Belgian Chef Mario Elias of the restaurant ‘Le Cor de Chasse’ has become Brussels Airlines’ thirteenth Star Chef since 2013, succeeding Tim Boury. From July 1st, Business Class guests on long-haul flights will enjoy a specially crafted menu by Chef Elias.
On Friday (June 17, 2022), Brussels Airlines announced the appointment of Belgian Chef Mario Elias as the carrier’s thirteenth Star Chef, since the program launched in 2013. Guests traveling in Business Class on long-haul flights from July 1st will enjoy a special menu crafted by Chef Elias of the restaurant Le Cor de Chasse, who succeeds the carrier’s current Star Chef, Tim Boury. Mario Elias took over the restaurant, then located in Barvaux-sur-Outhe, with his wife Aurore Matagne over 20 years ago, and nine years later moved to the beautiful castle farm in the picturesque and wooded Wéris.
In Friday’s announcment, Chef Mario Elias of Le Cor de Chasse, said,
“It was an intense collaboration and quite a challenge to put this menu together. At ten thousand metres altitude, recipes have to be adapted to different constraints. I am very proud of the result whereby I did everything possible to put together a seasonal menu with the best Belgian products.”
Also commenting on the culinary collaboration, Brussels Airlines’ Inflight Product manager, Philip Mortier, added,
“Mario Elias is described as a no-nonsense chef who is proud of his heritage and works with the best, mainly Belgian, ingredients. This fits perfectly with the ‘Belgitude’ that Brussels Airlines, as a Belgian airline, wants to stand for. We continue to invest in our customers’ travel experience and are delighted that they will soon discover Mario's fantastic work on board.”
Chef Mario Elias comes from a family of cooks, starting with his great-grandfather who made ice cream which he sold on his cargo bike along the Belgian coast. His great-grandmother was a chef for a baron, as well as at a hotel in Stadt, Switzerland. Mario’s parents also inherited the passion and run restaurants in Koksijde and Barvaux. The family tradition continues at his restaurant Le Cor de Chasse with Mario as Chef, his wife Aurore as hostess and son Jonah as sommelier.
From July 1st, Brussels Airlines long-haul Business Class guests will enjoy Chef Elias’ carefully selected menu. For a starter, travelers can choose from smoked trout accompanied by Jangaji of daikon and sour cream, or chicken fillet cooked at low temperature with barley, fennel and seaweed salad, and caviar tomatoes. For a main course, guests can choose from braised veal fillet (accompanied by candied aubergine, peas, mozzarella, cherry cream and toasted bread gnocchi), saithe cooked on the skin (with green asparagus, risotto and Noilly Prat sauce with lovage oil), or soba noodles (accompanied by white asparagus, broccolini, cherry tomatoes and green curry sauce with coconut). Dessert is a pistachio ganache, pearly barley, raspberry custard and passion fruit coulis. The Business Class menu is accompanied by wines selected by Master of Wine, Jan De Clercq.
Selections From Brussels Airlines' Star Chef Mario Elias' Menu - Courtesy Brussels Airlines / © Breitling
Brussels Airlines has been a flying ambassador for Belgium for many years, offering a selection of Belgian beers, wines, pralines, waffles and cookies. The carrier introduced their popular Belgian Star Chefs program in 2013, which offers customers traveling on intercontinental flights regional Belgian dishes prepared by renowned Belgian chefs. The Star Chefs create an entire menu bases on local ingredients typical for their region. The first Belgian Star Chef was Geert van Hecke of the former Bruges restaurant De Karmeliet.
Source: Brussels Airlines