This year, our guests are in for a real treat. For the first time ever, you can enjoy authentic Couleur Café cuisine at Bonanza Café! 

A team of five professional chefs and eight volunteers serve meals that are downright delicious. And the best part? We make sure that more than 90% of the ingredients we use are rescued from store shelves before they end up in the bin. In this way, your meal not only satisfies your hunger, but also helps combat food waste.

Get to know the team

Bonanza Café is led by a team of five amazing professional chefs:  

Katrien Vantomme has over ten years of experience as a chef under her belt. An expert in the plant-based cuisines of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, and a true mise-en-place machine!  

Mohammed Bourejlate is a young chef with roots in northern Morocco and a home base in Brussels. He soaks up new life experiences like a sponge and moves faster than his own shadow.  

Nico Corbesier is chef and co-owner of the brutalist Kline restaurant in the heart of Brussels. As a true herb connoisseur and alchemist, he usually has his hands in the soil, his head in the clouds, and his eyes on the kitchen.  

Chef Issiaka Johnson has been based in Brussels for five years with his top-notch concept Gombo Club: a pop-up restaurant specializing in neo-bistro West African cuisine, inspired by French techniques, Belgian flavors, and his many trips to Seoul, Bangkok, and Saigon.  

50% Greek, 50% Korean, and 100% Brussels: Olivia Xantos has enough drive, energy, and talent to power an entire army.  

These five are supported by a motivated team of volunteers, recruited in collaboration with non-profit CAPITAL. CAPITAL is committed to providing valuable opportunities and long-term support to motivated young people in Brussels, thereby building bridges between them and countless organizations. During the festival, eight young volunteers will gain work experience at Bonanza Café - afterward, they’ll take home letters of recommendation and a big thank you from us. 

Delicious ánd sustainable

With the greatly appreciated help of our partners, we can ensure that Bonanza Café offers not only delicious but also sustainable meals. Vzw Stalem, No Waste Republic, and Abbatoir help us in our mission to give food products – which are perfectly edible but can no longer be sold – a second life, combatting food waste. Because of their help, more than 90% of the ingredients used at Bonanza Café are ones that are saved from a premature end in the garbage. Ofcourse the restaurant also adheres to the general rules for food stalls at the festival. You can find more about sustainability here.

Compassionate hearts for palestine

In collaboration with partner Sligro, watermelons will be sold at the festival again this year for the benefit of Palestine. Once again, the entire proceeds will go to the Compassionate Hearts for Palestine project of Dr. Ahmed Moghrabi and the Wings of Healing non-profit. You can find the watermelon stand in Bonanza Café this year!