Visi – July 2019

NO

26

PHOTO

JAC DE VILLIERS

WORDS

AMELIA BROWN

TASTES LIKE HOME

Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen, Michelin-star chef of a restaurant in Nice, has two

exciting projects in the pipeline on home soil.

an Hendrik van der
Westhuizen first visited
Tswalu Kalahari in the
Northern Cape in 2016.
What struck him was the nothingness,
which he experienced even more
profoundly when contrasted with the
sensory saturation of the Cote d’Azur,
where his restaurant JAN is located.
An idea took root and a conversation
began with Tswalu Kalahari owners
Nicky and Jonathan Oppenheimer.
The result is Klein JAN, a restaurant
at the newly refurbished exclusive
Kalahari camp. “I grew up on a farm in
Middelburg, which my father sold a few
months before he passed away,” says
Jan. “I have always thought that if I were
to open a restaurant in South Africa,
it would be on a farm.”
The restaurant will be fine-dining
with an experiential twist. “It’s

a concept that’s going to represent

the Kalahari for what it is,” he says.

“In France we have an abundance

of everything. It’s beautiful and it’s

also chaos. But in the Kalahari, you’ve

got so little, so it’s the art of making

that little stand out.” While plans for

Klein JAN are being finalised, Jan is

influencing all aspects of the guests’

dining experience, from crockery to

dune dining and star-gazing dinners.

Seasonal produce will be grown at

the restaurant and sourced from the

surrounding area.

Meanwhile, Volume 3 of JAN the

JOURNAL will be out in June, produced

from a new HQ in Cape Town. Driven

by the need to have a kitchen to test

JOURNAL recipes, the concept for the

Innovation Studio was born, a place for

Jan and his chefs and some fortunate

students to experiment and play – and

fail, he says. “That’s when the best

things happen. This is not a place

for perfection; it’s a place for ideas.”

Those ideas will be circulated back

into JAN and Klein JAN, as will the staff

who will be on rotation between the

establishments. “One reason it took me

six years to open something in South

Africa was the need to establish a really

strong team, which I now have,” he says.

“This is a full-circle opportunity to bring

innovation to all the establishments.”

janhendrik.com

tswalu.com

J

“I DIDN’T WANT TO

GO MAINSTREAM

OR OPEN ANOTHER

RESTAURANT TOO

QUICKLY.”

visi.co.za JUNE/JULY 2019

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