news

On June 19, 1926, Georges Cuvelier, originally from Borinage and wanting to avoid the mine, founded Chez Georges, a small neighborhood restaurant located at 137 boulevard Lemonnier. From the outset, the restaurant was a success because "the food is so good there." A regular customer never stopped reminding her each time she visited, "Georges, at your place, we eat like at home." An expression that quickly became the Maison's brand. At that time, the restaurant brigade was modest: it consisted of a "little" cook and a waitress. Georges Cuvelier's wife, Héléna, turned the sauces, his mother and mother-in-law cleaned, peeled, washed, and did the heavy lifting. Georges ran everything, did the shopping and lent a hand in the kitchen and dining room. Simone, their daughter, went to school and did her homework to go and scrape mussels in the cellar and help her grandmothers, sometimes until midnight. A year after it opened, Georges moved into the kitchen and created the famous Riesling sole while his daughter Simone, who was thirteen and a half, "took over" the dining room. With Héléna and the two grandmothers, the entire Cuvelier clan set out to conquer the Brussels gourmet. Ten years after the opening, in 1936, Simone, who often accompanied her father for shopping, fell in love with a butcher's assistant at the Bogaerts butcher's shop near the Bourse. She became engaged to Louis Wynants and the restaurant moved to its current location on Place Rouppe. Louis' moral and professional qualities quickly made him an essential link at Comme chez Soi. A natural chef with a passion for wine, the impetus he gave to the new restaurant Place Rouppe was impressive. More and more prestigious regular customers delightedly discovered Louis Wynants' tasty specialties. It was under his influence that Comme chez Soi took the path of haute cuisine. Among other specialties, he created cardinal sole, lobster his way, pig's trotters and delicious truffle crépinettes. In March 1939, Simone gave birth to a little boy named Pierre, who was destined to have the career he has today. In 1961, when Georges passed away, Louis and Simone found themselves running a thriving restaurant, but also faced with Pierre's education and his remarkable indifference to anything related to the school curriculum. Faced with the modesty of his son's performance, Louis Wynants sent him to a large hotel school in the Brussels region. The student's performance did not improve, however, and he was even forced to leave the school under the orders of the director of the establishment, who blindly considered him to be a good-for-nothing in the kitchen. This time, Louis gets angry and decides that Pierre will work in the family restaurant from now on. To start, he does the washing up. Afterwards, he goes to the dining room, watched out of the corner of his eye by his father who doesn't let him make any mistakes. At 16, Louis decides to apprentice his son at the Savoy with the famous Maixent Coudroy and will stay there for 3 and a half years. Pierre proves himself there by putting all his heart and energy into it. Barely finished his day at the Savoy, he goes to Place Rouppe to lend a hand or help out the excellent Georges Michel at L'Auberge Alsacienne in Kraainem. Pierre has found his way. At the end of the 1950s, Pierre left to do his military service in the navy. During this time, honors rained down on Father Louis Wynants, allowing him to make fabulous contacts in the field of fine cuisine and wines. After his demobilization, Louis sent his son Pierre to England to learn the language for 3 months before sending him back home to work with Raymond Henrion and his wife at the Moulin Hideux in Noirefontaine. After 7 months with this great and unanimously respected Chef, Pierre headed to Paris where a position awaited him with Raymond Oliver who reigned supreme at the Grand Véfour in the Palais Royal. He worked there for several months under the implacable eye of the Chef then took advantage of the holidays to introduce himself to Claude Terrail at the Tour d'Argent where he also did an internship. He ended his epic journey in the kitchens of the Château du Belvédère in the service of the Princes of Liège before returning permanently to Place Rouppe in 1961, at the age of 22. The father and son duo is now stronger than ever and works wonders at Comme chez Soi. Louis continually improves the menu, especially the wine menu, guided by his advisor and supplier Jules Vienne. Little by little, he becomes a fine connoisseur, to the point of obtaining the highest distinctions in this field. Among these, the title of Doctor of Bordeaux wines awarded in 1964. In the kitchen, Louis knows that the best way to learn is to go and see what the great Chefs are doing. These culinary trips accompanied by Simone allow him to make many friends in this closed world and to immerse himself in the great culinary principles. On his