Peas with goat cheese snow at Souvenir in Ieper.

2015 has kicked off, but it happens these days that I think back about the things that were great last year. What better than have a scroll trough all my Instagram posts of 2014 and take a trip trough memory lane….

I must admit, looking at these moments, it was a good year. Why not share the best of my Instagram memories? I went trough all the great trips I made last year, the restaurants I visited, the wonderful work collaborations and the unforgettable art shows and exhibitions I went to.

Here they are. It’s a selection, a best of.

I start with the best of FOOD list of 2014.

And to be honest, going trough all the food images, my wish for a clean year, did took place. But not clean in a way you could think diet or eat less. No. Think fresh food, unprocessed, raw, honest, home made, luxurious mixed with easy going, classics, ‘terroir’ kitchen, exciting combinations and new textures.

This is my list of the best food I ate last year.

Day fresh seafood at Les Tourelles in France, salmon with mash potatoes and delicious chorizo sauce at Eat, the bistro of Palais de Tokyo, and many work lunches @cloudsinmycoffee and @Superette. Skrei, Brussels sprouts, witlof, and ‘delicioso’ smoked mussels. Simple, good food #hoteldegoudfazant/.

Fashion shoot lunches are always nice, tasty, healthy and surprising! That’s how we like it! Wild mushroom soup with coriander and soya cream. Some other fashion lunches at Studio Ernstige Zaken in Amsterdam: always TOP!!

The ultimate lunch treat: a lobster roll. A toasted brioche stuffed to the fullest with big lobster chunks! 20 £ at Burger & Lobster Harvey Nichols food market, London.

There is nothing but a good pasta #milandesignweek #venturalambrate.

I remember an intense and pure taste of chocolate pairing with excuisite wines at the concept store Rewind B.L.C.K. : a rollercoaster of sensations. #rewindblck #ghent  #callebaut  #luclangrand

Ah, the famous cronut from chef Dominique Ansel. 2 hours cue was worth it, the blue berry version is divine! @dominiqueansel #newyork

In London, a lunch at Jamie’s Italian on a rooftop terrace at Piccadilly Circus. 

This one, I think, was the best dish of the year! Young peas bouillon with goat cheese snow, served live on table by Iceland chef Vilhjalnurkilnar Sigurdarson of Souvenir. #ieper  #souvenirrestaurant #vilhjalnurkilnarsigurdarson

This list would not be complete with a list of the must-go restaurants & bars, based on my 2014 trips.

To start well, this is really a must go: the Dirty Dick cocktail bar in Paris Pigalle, or the hip and happening Uncle Babes Burger (& Bar), the newest burger spot in Ghent @unclebabesbar, La Piscine, a lunch location we visited after winning the pitch for 3 Suisses France. A pool-turned-museum in Roubaix in France.

I can’t make a list of my fav resto’s without mentioning my annual visit to Corso Como 10. I think it is thé best terrace in Milan and serves great healthy Italian food. The ‘place-mas-tu-vu’ of the design & fashion weeks in Milan.

I was in New York last year and if you want to know about all the restaurants, bars, clubs and bakeries we visited there, non possiblile!

A blog post on New York will come soon, so please, be patient…

But, in the list of best restaurants this one MUST be in: the Blue Hill at Stone Barns: the top restaurant of Dan Barber in the countryside Tarry Town, about 45 min drive from NY city. Surreal and magic!

Es Torrent beach in Ibiza! A simple squid lunch and later a beach diner with our feet in the sand. Expensive but worth every penny. 

Our favorite lunch bar in Can Carles, Bar Anita. Since the first time we came here 10 years ago, nothing changed. Only for insiders who appreciate good simple food. Another one: at ‘mon ami Rene’ of  the Croissant Show, also in Ibiza! A breakfast address with a mix of early and late party birds. Legendary!

The absolute best sangria royal in Ibiza? At The Cotton Beach Club! Loads of fruits, champagne, vodka, and some secret ingredients. The best! More about Ibiza in a later post this year!

Another great address: Sunday morning brunch at Les Filles in Brussels with some friends. 

A Wonderful lunch and later also a diner with client at Va et Vient In Kortrijk. (see previous blog post) and an experimental popup diner and lunch in a cornfield, a beautiful, magical setting by the crew from Volta #voltapopcorn

For drinks: check out the real stuff at Jiggers in Ghent! Smoked infused whisky, sage, orange juice and white vermouth. Oh yes!! #ghent #jiggers

We also had VERY nice food at Publiek, another new spot in Ghent by one of the Flemish Foodies. Delicate flavours, salt moved with velvety, foam with crunch. ‘Chillax’ but experienced team and Olly Ceulenaere behind the pots.

And, a late discovery but really great: The Veranda in Antwerp! Subtle flavor combinations from ‘terroir kitchen’ with recent Moroccan influences make refreshing new dishes. Closed recently to open again at a new location, with a new concept, same chef and crew. Summer 2015!

To end this best of food list, this was also a topper: Het Rijks, the new upscale restaurant of the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum. We had only 100% Dutch origin ingredients on painting inspired dishes like grilled langoustines, with delicate curry cream and puffed buckwheat to name one dish. A keeper!

To complete the food list with some ‘simple moments of happiness trough food and drinks, I think about the ‘plateau fruits de mers’ at the Oesterput in Blankenberge, (no nonsense seafood on long wooden tables and fishermen stepping into the water basins to catch your lobster of the day), the fresh and very simple pasta pesto, parmesan and rucola at The Kazerne during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, the sun kissed Martini Rosado apero with scampi fritti façon ‘Mas tu vu’ piazza in Knokke, and an evening we did not feel like cooking, the lovely ´meat balls from Wim‘ in take away modus! 

It was a great food year. The only thing we can aim for, is an even better one. If you want to follow the new ones of 2015? Follow me (@katepoes) on Instagram.

All images courtesy of Kate Stockman for The squid Stories.