Star chef Margo Reuten cooks in Restaurant M at MASTERS EXPO

Since 1993, Margo Reuten (Maasbracht, 1965) and her partner Petro Kools (Valkenburg, 1965) have been running their own restaurant Da Vinci. The most beautiful highlights alternated with fathomless lows. What has always remained constant: their love for each other and the profession. “We are not going for one hundred percent, but for one thousand percent.” Star chef Margo Reuten will also serve her best dishes Restaurant M. at MASTERS EXPO. Of course you don't want to miss that!

Text: Bart-Jan Brouwer
Image: Esther Quelle

We are warmly welcomed by Petro Kools in the beautiful building at the port of Maasbracht. The coat is accepted and while the coffee drips dark, the master host shows us around the restaurant. A real eye-catcher is a black Fiat 500 from 1967 that stands proudly in the entrance. “For the production of our book, we were with an entire club in Pietralunga in the province of Perugia in 2003. Over a glass of wine I jokingly said that I wanted a Fiat 500. Three months later, one with an Italian license plate showed up on our doorstep. And it has been behind the door since 2012.” This location used to house a grand café with the Maritime Museum on the top floor. The building was designed by architect Maarten Engelman, who was inspired by shipping. This is reflected in the colours, materials and design. Like entering a cabin! However, you don't have to worry about hitting your head here. It is high and spacious and at the same time warm and atmospheric. Partly because of the art, including sculptures by the Maastricht glass artist Peter Bremers. We enjoy our coffee 'on deck', while looking out over the largest inland harbor in the Netherlands. After Petro's warm welcome, his partner Margo takes over. She sets course for her childhood, which took place on a farm three hundred meters from the restaurant. “Around the corner here on the left, a little further on the right, there is my parental home. It was freedom, joy in my childhood. I am the eldest of four, I have two sisters and a brother. We had all the vegetables you can think of, apples, pears and plums grew in the orchard, there were sheep, cows, calves and chickens running around... Even as children we helped out on the farm as much as possible: we looked after the chickens, picked fruit, helped with cooking, shelled peas for canning... Those were the tastiest and thickest peas you can imagine. As a result, I have become very critical and I always set the bar high. In the evening everything was on the table, from the own garden and from our own livestock. Sometimes a calf was rejected by its mother and we raised it in the kitchen. We had a separate room for that, where we gave the animal milk and raised it. You gave it a name and came to love such a calf. But at some point it was sold. My father taught us at an early age that cattle were the sprinkles on our sandwich. That's the way of life.” Her father grew up in the meat sector. During the interview he walks in and says hello, like he does every day.

Photo: Esther Quelle

Flan and asparagus

Of course, Margo was also raised on pie and asparagus. “My mother was often eating pie early in the morning. And as for asparagus: you can get it from anywhere, but in Limburg we have the very best, because of the clay soil. The only thing I used to prefer not to eat was liver and kidneys. I'm still not crazy about that. And there was no fish on the table at home; my father would have none of that. Because I started doing this profession, I had to learn to eat things like lobster and oysters.” It was never a foregone conclusion that she would grow up to be a chef. “I wanted to be everything, I liked everything. Dad did a lot of business with a butcher and he needed some hands on a good day. 'Margo will come and help on Saturday.' That's how I ended up working for that butcher when I was fifteen. I loved working there so much! Because I was in a different place where different rules applied and, as eager to learn as I was, I could learn different things than on the farm. So I breaded cutlets and helped

I help prepare cold buffets. Once I was allowed to go with the lady to such a party where those buffets were served. We were showered with compliments. It was a thrill to see people enjoying the snacks we had been working on all day. Then it dawned on me: I want to become a chef. Also because it was a lot warmer in the kitchen than at the butcher's, haha. Mom and Dad gave us freedom in our choice. Everyone has gone in a different direction: my one sister has become a hairdresser, the other is in fashion and my brother does process technology.”

