Thomas Troupin spent a decade building a quiet reputation at La Menuiserie in the Ardennes village of Waimes — a one-Michelin-star restaurant that became a destination for serious Belgian eaters — before relocating to central Liège to open Toma! on the Hors-Château in 2023. The new restaurant earned a Michelin star almost immediately, becoming Liège's first new starred address in nearly a decade and confirming Troupin as one of the most important chefs working in Wallonia today.
The cooking is built on what Troupin calls a 'radically local' supply chain — every animal protein is sourced from Wallonian farms within a hundred kilometres of the kitchen, every vegetable comes from a network of producers Troupin has personally visited, and the foraged elements (wild garlic, woodruff, alpine herbs) come from the Ardennes forests Troupin grew up walking. A typical tasting menu opens with a course of smoked Ardennes trout with horseradish and pickled gooseberry; moves through a course of slow-cooked Wallonian pork with verjus and woodruff; anchors on a saddle of Ardennes venison in autumn with cocoa and elderberry; and finishes with a dessert of Liège syrup and milk skin that is a quiet love letter to the city's traditional confectionery.
The dining room is small — perhaps thirty covers — and contemporary in a deliberately restrained way: walnut, brushed brass, well-edited art on the walls, the kitchen pass visible from the dining room. Service is led by Troupin's wife and front-of-house partner, who runs the room with a warm precision that feels genuinely European rather than performatively luxe. The wine list runs to 250 bins with particular strength in Belgian and Wallonian natural wines, the Loire and Burgundy.
For a marquee dinner in Liège — an international client, a milestone celebration, or simply the most interesting meal currently available in Wallonia — Toma! is the obvious choice.