return, more than ever, what he wants is a cuisine based on very fresh products, a simple cuisine devoid of artifice. He was, through family tradition and without knowing it, a precursor of this simple and light cuisine so highly praised today. But what distinguished Louis Wynants above all was the particular care he took in serving his customers. He went to the market twice a day in order to have products of unequal freshness and he was sometimes seen going all over Brussels to find an extremely rare commodity. This determination and love for cooking allowed him to win many favours such as the first star in the Michelin Guide in 1953, the second with his son Pierre in 1966 (which is still relevant), the First Prix Prosper Montagné de la Sommellerie in 1963 and the Prize for the best wine list in 1970 awarded for the first time in Belgium. Finally, he was also the founder in 1969 of the Compagnie des Maîtres Sommeliers des Vins de France, where his son Pierre was also welcomed in 1971. Since 1966, and after winning the Prosper Montagné prize, Pierre Wynants has been running the kitchen alone with brilliance, as evidenced by the Golden Book and the dedications of the crowned heads, political, artistic and business personalities who frequented Comme chez Soi. As for Louis, he still takes pleasure in pampering his customers but this time by running the dining room. At the same time, Pierre meets a charming and reserved young girl: Marie-Thérèse Dossche. Daughter of shopkeepers from Oostakker who are busy with incessant work, she swears three things to herself: not to live in the city, not to live in an apartment and, above all, not to work in a restaurant. That was without taking into account her love for Pierrot, for whom she will have to accept all three situations. From their marriage in 1969, Marie-Thérèse took an interest in her husband's professional life, to which she had no difficulty adapting. She was an enlightened companion to him and, for the clientele, a gracious and smiling host. From their union two daughters were born: Laurence and Véronique. ​ The death of Louis Wynants darkens the brilliance of success and happiness. For the family and the clients, it is a great loss. For Pierre, it is a tragedy; his guide, his advisor is no longer there and doubt invades him. Marie-Thérèse plays a decisive role here. She has faith in her husband and instills in him the strength she inherited from his deceased husband. Not only does Pierre gradually chase away these dark worries, but he also improves the appeal of Comme chez Soi by creating new dishes, all designed in the tradition of the house. In turn, he was awarded the most coveted titles: Oscar of the Club des Gastronomes in 1972, he received the Clé d'Or Gault et Millau in 1975 at the same time as a third toque in their guide despite throat cancer in 1972 and 6 months of loss of taste. And it was a third Michelin star in 1979 kept for 27 years and a 19.5/20 in Gault et Millau in 1988 that were the most beautiful rewards. He was also named Commander of the Order of the Crown in Belgium. But it was France that would put Pierre in the spotlight the most: Diploma from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Silver Medal of the City of Paris, Diploma of Arts and Letters awarded by Jack Lang, Doctorate Honoris Causa from the François Rabelais University in Tours and, the cherry on the cake, the Legion of Honor. In the meantime, two young apprentices have appeared in the restaurant kitchens. Indeed, rather than getting bored waiting for their parents, Laurence and Véronique (who later brilliantly graduated from the Lausanne hotel school and obtained an MBA from Solvay, and who now runs the other family companies) prefer to come and lend a hand during the service. For Laurence in any case, the decision is made to go into hotel studies. It was a good thing for her, since it was at the Namur Hotel School in the late 1980s that she met the man who, a few years later, would become her husband and the father of her children. Lionel Rigolet did not come from the restaurant industry, strictly speaking. Despite having a caterer uncle, nothing really predisposed him to cooking. In fact, it was towards the dining room that he was heading when he met Laurence... But after internships in the kitchen at Moulin Hideux and Romeyer, he was hired at Comme chez Soi as soon as he left school. Lionel quickly surprised his father-in-law with his meticulousness and his work ethic. After his military service and an internship of a few weeks at Sir Anthony Van Dijck in Antwerp, to perfect his Dutch, Lionel Rigolet spent a year at Girardet in Crissier. This was followed by internships with Joël Robuchon, Gaston Lenôtre and the Auberge de l'Ill before returning to Place Rouppe in 1994 and finally marrying Laurence... Which did not prevent him from later going to England again to work with Michel Roux. While Pierre Wynants