A Bruges hotel taps WeWantMore for its moody new steakhouse

The Medici of Bruges, Tommaso Portinari actually worked as a banker for the Medici family while living in this historic Flemish city. Yet his greatest legacy was the group of talented artists he patronised in the 15th century, like Flemish Primitive painters Hugo van der Goes and Hans Memling.

Portinari never got to see the Hotel Portinari, at the gateway to Old Bruges, but the hotel honours his legacy by decorating the interiors with reproductions by the benefactor’s favourite protégés. And when the property outsourced the design of its new in-house restaurant, Cult, to the Belgian agency WeWantMore, the designers responded by honouring a painting by Memling, featuring Portinari himself.

The dark, finely detailed portrait inspired the chiaroscuro palette of the restaurant: steely greys and rosy-cheeked reds with splashes of soft amber light. Unusual textures brought in by wood and textiles echo the cracks in the 15th-century paint (the masterwork currently resides at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art).

‘The design teams – both on the interior design side and the branding side – wanted to create a space with high drama that was also restrained in a very Belgian way,’ says Nancy Cool, interiors design director of the Antwerp-based studio.

The interplay between the moody lounge and the sunny veranda is intense. The former centres on a great burgundy bar topped with red-veined marble – a nod to the marbled meats on offer – with luxurious hides coating the walls and burgundy upholstery on the seating. A steel-clad waiters’ station separates it from the natural glow of the indoor-outdoor veranda.

Cult was launched by renowned sommeliers Luk De Rooze and Kees Dobbelaar, who bring their passion for aged beef into a successful wine and apéro concern.