Na een carrière van 22 jaar in The Tasting Room in Zuid-Afrika is Margot Janse, een van onze meest succesvolle chefs in het buitenland, terug op Nederlandse bodem. Daar vertelt zij, in vijf gerechten begeleid door bijzondere wijnen, het verhaal van Nederland en Zuid-Afrika. SAAM, de naam van het restaurant aan de Amstel, betekent samen in het Afrikaans, is een verwijzing naar ‘South-Africa AMsterdam’ en staat voor een samensmelting van twee culinaire werelden. “Geen fusion, maar een keuken die een nieuwe wereld creëert.”
Since November, the restaurant strip on the Amstel has gained a restaurant and Loetje, Ron Gastrobar Indonesia, Heisa, India Poort and Paardenburg have a neighbor: SAAM, an initiative of Koen van der Plas and Henk Jan Beltman, former owners of Tony's Chocolonely. The building has a completely glass facade, in which the sunlight reflects the capital villas across the water. Behind that glass wall awaits an interior, designed by Pubblik & Vos, that has a warm feel, partly due to the various South African elements. Before starting work, the design firm traveled through South Africa for inspiration for a week and a half - from slick Cape Town to rugged Johannesburg - at the invitation of Koen and Henk Jan. The vibrancy and colorfulness of the country are reflected in the interior, from the ochre yellow upholstery and local art by Stellenbosch-based Spier Arts Trust, which gives political refugees granted asylum in South Africa a chance to express themselves, to the large-format red lamp in the stairwell to the upper floor. The rear of the restaurant, where the open kitchen is located, catches the eye with a glass roof and an elongated handmade chandelier by David Krynauw from Hartbeespoort, a town above Johannesburg - a real showpiece. This is the territory of Margot Janse and both her cooking companions Jasper Hermans (formerly Aan de Poel**, Basiliek*) and Thomas Kooijman (Bar Alt, Mos*).
The story of the Netherlands and South Africa
In May 2021, Koen and Henk Jan were in South Africa for their charity wine No House Wine (one euro per bottle is transferred to the Homeplan foundation to support the poorest people with 'No House', ed.). The wine is produced by winery Boekenhoutskloof which is also in Franschhoek, so they took the opportunity to drop by Margot. "Although I was very busy we still spent a lot of time together. I took them to my charity initiative Isabelo | Feeding Hungry Minds, which provides school children with a meal. I started the foundation because I couldn't just deal with nice pieces of meat and beets and carrots while a mile away children had nothing at all. You can't. Children are the future, you can't send them to school on an empty stomach. I have a good life there, a white priviliged life. Self-earned, but I also see it as a task to support people who have less." Margot started in 2009 with seventy children, whom she gave a muffin to every Friday. And soon also chicken and milk on Tuesdays, and a quiche with fish, egg and spinach on Wednesdays. Gradually, the foundation grew and more and more funds came in. Currently, Isabelo provides 1,800 children with daily meals in schools. "It's a drop in the ocean, but a drop." Meals were not discussed when Koen and Henk Jan were with her. "It was more of an introduction than a brainstorm. We mainly had a great time together and didn't go deeply into the restaurant. However, the idea of a cuisine with South African influences already existed then. The starting point was not what people wanted, but the story we wanted to tell with this: in small lines the story of my Dutch roots combined with my love for South Africa, in large lines the story of the Netherlands and South Africa. There is a deep history behind this. The Dutch had a great influence on the first cuisine in South Africa. The slaves that the VOC brought back from the Malay archipelago ended up in kitchens there, among other things, where they worked with their spices."
Braai sausage
In the run-up to SAAM's opening, Margot interacted with the kitchen staff from behind a screen in Franschhoek. "That was pretty weird. I was part of that team but yet not part of it. I was really a stranger. Didn't understand things either. My kitchen language is English, here it's Dutch with French terms. All the time I ask, "What are you saying? Occasionally I'm also stumbling enormously when I explain something, because in my head it all happens in English. The agreement is that I am here at least two weeks per quarter. But every time I have to figure out where the salt and pepper are again, haha. As a guest chef I have experience with that. Only I'm not a guest here, this kitchen is mine too. It feels like a strange mix of stranger and incrowd. This coming weekend I'm flying back to South Africa. I'm looking forward to seeing my son again, my dogs, my home, the sun... But at the same time I'm also a bit sad: I really feel in place in this team, we work nicely together, are delving nicely into all the dishes and seeing how the ingredients fit together." Jasper: "With the herbs and spices Margot brought, we spent three months experimenting. Tasting them, putting them together, what can we do with them? Like sour fig, or in South African suurvygie: from the seeds in the flower we made a dressing and it goes over the North Sea crab. That's new and inspiring and that's how you make a dish sour, fresh in a different way."
