates that exceed their promises.

For example, today, Flo’s regulars might come across a Wild Shrimp Carpaccio with basil cream and citrus; a naturally cooked Pollock with Savoy cabbage and beurre blanc; a Carnaroli Risotto with celery and crispy bacon; a Beef Fillet with a bold horseradish jus and Robuchon-style mash; and finally, a Lemon Cream with praline and Breton shortbread. Then there is that wonderful habit of the Daily Special, a breath of fresh air outside the fixed menu that anchors the house in real life: a 64-degree Egg with parmesan cream and Iberian ham focaccia, or a Beef Entrecôte with béarnaise and fries.

At Chez Flo, every meal becomes a story. A story to be lived, and then relived. Because certain places possess that rare power: they make us return to find a good and true moment... and to discover a new one. And that is what makes the tables we love.

LD