Patricia Desmedt, 51, is Flanders' only female Michelin-starred chef. She started in 1978 in the kitchen alongside her mother, Thérèse, who had already picked up a first Michelin star in 1968. Two years into the partnership, Michelin awarded them a second star, which they kept until 2008, when the French company took one back. That was a blow, but the prestigious Gault-Millau guide still rates the restaurant an excellent 18/20.

It wasn't always that way. 't Oud Konijntje (pictured) was started by the current generation's grandparents as a simple affair, serving traditional fare like bread with plattekaas, eels in green sauce, roast chicken. The generation of Thérèse and John Desmedt lifted the level to greater gastronomic heights, a tradition that has been maintained by Patricia, her older sister Anne-Marie and their brother Frank, the restaurant's sommelier.

"It had to happen sooner or later," explains Anne-Marie. "We've always done this with pleasure, up to the last, but there is no one to succeed us. So we've decided to end it all with dignity."

"It was a very difficult decision," says Frank. "Everyone wants their own children to take over the business, but then you forget how tough it is. All of our children are settled. But it's a decision we arrived at unanimously, and we're standing by it." These days, when TV audiences are treated to star chefs on a nightly basis, the stakes are even higher. "You have to prove yourself every day, at lunchtime and in the evening, without the slightest compromise," Patricia said. "But that doesn't bother you if you love your job."

For industry federation Ho.Re.Ca Vlaanderen, the problem is symptomatic of the shortage of family members willing to take over top restaurants. "The problem of succession is our biggest concern," says chairman Frank De Haes. "Children and other family members are seldom willing to take over a family business and work hard every day under the same social conditions. The new generation has a different outlook on the work-family balance."

www.oudkonijntje.be