Viki Geunes and Viviane Plaquet opened ‘t Zilte in Mol in 1996, just the two of them. The first menu was of its time: carpaccio and a house version of bouillabaisse. The name came from their honeymoon in South Africa, where Geunes ordered oysters for his wife; zilt is Dutch for briny, the taste of the sea on the lips. Thirty years and three Michelin stars later, the restaurant sits on the ninth floor of the MAS on the Eilandje, and it is still a family business.

Geunes did not come up through a kitchen brigade. “I didn’t have a classical education, as I actually have a degree in Industrial Sciences,” he has said, and he taught himself to cook. He describes his method as analytical but led by instinct. The Michelin Guide listed ‘t Zilte early, gave it a first star in 2004 and a second in 2008, and Gault&Millau named Geunes chef of the year in 2009.

In 2011 the couple moved the restaurant to Antwerp, to the top of the Museum aan de Stroom, the 60-metre museum by Neutelings Riedijk Architects that opened on the Hanzestedenplaats on 17 May that year. Shortly before the pandemic it moved again, to the other side of the building, with a new kitchen and interior, and dropped the article from its name: ‘t Zilte became Zilte.

The third star came in the January 2021 guide, with the dining room shut by lockdown. “I hadn’t counted on it in these strange times, because it’s hard to stay motivated right now,” Geunes told VRT. “This is the ultimate dream of a chef.” The only other Belgian restaurant with three stars that year was Hof van Cleve in Kruisem, where Peter Goossens kept his three. A year later Geunes was still careful with it: “Today we are a debuting three-star.” The 2026 guide lists Zilte with three stars, for creative cooking with “outstanding ingredients” that is “free of fussy frills”.

Geunes puts the ingredient first. “The product is always the prima donna with us,” he told the Michelin Guide. He calls his cooking “a creative but recognisable kitchen” and likes “working with products that people can’t cook at home so readily.” The menu changes about four times a year, with seasonal dishes in between, and since the move to the MAS there has been a fully vegetarian menu alongside the main one. A review from June 2026 described sweetbread with corn, truffle, sweet potato and North Sea crab, and wagyu with artichoke, octopus, smoked hay and pine nut.

Earlier write-ups, including the first version of this one, sent readers to an “Oyster Experience” and a “Zilte Signature” menu. Geunes has put that plainly: “We don’t have real signature dishes.” The restaurant does not have a fixed showpiece because the menu keeps moving.

The front of house is the family. Plaquet has run the dining room since the first day in Mol. Their daughter Gitte Geunes works in service and on the events side of the business, and Aaron Moeraert, her husband, is head sommelier; the Michelin inspectors single out the wine list. Zilte handles its own bookings, and the restaurant’s own site is where you start.

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This autumn the whole operation went abroad. The MAS is replacing its lift, so for a month from 2 October 2026 Zilte cooked in the Japanese pagoda at Tivoli in Copenhagen, with the full kitchen and dining-room team, the staff in a hostel and the family in a rented flat. About 500 reservations had been made before it opened, with room for 200 to 300 more. Lunch was listed at DKK 1,700, about €225, and dinner at DKK 2,200, about €295. “We’re taking our chocolate and our house-brewed beer with us,” Geunes said.

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Moving the whole team for the month rather than closing was the right decision: a three-star kitchen is mostly its people, and a month in Copenhagen kept them together and cooking while a lift was swapped in Antwerp.

Zilte started with two people and a carpaccio. It went to Denmark with a hostel booking and its own beer.