Top level

To become a chef, Margo followed a catering course in Roermond. Part of it was an internship to experience what it was like in practice. She could stay at the highly regarded Hotel Prinses Juliana in Valkenburg. “My feelings were confirmed on the first day: this is what I want in the future. It was a good learning experience, although the pressure was high. I was seventeen, knew nothing and was the first and only girl in the kitchen among fourteen chefs. I have benefited enormously from Toine Hermsen; he taught me the basics and the trade. When I got my diploma, the first thing I let him know was: 'Chef, I passed!' To which he said: 'Margo, can you start on August 1?' Yes, of course I could!” She stayed there for three and a half years. During the holidays she was expected to work at home on the farm, but Margo preferred to gain new experiences elsewhere. She asked Toine Hermsen if he could arrange internships for her. This is how she ended up at the two-star restaurants Kaatje bij de Sluis in Blokzijl and De Swaen in Oisterwijk, owned by Cas Spijkers. “I had a fantastic time in Blokzijl and De Swaen was absolutely heaven! I thought Juliana was already at the highest level, but here everything was even a level higher. There were twenty-one of us in the kitchen alone!” In turn, Spijkers was also impressed by Margo: in 1987 she was appointed as the new sous chef of De Swaen. At that time, Jonnie Boer was doing an internship there, Sergio Herman still worked there. “Three young dogs together, all just as crazy. From Cas I learned, among other things, how to deal with things as a human being. When I had to give an interview for winning a cooking competition, he called me into his office and said, "There will be more interviews to come, so think carefully about what you want to say." During my internships and early work experiences I learned a lot and filled folders. You learn this from one person, that from another – and together they have shaped me into who I am today.” In 1990, Margo became the first female Master Chef in the Netherlands. “When I first heard of the existence of the title, I thought it would be absolutely crazy if I were ever one of the first five female Master Chefs

would hear. I did everything I could: in between working I was just learning. The fact that I became the very first female Master Chef is of course unprecedented. At the age of twenty-four I was already at the top of the pyramid. What happened: interviews, on television, this and that… Not normal! But it was not my ultimate diploma, I wanted more.” In the same year she switched to the new restaurant Toine Hermsen Cuisinier in Maastricht. In the meantime she was already with Petro. “I had already encountered that on the first day at Juliana's. Together we made many breakfasts for the guests.”

bouquet of flowers

Petro's grandfather used to have a small hotel-guesthouse in Berg en Terblijt, near Valkenburg. “A lot of Dutch people came there,” Petro remembers. “Grandpa received them, grandma cooked for them and the next day grandpa put them on the bus to Trier or Monschau or took them for a walk on the heath, after which he had a drink with them in the evening. I think I learned something from his hosting. From the age of 12 I worked in tourism, I did some jobs on terraces and in hotels and did the Bread & Pastry and Cooking & Serving courses. Like my grandfather, I wanted to start my own business one day. Whenever we went to grandpa and grandma's, we drove past Juliana: an iconic company, that had something. I fought to get in there.

I learned the trade of hosting from old Stevens (Funs Stevens; ed.).” He still remembers well the day he started there, in June 1984. “I walked down a long corridor, past the old kitchen, to register. There I met Margo, who was training there just like me. We always had breakfast together early in the morning or late at night. I thought Margo was a very nice girl. We sometimes went for a beer in Valkenburg, in café 't Hoekje. I had a crush on her, but she didn't have a crush on me. At one point she said: 'I'll go my way, you go yours. If we are meant for each other, we will meet again.' I first went to De Bokkedoorns for a year, then I worked at the WTC in Rotterdam. At one point Margo called me because she had received an invitation to a party in Eindhoven from someone who had worked in Juliana. Whether I was invited too. 'Shall we go together?' I picked Margo up at home, with a large bouquet of flowers. We danced together all evening, and that's where the spark flew. We have been in a relationship since the end of 1988. When Margo was asked by Toine Hermsen to start up Maastricht, she asked if I wanted to become a maître there. From then on we started living together.”

Photo: Esther Quelle

gold tray

After working for two years as a sous chef at Toine Hermsen Cuisinier and then another year at Der Bloasbalg in Wahlwiller, Margo was given the opportunity to start his own business in 1993. “The architects of this building asked if we wanted to meet for a meeting. They were located in the upper part, the grand café Da Vinci was in the lower part. We knew each other from before and they had been keeping an eye on me. Whether we wanted to take over the operation of the grand café. Petro and I looked at each other: this was a gold tray. We tackled that with both hands. During the ten years that I was away from Maasbracht, I always felt homesick. At first we wanted to change the name. I abandoned that idea when I was talking to an old skipper here on the quay. He said, "Margo, if you change the name of a boat, it's bad luck." So it remained Da Vinci. We opened on September 16, 1993. Petro and I had divided the tasks tightly: I did the kitchen, he did the service, I did this, he did that. We knew exactly what we wanted. First earn money to pay the rent and meet the obligations.” Petro: “We decided to spend three to five years on it. If we weren't earning our own living by then, we would go back to work. That has not happened.” Margo: “We tried to attract people by cooking delicious food and being good to the guests. That's what my parents always say when they come to eat here: 'Be good to everyone, eh!' Look, as soon as we opened the doors at Toine Hermsen in Maastricht, it immediately filled up - crazy what happened there! But then you start in Maasbracht… That took some getting used to.” And yet things started to take off quite quickly: in 1996 Margo was named Lady Chef of the Year and Da Vinci was asked for membership of the Alliance Gastronomique Néerlandaise (membership is a seal of quality, a guarantee for a dining experience of the highest quality). ; ed.). Da Vinci is not only her dream, her business, Petro and she now also live above the restaurant. “Things always happen and you have to pay attention. Sometimes something is said over a cup of coffee. When my father used to trade cattle, he didn't like to go out alone. I often went with him. He was always looking for beautiful cows, calves and fat buttocks. Then I sometimes wanted to shout: 'Wow, that one is beautiful!' He taught me to keep my mouth shut and, above all, to listen carefully. These are lessons that I still benefit from today.”