Thomas: "We also find it interesting to make the most carnivorous dishes vegetarian. A great example is the eggplant peasant sausage. To that end, we rounded up a long, thin eggplant and seasoned and lacquered it so that it is presented like a braai sausage. This could easily become a signature dish. Just yesterday we had a table full of people here who were absolutely raving about it. When they left they were still talking about it." With The Tasting Room Margot gained international fame, what are the expectations with SAAM? "Never before have I stood in a kitchen thinking 'how do we do it to get a star or get on that list?' In the Netherlands people are very much into that, I notice." "Very secretly, we are indeed quite concerned with that," Jasper admits. "But for us it weighs more heavily that that hut is full, the guests are happy and we enjoy what we do." "When you do what you believe in, things eventually fall into place," Margot lets her experience speak for itself. "The first time Restaurant Magazine came out with that list of The World's 50 Best Restaurants, in 2002, I had just interned at The French Laundry in Napa Country, Charlie Trotter's in Chicago and Jean-Georges in New York. Those were defining moments for me, really super special, wonderfully inspiring. That magazine came out, I was just on the same list as the chefs of those renowned restaurants: Thomas Keller, Charlie Trotter and Jean-Georges Vongerichten! We were in spot 41. I immediately faxed it to my brother: 'Look at that: I'm just on that list.' Suddenly all kinds of people started congratulating us, too."
Hooters and horns
At SAAM, too, it was a bit of a search. Especially also because for Margot, having lived in South Africa for thirty years, it is a bit of a new culture. "That time shaped me more - who I am, how I am in life - than the twenty years before that in the Netherlands. So I have to listen to the chefs a lot. I was here in early 2022, when they had set up a caviar tasting to see what kind would be good for on SAAM's menu. In the car on the way there, I asked, 'Why are we actually going to taste caviar?' Holland, South Africa ... I don't know, mind you. Does it fit into our story?' We did the tasting: it was very tasty, but we didn't put caviar on the menu. Jasper and Thomas understood my question, but I also understand that I'm dealing with a different audience here. At The Tasting Room, 95 percent of the guests were on vacation, traveling, really came for that experience. We didn't have business dinners. And when local people came, it was almost always to celebrate something. In that respect, I have to adapt here. But in the end, what we do here is really what we want. In the beginning I had said to Koen and Henk Jan, 'I don't want any more hooters and horns, no more frills, it should all be a little easier.' Because what is it all about? That you walk in here - whether you are a guest or staff - feel at ease, there is a good atmosphere and, above all, everyone can be themselves. And of course hospitality is important - you can also see South African influences in that - and the food has to be good and honest. But not over the top: just a five-course menu. And that really comes across. People leave happy at the end of the evening. And the staff treat each other as if we've been working together for years. As if SAAM has been around for much longer."
MASTERS MAGAZINE #53
Curious about the entire interview? In the spring edition of MASTERS, three entrepreneurs shed light on the future: Raymon Pouwels (GO Sharing), Merel van Helsdingen (Nxt Museum) and Tim van der Wiel (GoSpooky). According to the latter, ever-accelerating technological advances offer tremendous opportunities. "There has never been a better time to have a good idea. Technology is in your pocket!" Sports journalist Jaap de Groot outlines the contours of the new playing field of international sport after the resounding success of the World Cup in Qatar. And futurist Adjiedj Bakas also shines his light on the future. According to him, next year will be dominated by the search for the economy of happiness. "We are not only going to look at what makes us money, but what makes us happy," he says. Perhaps this edition contributes to that, with a look back at MASTERS EXPO, a road trip with the new Range Rover and interviews with equestrian Pope Jan Tops, Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner, chef Margot Janse and visual artist Spencer Tunick.
