Award-winning chef Yolan Bamps is the owner and founder of the popular vegan restaurant Lento in Hasselt, Belgium. He is passionate about vegan cuisine and says his main goal is to ensure his guests always enjoy the same great dining experience as they would in a meat or fish restaurant.
It’s working! High demand for his dishes means Yolan is about to open a second restaurant in Antwerp. He is also author of the cookbook: “Vegan, like you’ve never tasted it before.”
It’s an exciting time to be a vegan chef as more people choose a flexitarian, vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, bringing with it many opportunities to explore and develop new tastes, textures, and flavours in the plant-based world.
“I cook for everybody – meat eaters and vegans alike. More than half of the people who eat in my restaurant do not follow a vegan lifestyle so it’s a great opportunity for them to experience how delicious plant-based cuisine can be. I’m keen to show them it really doesn’t mean having to miss out on anything.”
— Yolan Bamps —
Vegan chefs have a lot more to choose from today when it comes to good plant-based products to work with, according to chef Yolan Bamps. He says it was a lot more difficult to be a vegan chef when he was starting as options were so limited.
In fact, his big challenge now is to stay ahead of the market as it is developing so fast. His aim is to always offer his guests something new to enjoy so they can taste something unique when they come to his restaurant.
When developing new vegan dishes, Chef Yolan Bamps likes to start with a seasonal vegetable and explore how he can use it to create an original dish. He takes inspiration from social media and other plant-based chefs. High quality and versatile ingredients have a critical part to play in this creative culinary process.
Chef Yolan Bamps makes his own vegan alternative to mozzarella out of cashews and says it’s his favorite ingredient because of the great flavour it brings and how versatile it is. He uses it in all three courses on his menu. For example, to make starters like Caprese salad, delicious vegan pizza and desserts like cheesecake. It’s also very nutritious, something that’s really important when it comes to vegan cuisine and using quality ingredients, according to Chef Yolan.
He is also a fan of the Nurishh Camembert Style product, describing it as “really good”. Chef Yolan Bamps says it helps him to bring a real gourmet edge to his dishes and is keen to find more premium plant-based cheese alternatives.
Alternatives to cheese has a big role to play in plant-based cooking but the quality of the products available at present varies hugely, according to chef Yolan Bamps.
if the plant based alternative melts too much it goes oily, whereas if it doesn’t meld enough, it’s difficult to chew with a very unpleasant, rubbery texture. Another issue which he regularly encounters, is the artificial flavour which many alternatives to cheese have.
Chef Yolan Bamps never uses a plant-based alternative to cheese in its end state at his restaurant. Instead he prefers to use it as an ingredient to make sauces, crusts, and crumbles for his dishes.