Little tear

She used to learn the tricks of the trade from Toine Hermsen and Cas Spijkers, and she still hasn't finished learning. “My cooking style continues to develop, I am never done. Today there are still dishes on the menu from twenty years ago, but they are different and more beautiful. Like Tartaar Pietjesveld. Pietjesveld is located just outside Maasbracht, where my parents have always had their beef farm. When I started here, I had porridge meat on the menu: carpaccio, tartare, steak... There was no better meat. For Tartaar Pietjesveld I use the best parts of beef – sometimes sirloin steak, other times tenderloin. Another signature dish is Sea Bass Eel: gently cooked sea bass with a yoghurt cream, a leek julienne and shallot-soy sauce. And we still have many classics from the past 28 years.” Margo's dishes are accompanied by the most beautiful wines, selected by Petro. That knowledge did not come to him. “My older brother sometimes came home with a bottle of wine. And wine was always served on holidays, usually from the Moselle.

The shelves in the supermarket were my reference until I came to Juliana as a seventeen year old. There were 80.000 bottles there! When Funs Stevens went into the cellar to pick out a bottle, I really wanted to be there. I have acquired my knowledge by listening, reading, learning, traveling and tasting. Ultimately, I became a real wine freak. In Da Vinci we have 12.000 bottles of wine. We have a range ranging from a very good starter to wines that have been here for a while and have become even more beautiful. Of course I also have extreme wines, but that is not my market, that is my hobby. Wine never ends.” Through Relais & Châteaux, of which Da Vinci is a member, Margo and Petro have been to nice places to gain the necessary inspiration. “It's a bit of personal enjoyment, but membership is mainly to get our product across the border,” says Petro. “With our VOC genes we know where all the top chefs in the world are, but the other way around is not the case. We still have to explain that we have a very strong culinary field in the Netherlands.” We saw a lot of the world and met many international chefs. Margo: “A year ago, while visiting my sister in Switzerland, we had dinner at the three-star restaurant Cheval Blanc by Peter Knogl. That was fantastic! Everything was perfect. Then a fighting spirit arises in me: come and eat with me and I will show you something too! I will never copy anyone. I do what I want, that's why I started my own business. Sometimes I walk past a table here and see someone shed a small tear of happiness, the ultimate moment when everything is right, that whole series of details - that you feel welcome, the wine list is fantastic, the whole puzzle is complete. Isn't it great if you can get that out of someone? I have the pleasure of making that puzzle together with my husband. We are not going for one hundred percent, but for one thousand percent.”

Photo: Esther Quelle

Honorary citizen

In 1999, Da Vinci received his first star. “I was ready for that,” says Margo. “I expected him a year earlier. Then I was tipped off that we were going to get him, that rumor went around. Yet we were not in the 1998 Michelin Guide. Okay, then that's true. But I was a bit disappointed. I tried even harder and in 1999 the appreciation came. I was ready, like a pimple ready to be popped. Pop!” Petro: “It's like winning a gold medal. Just don't forget that as long as we are in the business, we work at star level every day. This star was confirmation of what we had been doing all along.” Margo: “Suddenly Maasbracht was on the culinary map. The village was known for Mark van Bommel who comes from here and for yacht builder Linssen Yachts. And now a Michelin restaurant was added. I have received so much appreciation from the village! Even before Mark van Bommel, I became the first honorary citizen of Maasgouw. And that for an ordinary Maasbracht girl. Because of that star, we were full for lunch and dinner almost immediately.” It was hard work. And not just in the kitchen and service: in 2003 they published their own cookbook, Proeven van Bekwaamheid, and in 2005 they did a complete new build. Margo: “We wanted more luxury, more space, more height. This included an aperitif room where forty people can sit, a walkway and a larger kitchen with daylight.” The second star followed in 2009. “That's a level higher, isn't it? With the first we put Maasbracht on the map, with the second the Netherlands. We are in a very good location here in Euroregion terms: half an hour from Aachen and Düsseldorf and ten minutes from Belgium. Two-star restaurant De Slagmolen in Opglabbeek is only twenty minutes away. That's great, isn't it? When you are in Limburg you have to think bigger and not be limited by national borders.”

