During the mild months of early summer, the garden at the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Hertog Jan — located 20 minutes outside of the Belgian city of Bruges — is in full bloom. The pale orange outlines of butternut squash peek out from beneath a thick cover of wide, flat leaves. Radishes grow in neat rows along one edge, while golden nasturtium flowers sprout in another corner. But Hertog Jan's garden functions as more than fancy landscape design: it is an experiment in self-sufficiency.
The lush expanse covers an area of more than 1.5 hectares and provides the restaurant with around 600 kinds of plants throughout the year — 95 percent of the vegetables, fruits and herbs used in the kitchen. The garden is where chef-patron Gert De Mangeleer goes for inspiration.
"I walk around three to five times a day and get ideas from smelling the vegetables, looking at the colors and checking what's really fresh," he says. "I always start with vegetables and then build my dishes around them."