Does Chez Clément serve vol-au-vent à la financière?

Vol-au-vent à la financière is one of the great pillars of bourgeois Belgian cooking. The dish is built around a tall, golden puff-pastry case (the vol-au-vent, meaning « flying in the wind », after the lightness of the pastry) filled with a creamy white preparation: traditionally a poultry blanquette, chicken, sometimes sweetbreads and small chicken-meat quenelles, bound in a velvety white sauce enriched with mushrooms. The historical « financière » garnish adds mushrooms, poultry quenelles and occasionally cockscombs, finished with Madeira or white wine. In a Belgian brasserie context, the everyday version is simpler, centred on the poultry, mushrooms and cream trio, served with proper homemade chips.

Technically, vol-au-vent is one of those dishes that distinguishes a true homemade brasserie from one that defrosts industrial preparations. It requires a real stock built in-house, a sauce that is bound delicately (never lumpy, never too thin), poultry that is perfectly tender, mushrooms worked raw or pre-suauéed, and either house-made puff pastry or a high-quality bought case. Chez Clément positions itself firmly on the homemade side: Chef Vincent's philosophy is everything from scratch, and the brigade of thirty-two executes two hundred to three hundred covers per service inside that framework.

Vol-au-vent à la financière belongs to the emblematic repertoire of Belgian brasserie cuisine. At Chez Clément, it is on the winter 2026-2027 carte as « vol-au-vent traditionnel, frites » (€24), marked with the heart of the house essentials. As the carte changes with the seasons, call +32 2 652 33 92 to check availability before your visit. House-made grey shrimp croquettes, by contrast, remain one of the five signatures on the carte.

For pairings, vol-au-vent à la financière asks for a round, generous white wine, a Burgundian Chardonnay, an oaked white from Pessac-Léognan, or a softly textured Côtes-du-Rhône blanc all work beautifully. A Belgian amber or a blonde abbey beer also makes sense in a proper brasserie logic. Chez Clément's cellar, opened by Marcel and Andrée Clément in 1976, has the depth to support this kind of pairing.