Getting take-out from Sergio Herman's restaurant Le Pristine

Sergio Herman's new restaurant Le Pristine opened in Antwerp after the Belgian lockdown this summer. They describe the restaurant as "An ode to the Italian Cuisine with Sergio's Zeeland terroir". I have been excited about this restaurant since Sergio's first announcement on his Instagram. Unfortunately, because of the whole COVID-19 situation I wasn't able to visit the restaurant earlier. I just didn't find enough time to go to Antwerp, or something else came up. And now, when I finally made a trip to Antwerp, the restaurants were obliged to close again, all over Belgium. So, I ordered myself some take-out from Le Pristine, to enjoy it at home with my parents.

We went a bit crazy with the order, because we wanted to try everything from his take-out menu. We ordered:

- Eggplant Parmigian (€15)

- Pizza guanciale with ricotta, autumn truffle, mushrooms and lemon (€19)

- Rigatoni with candied duck, mushrooms, nduja and stracciatella (€18)

- Spaghetti ragu Pristine with Jerusalem artichocke, parsley and autumn truffle (€17)

- Orecchiette with Gambero Rosso, zucchini, tarragon and pesto pistachio (€19)

We were only with 3 people, whereof my mom and I, who are pretty small eaters, so we ended up eating all of it in 2 days instead of 1. We ordered all dishes "cold" to heat it up ourselves at home. All meals came with concrete instructions about how to prepare it and with all the different toppings.

We started off with the eggplant that we split over the 3 of us. I may be a bit biased because I'm a big fan of Sergio, but this dish honestly was really good. The tomato sauce that was on top of the eggplant was so delicious, the seasoning was just perfect and it had a good amount of garlic in it, what I loved. The eggplant itself was also perfectly soft, leaving the outside a little bit harder.

Next we had the pizza, which I ordered for myself as it was the only vegetarian dish. The pizza too was really good. The dough was exquisite, very crunchy and with a nice flavour to it. I also loved that there was a lot of ricotta on it, which made it a very cheesy pizza. The mushrooms could have been present a bit more, to my liking and the truffle just didn't come through. I think it would have been better if they used some truffle oil, to soak into the dough, to make the truffle taste come forward a bit more. This always happens when there is just truffle flakes on the dish instead of using something liquid like butter or oil with a truffle flavour. In this dish the cheese flavour was just a bit too strong, for the truffle to come through. But besides this, I did enjoy the pizza very much and would immediately order it again.

Next we had the Spaghetti Ragu, a very delicious dish, again. It was a refined pasta ragu, with soft flavours and good seasoning. The meat was chopped very fine which made it blend in with the pasta really well. Though, again, with this meal we didn't taste the truffle.

Then came the Rigatoni with duck, a heavenly meal. I tried this one too, without the duck ofcourse, and it was love at first bite. It was a more hearty dish than the ragu with very rich flavours. The cherry tomatoes in it also added a lovely taste to it. If it wouldn't have had the duck in it, I would have finished the entire meal.

To end off, we had the Orecchiette with red shrimp. Again, a very divine meal, with amazing flavours. The tomato sauce had a bit of a kick to it, which my dad loved, so the pesto that came with it wasn't necessary, though still good. My dad also would have loved to have some more shrimps in it, but besides that, the dish was liked by all parties.

Overall, we enjoyed our take-out very very much. All dishes had amazing flavours and the prices were also fair, knowing what you get for it. Too bad the truffle taste didn't come through in both dishes, but I know, from experience, that this happens often when people work with truffle. I would love to visit the restaurant in person, once it is open again, to enjoy the entire experience of seeing the chefs cook and sitting in this amazingly gorgeous restaurant.

A bientôt!

Bisous