Beautiful as Van Dijck was, I opted instead to dine at the French-Japanese Restaurant Roji around the corner.

CNN: Flanders: Europe's best-kept design secret

Secreted in a vaulted stone cellar, Roji represents Vervoordt's evolution to a more seamless environment aligned with the principles of wabi-sabi.

CNN: Flanders: Europe's best-kept design secret

Roji is the Japanese term for a path leading to a tea garden, a symbolic moving away from the outside world into a contemplative place.

CNN: Flanders: Europe's best-kept design secret