Jonnie Boer

Menu’s for at home, online cooking- and winelessons, live cooking with fellow chefs, culinary city walks, cooking with children: can you think of something new in these difficult times?

‘Jonnie: ‘We also have our backs against the wall. All we can do now is pack online packages and continue with live cooking sessions and in-room dining. We have to play it safe and focus on the things that already excist; which we can quickly set up. If the lockdown lasts even longer, we will come up with something new.’

What do you like or find interesting about online teaching?

Jonnie: ‘It was really nice to do that last winter, even if it was only to pay our staff. We sold over 15.000 boxes then, with ingredients and meal components for a three-course meal at home. Including two bottles of Thérèses wine. That was also necessary because we ended up in the negative 800.000 euros during the 2020 lockdown. We now have a true studio in the wine cellar, all very professional. Don’t forget: there are still a few hundred people every Friday and Saturday that cook with us from home. We have become quite good at cooking with a live stream, although we of course prefer to cook for guests in our restaurants. It’s great fun for the participants; for us it’s mainly a way to keep the team together.

Three Michelin stars, first in ‘the’ Lekker and the highest ranked Dutch restaurant in ‘The World’s 100 best Restaurants’: do you feel the pressure?

‘Nelson, with a shrug: ‘I’ve been doing it for twelve years, i don’t know any different. Those lists are always exciting, but in the end you cook for your guests.’

When did you think with Nelson: he’s a natural?

Jonnie: ‘From the first day i saw: that’s a hardass, someone that can push. Sometimes you immediately see it with young chefs, that they have something extra. I only realized later that Nelson is also a good chef. He started out as an intern and chef de partie. But at some point you see someone stand up and you notice how he interacts with the rest of the staff.’

Picture: Pieter D’Hoop

What’s Nelsons best dish?

Jonnie: ‘I still remember well – he wasn’t even a sous chef yet – that Nelson made a bumbu for a dish with langoustines. He can do that very well with his Moluccan roots. I thought: I could come up with a new version myself, but why? I immediately put his on the menu.’

What do you think is your best dish?

Nelson: ‘Monkfish with a curry of nasturtium and pandan leaf. But also a pre-dessert that we normally serve: ice cream made from coconut, peanuts and a salad of cucumber and young legumes, a kind of gado gado.’ Jonnie: ‘I traveled a lot through Asia. The cuisine there always attracted me, especially when it comes to East-West combinations. Curry from nasturtium is of course amazing, that stuff just grows here.’

You also have a ten course vegetarian menu…

Jonnie: ‘That dish with Zeeland knot is my favorite. When i worked as an apprentice cook, romanesco was called that way, although there will be people from Zeeland who contradict this. That typical green cauliflower also looks a bit like a knot. We first rub it with a thick layer of butter, made from coffee. It is then wrapped in cabbage leaves, made from kohlrabi, and in river clay. We then bake it for 20 minutes at 180 degrees. The package is tapped open at the table and then you really see it, that cauliflower. Finally, back in the kitchen, it is finished with a nasturtium sauce and a cashew nut crumble and nasturtium flower foam.’

Picture: Pieter D’Hoop

You pick products in the wild and have your own vegetable garden: what’s great about Rungis?

Jonnie: ‘Back in the days you went to Rungis in paris. From the new Librije we work with Rungis in Barendrecht. They also have special vegetables in their wide assortment that we cannot grow ourselves. We’re very happy with a supplier like them.’ Nelson: ‘From Rungis we order, for example, small kale, types of chicory and radicchio; those kinds of products.’ Jonnie: ‘Fortunately, there’s a constant supply at Rungis, because we sometimes need three hundred kohlrabi. Not just for De Librije, but also for Bar Senang: fruit and vegetables are wel represented on the menu there too. In our restaurant we do about fifty-fifty.’

What are you looking forward to?

Nelson: ‘To the first vegetables that grow in the spring. Especially asparagus, because we haven’t been able to work with that for two years due to the lockdown.’ Jonnie: ‘I love the first young beans, but i’m most fan of the earthy vegetables such as Jerusalem artichoke, turnips and beets. The things you can do with them are endless.

Got some new inspiration yet?

Jonnie: ‘Last year we ended up in Arkhe, a vegetarian restaurant in Lisbon. That was amazing. We ended up there after a tip from a student cook. The menu was beautifully balanced and Thérèse was delighted; she loves the vegetarian cuisine.’

Text: ellenscholtens.nl