ADVENTUROUS FINE DINING WITH VIEWS OF THE MAINSTAGE

Marcelo Ballardin

Tomorrowland is a cosmopolitan country where people from all over the world meet and at MESA, the restaurant overlooking the Mainstage, global dishes are to be shared by these very same people. Marcelo Ballardin and Eric Ivanidis, the owners of Ghent-based gastro pub Door73 which is known for its delicious global flavours, have taken over the kitchen of MESA Restaurant for the duration of the festival. The idea is to share a selection of appetizers and a main dish, and guests are also served a welcome cocktail or mocktail and two glasses of wine. Specifically created for Tomorrowland is the dessert: raspberry and vanilla ice cream with chocolate and – drum roll – a splash of Red Bull. High time to find out what inspired chef Marcelo Ballardin to come here and create such a mouth-watering menu.

For star-studded chef Ballardin, who once had serious aspirations to become a professional DJ, things have come full circle now that the fine dining concept he cocreated with his companion Eric Ivanidis is to be enjoyed at one of electronic music’s most hallowed events. “Not many people know this, but when I was a teenager, my dream was to become a music producer and I used to DJ with vinyl. So to create a menu especially for Tomorrowland is something that’s very dear to me.” Ballardin essentially sees music and food as two sides of the same coin: “Food is so much more than energy for your body. It is also a way of connecting with people, which is exactly what we’re all doing at Tomorrowland. I just went to talk to people sitting at a table and they were from Switzerland, Venezuela, Peru, and Costa Rica. I believe that in the end, we are much closer to each other than we think.”

It comes as no surprise, then, that Ballardin also approaches his own profession with an open mind: “Eric and I have both lived and worked in many countries. I’m Brazilian, he’s Greek and also part Russian. Add to that the fact that we are both professionally trained in French cooking, and it logically follows that we use ingredients and spices from places as far apart as Taiwan, Norway and the Middle East. What we do is very much influenced by our own life history, that’s how we come up with ideas with inspiration from all over the world. Did you know, for example, that coffee oil adds a very special taste to a variety of dishes? It can add a smokey aroma to various types of meat, but also to potatoes.”

Eric and Marcelo are both very creative people, but where it came to the name of their restaurant they decided to keep things simple. “Our restaurant is called Door73, simply because of our location at Hoogstraat 73 in Ghent. We saved our creative energy for the kitchen,” says Marcelo laughingly. “We co-run the business. I am Eric’s senior and we’ve worked together for ten years, so I taught him many of the ins and uts of the trade. Over the years, he has slowly but surely taken on most of the creative duties of the business. I advise him on lots of things, yet sometimes he decides against my suggestions and goes his own way. Nevertheless, I fully trust him in whatever he does.”

If you are keen on dinner with a view, you may be out of luck: you can’t go in without a reservation, and chances are that the MESA Foodsharing experience is fully booked today. But if you’re unable to curb your curiosity about Marcelo and Eric’s deliciously experimental dishes, simply book a table at Door73 next time you’re in Ghent. Head to door73.be to find out more. And don’t forget to tell the chefs where you first heard of them!