Valuable sign stolen from the door of star chef Willem Hiele: “Piece of history has been taken from us” (Oudenburg)

An enamel sign showing Willem Hiele’s Michelin star and his score of 16 out of 20 at Gault & Millau was stolen last night in front of his house in Oudenburg. He wrote this on Facebook, in response to a call for the sign to be returned.

“The red enamel sign with that first Michelin star and the recognition of 16 points and the title ‘discovery of the year’ in Gault & Millau was stolen from the door of our house last night,” chef Willem Hiele wrote on Facebook. “These memorial plaques have a lot of sentiment for us. In short, a piece of history dedicated to my family has been taken from us.”

Hiele writes in his post that he can find the sign. “I cook for people, not for guides, although recognition is not irreversible, just as riders who are shouted up the mountain by a crowd of people are still moved to tears by those few red dots on that simple jersey. In 2019, I was proud to stand on the podium wearing that jersey for the first time. It was especially a moment of gratitude to the people around me, because you cannot achieve something like this alone.”