vdb bistronomie | food photography, creative direction & brand management. lisbon.
The restaurant
Clément Van Den Bergh (Owner) + Rafael Amsler (Chef)
VDB Bistronomie opened in August 2019 in the Baixa, a few steps from Praça do Comércio. The concept was clear from the start: small plates to share, natural wines, an open kitchen, and a menu that follows the season rather than a fixed identity. This concept was booming in Paris for a while, it was time to bring it to Lisbon. No tablecloths. No ceremony. Just precise cooking in an unpretentious room on a small street, two large plants flanking the entrance.
Inside, the best seats in the house are at the counter, facing the kitchen. The wine list is curated with care, leaning natural. The bathroom walls are covered in tags left by customers over the years. A restaurant that has been lived in.
That tension between serious food and zero formality is what made the visual challenge interesting. Most restaurant photography defaults to one of two modes: clinical product shots or lifestyle softness. Neither fit VDB.
The work
Volet has been VDB's creative partner since its opening, continuously covering art direction, visual content production, social media, and brand management for nearly seven years.
The visual identity wasn't fixed at launch. It evolved. The early work was shot in a warm, low LED light setting, leaning into the romance of the space. Considered framing, controlled staging. Some dishes from that period have become signatures: the BBQ oyster mushrooms have been on the menu for three years now and earned their own visual language along the way.
Over time, as the restaurant found its voice, so did the photography. Flash. Movement. The noise of a real kitchen on a Saturday night. The current visual language is looser and more immediate, closer to how the place actually feels than how a restaurant is supposed to look.
That shift wasn't accidental. It came from being present long enough to understand what VDB actually is, and having the latitude to follow it there.
The Boogie Lunch series, Saturday afternoon sessions that blur the line between lunch service and a proper party, pushed that direction further.
Chef Rafael Amsler
The impact
The work placed VDB in National Geographic, Elle, Le Figaro, La Revue des Vins de France, Expresso, Time Out, Público and L'Echo, coverage spanning Portugal, France and Belgium.
Eight thousand followers on Instagram, built without paid promotion, through content that reflected an actual point of view rather than a content calendar.
Seven years. Still ongoing.
Find VDB Bistronomie at vdbbistronomie.com and on Instagram at @vdb_bistronomie
