The craft
Butter, folded until it matters.
Folded into dough, then folded again. Nothing looks like pastry yet, and most of what will matter is already decided.
Every turn is a decision.
Temperature, resting time, pressure. Pastry does not forgive approximation. That is the part of it she likes.
Then the oven takes over.
Proof, then heat: the one stage nobody can hurry, and the one that tells the truth about your timing.
Open it, and you know.
The four hundredth cover has to look like the first. That is the whole job, and she wants the shift that starts it.
Service record
Where the discipline comes from.
- 2025MEA at VIA AntwerpRuns the cold section: desserts, pastry preparation and most of the in-house bread.Chef de PartieAug 2025 to present
- 2025Zilte★★★Flexi service in one of Antwerp's most decorated rooms.Chef de Rang, flexiJune to Sept 2025
- 2023The Jane★★Eighteen months of starred service, and the cheese trolley.Chef de RangNov 2023 to May 2025
- 2023Vipassana RetreatsCooking for meditators in Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland: vegan, resourceful, nothing wasted.Kitchen volunteer2023 to present
- 2020The home ovenWhere it started, and where the experiments still happen.Baker2020 to present
The stations.
Most of the in-house bread at MEA, from scratch, alongside five years of home baking that never stopped.
The other decade.
Eleven years of buying, planning and store openings across Manila and Germany, ending with a portfolio of forty five ALDO stores. She brings margins and mise en place to the same table: product decisions made with the counter's customer in mind, not only the recipe.
2Michelin starred houses on the record
11years in retail and brand before the kitchen
45stores in her last buying portfolio
I am not looking for a kitchen that needs me. I am looking for one I can grow inside of, for a long time.
Rein Estebal, Antwerp
The pass is yours.
Available in and around Antwerp. A trial shift is a better conversation than a CV.