What will Dominik D’Hooge’s new Ghent restaurant bring beside Michelin-starred OAK?

Dominik D’Hooge has announced that he will open his own restaurant, Le Chou Chou, close to OAK, the Michelin-starred Ghent establishment he owns with his husband, chef Marcelo Ballardin. D’Hooge told HLN that the neighbouring businesses would not compete with each other, while separate reporting by Het Nieuwsblad linked the project to the closure of Door 73 after eight years. For prospective diners, the essential point is that a new concept is coming near OAK in central Ghent, but its precise opening date, complete menu, prices and booking arrangements still need confirmation through the restaurant’s own channels.

The development gives D’Hooge a more visible culinary identity after years of being an essential part of the couple’s restaurant business. Gault&Millau lists both men as OAK’s owners, with Ballardin identified as its chef. That division has long placed Ballardin at the centre of the public story, although earlier profiles described D’Hooge as the partner responsible for much of the administration, organisation and dining-room work that allows a fine-dining restaurant to function.

Le Chou Chou therefore looks less like an outsider setting up beside a famous neighbour than an established hospitality entrepreneur giving a distinct address to his own ideas. The reported promise that the two restaurants will not compete suggests differentiated formats or audiences, although the available public reporting does not yet provide enough verified detail to define Le Chou Chou’s cuisine responsibly. Diners should not assume that it will reproduce OAK’s tasting-menu model or Door 73’s former offer until a menu is published.

OAK itself remains the reference point. The current Gault&Millau listing places it at Burgstraat 16, near the Gravensteen, scores it 16.5 out of 20 and describes Ballardin’s cooking as modern signature cuisine shaped by his Brazilian-Italian background and international influences. The guide currently lists lunch menus at €129 and €139 and a chef’s menu at €159, but those are OAK prices, not prices for Le Chou Chou, and restaurant tariffs can change. Anyone comparing the two should consult each establishment’s current booking page rather than treating guide information as permanent.

The couple’s record also helps explain why the no-competition claim is plausible. Ballardin opened OAK in 2014, won its Michelin star three years later and expanded with Door 73 in 2018. Contemporary coverage presented Door 73 as a more relaxed, sharing-oriented counterpart rather than a copy of OAK. In July 2026, Het Nieuwsblad reported that Door 73 would close after eight years and that D’Hooge and Ballardin were preparing another project nearby. Le Chou Chou continues that small-cluster strategy: several related venues can share experience and local recognition while offering different reasons to visit.

This reflects a broader shift in European gastronomy. Formal tasting-menu restaurants still attract destination diners, but operators increasingly hedge the costs and rigidities of fine dining with more accessible concepts, shorter services or à-la-carte choices. That interpretation fits the owners’ reported argument that gastronomy is changing, but the commercial test will be straightforward: Le Chou Chou must establish a character strong enough to stand alone without blurring OAK’s identity.

For international residents, the linguistic side should be simple but worth checking. Ghent’s municipal administration is Dutch-speaking, so official permits and local notices normally appear in Dutch, even if many hospitality teams serve customers in English or French. The Dutch terms most useful to recognise are reservatie for reservation, openingsuren for opening hours, allergenen for allergens and horeca-attest for the city’s hospitality certificate. A restaurant is not legally required to maintain an English-language booking system, so diners with allergies should communicate their requirements clearly and preferably in writing.

Belgian allergen and food-safety rules apply regardless of a restaurant’s profile. Vlaanderen.be says every horeca establishment must be known to the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain, the FAVV in Dutch or AFSCA in French, and must display the required authorisation visibly. Consumers can consult the agency’s Foodweb database to check an establishment. This is more useful than relying on social-media enthusiasm, particularly during the opening period when menus, hours and operating arrangements can still change.

The municipal layer matters as well. Stad Gent requires hospitality operators to meet local conditions including its horeca-attest and applicable fire-safety and planning rules; a terrace on public space requires a separate procedure. These obligations concern the operator rather than the diner, but they explain why an announced restaurant may not immediately publish a firm launch date. In Belgium, registration with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises, food-safety authorisation and gemeente-level requirements are distinct parts of opening a business.

Two perspectives will shape the reception. Supporters of the project will see D’Hooge’s move as a logical recognition of an experienced co-owner who has already helped build OAK and Door 73. More cautious diners may wonder whether two closely linked restaurants beside one another can remain genuinely distinct, especially in a city with a crowded high-end food scene. The answer will come from the menu, price level, service style and the degree of autonomy D’Hooge exercises at Le Chou Chou—not from the family connection alone.

What happens next is therefore practical rather than dramatic. Watch for an official opening date, address confirmation, published menu, allergen information and a direct reservation link. Until those appear, OAK and Le Chou Chou should be treated as separate propositions: one is an established Michelin-starred restaurant with documented opening hours and prices; the other is an announced new venue whose exact customer experience remains to be revealed.