leaves more and more room for his son-in-law's creativity in the kitchen, Laurence welcomes the restaurant with the same mixture of kindness and elegance that her mother always did. Happy parents of little Jessica and little Loïc, Lionel and Laurence Rigolet brilliantly reconcile their role as responsible managers and their family life. Thanks to their presence as efficient as it is indispensable, Pierre Wynants and his wife Marie-Thérèse can finally devote a little time to leisure activities too often ignored by obligation in previous years. In 2006, major work was undertaken to renovate the entire kitchen, the annexes and the famous table designed by François Schuiten and Claude Renard. Lionel Rigolet took over and took over in the kitchen, supported by Laurence at the reception. Change means a delicate period: "During the recovery period, I was quite nervous and it showed in the team. That's why I started doing business coaching. Since then, I've been very different with my team. I get much better feedback." Today, Lionel Rigolet is known as a Chef of products and sauces offering classic, evolving cuisine, a legacy from his father-in-law that he now assumes better now that he has grown up and found his way. He offers, on the menu, the emblematic dishes of the House that have made its reputation for 95 years now and, in the form of set menus, more modern dishes that better reflect its identity. As his father-in-law Pierre Wynants so aptly puts it, Lionel has added to his cooking the concern for a beautiful presentation. Pierre and Marie-Thérèse Wynants are also very happy with the way in which Lionel and Laurence continue to perfect the reputation of Comme chez Soi in Belgium and abroad. Indeed, Lionel Rigolet is still one of the few to occasionally walk the aisles of the Brussels morning market in order to develop new recipes. He constantly takes care to vary the colors on the plate, always looking for compositions that combine aesthetics and, above all, taste. Comme chez Soi is also and above all a friendly and warm House thanks to the welcome and the extreme attention paid to customers by the teams of Laurence Rigolet, radiant Head Waiter. This welcome has also been rewarded by Gault&Millau which distinguishes Laurence from the title of Hostess of the Year 2024. In 2019, Lionel and Laurence decided to create Riwyne (for Rigolet-Wynants) with the help of Nathalie Didden, a space marked by their respective imprints where they offer another vision of their gastronomy. A place in their image, discreet and contemporary, in the heart of the Maison's wine cellar, renowned as one of the most important in Europe. Riwyne is a single table d'hôtes that can accommodate a group of 8 to 12 guests and a menu at 105 euros that changes every month. They offer "tapas" for appetizers and a 3-course menu composed of simpler dishes based on the tradition of the House. Behind the scenes, Laurence and Lionel Rigolet are working hard to prepare for the future through, among other things, a special attention paid to sustainability and waste sorting. They are all sorted: from organic waste to glass, metal, paper/cardboard and plastic. In order to go even further in the management and recovery of their waste, in 2020 the couple joined the Stalem organization in the Stalingrad-Lemonnier district, which offers to pool waste and collect it by bike. It is also the creation of a more circular economy, more logical and in line with society. Closer than ever, Laurence and Lionel offer a blend of innovations and know-how pursued since 1926 with much love and respect for previous generations. ​ After studying hotel management in Coxyde and an internship as a sommelier at the Auberge de l'Ill, their son Loïc worked for 3 years in the dining room at Comme chez Soi before leaving to perfect his training and gain experience in the kitchen at the Manoir Inter Scaldes in the Netherlands and at Boury in Roeselare. Like previous generations, he shows a real passion for oenology, for which he holds a WSET level 3. He has also participated in and won several competitions, such as recently the Shaker d'Or at the Biercée distillery. Loïc has now joined his father in the kitchen with the same passion and dexterity for excellence. Alongside Victoria, his fiancée, Loïc is slowly preparing to one day take over the reins of the House as the 5th generation. After successfully completing her law studies, Victoria is currently training in hotel management and brilliantly supports Laurence in the dining room and in administration. As for their daughter Jessica, she is now a veterinarian and her husband Théo is an accountant. ​ But all this beautiful story would never have been possible without the passion of all their teams who have, for the most part, remained loyal to the House. The Wynant s/Rigole t family cannot thank them enough for all these wonderful years of collaboration and sharing.


Enquire Now