Woolworths Taste – August 2019

TASTE AUGUST 2019 89

their fair share of attention. In fact, her

bitterballen, crumbed pulled pork and

bechamel meatballs, have been given the

stamp of approval by double-Michelin star

Belgian chef Piet Husentruyt (of Likoké

restaurant in Les Vans, France).

“Piet drove past one day last year and

stopped to chat when he saw what was

going on here. I recognised him from

Instagram, we started talking, and things

developed from there,” says Nicola.

“In the end, he said ‘come and work

with me’, so, an absolute miracle,

I went to Les Vans for a month and

worked my butt off, lost a lot of weight,

stole with my eyes.” Just another of the

serendipitous occurrences in this former

nursery-school teacher’s eventful career,

“Belgian beers also aren’t hop forward
and bitter,” says Anja. “That’s why they
work in SA. They’re very accessible and
drinkable. I take my inspiration from
Belgium with the ingredients I use,
but I’ve toned it down, so the alcohol
is slightly lower.”
The Hey Joe Saison is her current
favourite to sip late on a Friday afternoon
when the team is winding down. “I like
the story behind it. ‘Saison’ means ‘season’
in French, and the brewers used to make
it for the seasonal workers on the farms in
Vilonia, Belgium. They just used available
ingredients from the farms – orange peel
and coriander. To make ours, I use orange
from an organic farm in the Cederberg,
along with coriander seeds, and it has
great body with a touch of spiciness.”
It’s a great match for the mixed nuts
roasted in beer salt and peri-peri you
should snack on before lunch, along
with Kalamata and giant green olives
marinated in coriander, citrus and garlic.

And yes, about lunch ...
be prepared to make some big decisions
when you’re perusing this menu, because
you definitely can’t have it all. Will it
be the Sloppy Joe burger – pulled beef
brisket, mayo, pickles and red onion on
a garlic-buttered brioche bun served
with onion rings and frites, paired with
with a Spéciale Belge? Or how about the
rib-eye with burnt butter, black garlic
and béarnaise, served on a Himalayan salt
slab? And please don’t forget the veg: the
blooming onion, charred broccoli, and
roast pumpkin with ponzu dressing are
all must-tries.
As for dessert, it goes without saying
that the Belgian waffle is the way to go.
“It’s thick and crispy and you won’t find
it anywhere else,” says Nicola. “We serve
it in three strips with piped butter mixed
with Muscovado sugar and sugar snow.”
But if you really want to know what
Hey Joe’s food is about, she is emphatic
that you should give the black mussels
steamed in Witbier and the bitterballen

which has also included a recurring

stint as Hollywood actor Vin Diesel’s

private chef (as featured in TASTE’s

April 2019 issue).

But back to those bitterballen. “Before

we opened officially I said to Piet ‘please,

I’ve got to get your certified bitterballen

go-ahead’. He tasted them, his wife tasted

them, and they said they were very good.

But you know Belgians make them small,

just 30 g, and his one comment was that

mine should go smaller. But I wanted

them to be different, because they are

Belgian-inspired; they are not Belgian.

So, ja, Piet Huysentruyt told me my that

my balls are too big!” Then she shrugs

her shoulders and casually mentions that

she’s going around to the Huysentruyts

NEW RESTAURANT

Nicola Spilsbury with some of her kitchen team, from left: Joselina Adams,

Fezeka Witbooi, Anathi Nyida, Sonja Moos and Sharlin Nguni.

“Piet Huysentruyt told

me that my that my

balls are too big!”

• Nicola Spilsbury