The story
Anju in Saint-Gilles builds its entire menu around Korean cooking, tracing its lineage to chef Sang Hoon Degeimbre, who balanced Korean heritage and Belgian upbringing after adoption. Executive chef and partner Victor des Roseaux now guides the kitchen, steering the program toward authentic techniques while preserving that cross-cultural perspective. The team treats every plate as a direct conversation between two culinary worlds rather than a temporary trend. This grounded philosophy secured a place on the 2026 Le Fooding list, where critics highlighted how the neighborhood spot quietly champions modern Korean cuisine.
The kitchen operates on a banchan system, placing small dishes of kimchi, braised baby zucchini, and purple shiso leaves alongside main courses for continuous sharing. Guests encounter robust preparations like samgyetang, a hot ginseng chicken soup built around tender meat, short grain rice, and floating jujube pieces. Duck bulgogi arrives with precisely seared breast meat finished with a light soju glaze, while japchae balances sweet potato noodles against crisp seasonal vegetables. Even the fried chicken carries a deliberate crunch that invites immediate attention before softer elements take over.
Vinyl records line the walls above shelves stacked with manhwa comics and hand-drawn illustrations that give the space a relaxed, gallery-like rhythm. The layout encourages lingering without forcing formal table manners, matching the casual energy of the shared plates below. Natural materials and warm lighting keep the focus squarely on the food rather than architectural pretense. Regular visitors recognize this unpretentious setup as exactly what makes contemporary Korean dining feel accessible and deeply rooted.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
good quality, good value cooking
All it took was a little time and a few stars for chef Sang Hoon Degeimbre, a Korean kid adopted by a Belgian family, to cook his roots. It’s now a done deal in this ordinary street in Saint-Gilles, where Anju serves as an embassy of K-pop (for Korean “popular cuisine”) with lots of manhwa comics dotted about the shelves, vinyls on the walls and illustrations everywhere. At the helm of what was once Toshiro? Executive chef and partner Victor des Roseaux, this time in the dining room delivering: amazing yet almost-too-crispy fried chicken; average japchae mixing sweet potato noodles and seasonal vegetables – both quickly forgotten thanks to some stirring samgyetang – hot ginseng chicken soup with rice, tender pieces of chicken breast and jujube bobbing about; or duck bulgogi showing off its impeccably cooked breast, simply topped with soju. The lot, served banchan-style, with kimchi, braised baby zucchini and purple shiso leaves, among others. // Rosa Poulsard
This restaurant by Sang Hoon Degeimbre offers a mix of traditional and inventive Korean dishes. The interior is meticulously crafted with contemporary accents. A dozen dishes to share and stimulate all the senses—that’s the concept. Run...
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