Our dear wife

Life was not all hosanna. In 2014, Margo was diagnosed with breast cancer. “I felt very tired. I thought: I must have been working too hard, so I should take it easy. But the tiredness remained. Then I went to the doctor. When I got the results, I was sitting here having lunch on a Friday, fully booked. My God! It wasn't good. I knew that myself. Then I started cooking again, that's the best I can do. The following week I had a photo shoot in Paris for Relais & Châteaux, with great French chefs. On the way there, on the express train, I received another call from the doctor: it was really not good. Smile for the camera in the afternoon and then quickly return. It was a tough process, I had to undergo the whole series of treatments.” Petro: “The world then falls away, only one thing matters: survival.” Margo: “I wanted to fight, especially for myself. I am very tough in that respect. For me, in everything I have experienced, the kitchen has always been very important. Because it continued. I had to brush my teeth and get dressed to go see the boys. Sometimes I was only in for one minute, it couldn't last longer, other times I lasted a little longer. What else do you want to hear? Whether I am religious… Yes. We have a very beautiful church in Maasbracht with a small chapel next to it. If you have had to undergo the deepest and are lucky enough to emerge from it, you can also give thanks afterwards. I have lit candles at Our Lady often enough. I came out strong. I don't enjoy life anymore, that's what I did back then. But in a different way. And if I don't like something, I don't do it.”

Photo: Esther Quelle

Woman of the year

Another big blow: in 2017, maître John Lammers, who was employed by Margo and Petro for 23 years, died in a car accident. “On a Friday evening he drives home. Apparently he had to avoid something along the way. When we got that phone call, it was very harsh. John was with us from day one, he was our right hand. I also regularly light a candle for him. And not just for him, because he leaves behind a wife and four children.” After that deep sadness, a glimpse of joy follows: in the same year, Margo from Relais & Chateaux receives the title Woman of the Year. “Of all the great female chefs worldwide, I was called forward during the conference in Tokyo. We weren't supposed to go, but we got a call. I knew I was nominated, but not for what. The congress was opened early in the morning by a member of the Imperial House. There were six hundred people in the hall. And yes, then I was called on stage. Woman of the Year…. Pfff, that's so great. That evening during the big gala party I danced a lot. I don't speak Italian, but then suddenly I do, haha. I was held in high esteem by all the great chefs, that was something. Pierre Gagnaire came to congratulate me, name the names. I said to Petro: 'Pay attention, because I want to go back to the hotel with you, don't I?'”

Lioness

After such a tribute you think: what could happen to me? The blow was even greater when Michelin took back one star the following year. “We really didn't see that coming,” says Petro. “That was a huge downer. If that had happened in 2015, during the period when Margo could not always be in the kitchen due to her illness, I would still have understood that. But the years 2016 and 2017 were fantastic. With ten to twelve thousand guests per year. In a village! The guests are always happy. We receive at most a few comments per year, for example that the steak was rare instead of medium.” It was reported in the media that chief inspector Werner Loens saw no evolution: he missed new dishes and new techniques. Margo: “At one point all kinds of things were said in the media, but that is really not the case. We are

We visited Michelin in Brussels and we were not told that either. They can't just say that: it is our life, we do everything for this. I don't think every chef would have responded as politely as we did.” Petro: “We gave it a place, but we were pissed off about it. And financially it is a big loss. To give an indication: it has cost us 250.000 to 300.000 euros per year in turnover.” Margo: “You know, you get crowns from Michelin, but one can also be taken away at some point. We have experienced that. We must have been unlucky that it was not the fault of the Michelin inspector who passed by or that perhaps something went wrong. Either way, it won't have been to your liking. I am now even more combative, the lioness in me comes out: let's get to work! Here I stand. Every day I do my thing, I give myself maximum effort, I aim for the highest. Even in times of corona, when the place settings are served in cardboard boxes. And if the second star falls again, I will not give it back again.”

Photo: Esther Quelle