Ron Blaauw met John Heitinga for the first time in the Champions Lounge in the ArenA. Last year they conquered the Alpe d'Huez and worked together on the Plate for our Heroes campaign. Just like John, the chef is a team player. In this interview, Ron Blaauw talks about a new idea in his restaurant: mannequins at the table.
Text: Bart-Jan Brouwer | Online editor: Natasha Hendriks
Image: John van Helvert
What do you have with Ajax?
“That's my club. Ajax is part of my life. It's magical.”
Have you played football yourself?
"Yes. I was mid-mid at HVV Hollandia in Hoorn. A bit slow, but with insight and a good pass, and quite fanatical. I did that until I was twenty-six or twenty-seven. When I went to live in Ouderkerk about fifteen years later, I picked it up again: I became a member of SV Ouderkerk and joined a kind of pub team. Now I don't play football anymore. My back is bothering me. Due to the amount of work and standing, everything has become a bit crooked.”
You cook at Champions League level. What qualities do a star chef and top footballer have in common?
“Overview, putting the team's interests first - I have often talked about that with Louis van Gaal - and staying one step ahead of the rest. You shouldn't set a trend, nor should you follow it, but you should always make a move that puts you just a step ahead of the rest.”
During this time you will also receive the necessary blows. How do you deal with that?
“Above all, stay calm and take the time to actually implement the changes I always had in mind. You get into a bit of a reset mode, which is good every now and then, I think. For example, 50 percent of the menu in Ron Gastrobar will be vegetarian. We now have time to develop dishes. The train we were on all this time has now stopped for a moment. You also have to wonder whether that train should rush along at the same speed again in a moment.”
As an entrepreneur, you will anticipate what is about to happen. What is it you do?
“It will be different. You have to create a different way of conviviality in the one-and-a-half-meter society. We want to make it fun by putting mannequins among the people - a nightly idea I had. And we have those dolls painted by Selwyn Senatori. I think we should assume an occupancy of 50 percent in our business operations.”
That means half as much turnover.
"Yes. We will have to get about 25 percent from somewhere else. Collection will become an important part, business consultancy…”
Will the mannequins not be able to be put aside again at some point?
"You do not know. As Jürgen Klopp said when asked about the coronavirus during a press conference: "I am a poorly shaven man with a cap on my head, the opinion of a football coach is not important." I'm a chef and don't understand viruses. We have to wait and see what the experts have to say about it.”
If the kitchen is a football field, which type of footballer can you best compare yourself to?
“With a footballer who strives for a very good atmosphere in the team. So a connector, someone who keeps things sharp, but also keeps things fun. A routine. If I had to mention a name, it would be Frank Rijkaard when he returned to Ajax in 1993. A player you can fall back on, who has already experienced everything. Above all, I am someone who makes the individual important. If the individual feels good and the team is running, then you are 10 percent better.”
Who do you think is number 14 in the culinary world?
“Joël Robuchon. His style, the concept he created with L'Atelier, his mashed potatoes… He is one of my role models. This also applies to the Basque chef Martín Berasategui. He is also a connector. He is at the heart of his team and his boys continue to work with him for a long time. I also think Ferran Adrià is great. When I had eaten with him and walked outside, I thought: who the hell am I? I felt so small in that moment. But I like the human side of Martín Berasategui better.”
In 2012 you started a restaurant on the fifth floor of the ArenA, Blaauw On Fifth. A home game?
“We did that for three years. Very nice, but I noticed that people are not interested in a four- or five-course meal before a competition. They arrive a little later because of the traffic jams, the audience can already hear… That's why it's better to keep it simple – three courses is enough, with a nice bottle of wine. Peter Lute took over that location. We are now working on an Indian restaurant in the ArenA on the sixth floor. We would start with that in mid-March, around Ajax – FC Twente. We will now have to wait until football is played again, with an audience. That restaurant is getting steady. I think people appreciate it more if you quickly put a rice table on the table before the match instead of a five-course meal.”
Speaking of Indian food: John Heitinga mentions Ron Gastrobar Indonesia in his list of the best addresses. How do you, as a boy from Hoorn, manage to create such a good Indonesian restaurant?
“Everyone likes Indian cuisine, but it was in a bit of a black hole because the owners of Indian restaurants were getting older and there was almost no succession. The fact that Ron Gastrobar Indonesia is so good is partly because I managed to get the best Indonesian chef: Agus Hermawan. He was born on Java, learned to cook from his mother and came to the Netherlands about twenty-five years ago. He was even elected ambassador for Indonesian Cuisine in the Netherlands by the Indonesian Minister of Tourism. You have to gather people around you who are better at something. And be vulnerable, say honestly when you don't know something and learn that way.”
Which restaurant would you include in your list of best addresses?
“My preference is for restaurants with a good atmosphere, nice and relaxed. I really like Lille in Amsterdam East, Choux on De Ruijterkade, BAK in the Houthaven, I like Loetje every now and then…”
Where was your first meeting with John?
“In the Champions Lounge, where I cooked at the time. There he was too. Also because we have a mutual friend, Eugène van Angelbeek from restaurant De Veranda, we meet each other several times a year. I think John is a very down-to-earth boy, who knows very well what he is doing, is honest and sincere, and is also a hard worker. He's not a blah boy, that's what I like about John. He sometimes comes to eat with me, I sometimes want to go to an Ajax match... You see each other, you help each other, you support each other, you talk to each other, you have fun together. For example, I participated in his Plate for our Heroes initiative. These signs, a maximum of two hundred, were made in De Veranda or with us, after which they were collected and delivered. This way my kitchen operated three to four days a week and the people who deserved it received appreciation.”
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