The likelihood of Capetonians experiencing Restaurant KLEIN JAN in the Tswalu Private Game Reserve, the newest restaurant in the JAN Collection by Chef Jan-Hendrik van der Westhuizen, is small, unless one is lucky enough to be Jo Pentz, whose daughter Jess is a chef at the new restaurant.

Jo has given me permission to post some of her photographs, mainly of the interior. I am still missing seeing information and photographs of the dishes served at KLEIN JAN.

Restaurant KLEIN JAN opened at Tswalu in April, to Tswalu guests initially,and since the beginning of May to day visitors too.

Chef Jan-Hendrik van der Westhuizen finally opens his Restaurant KLEIN JAN in the Kalahari, most expensive restaurant in SA!

Jo wrote on Facebook:

‘Such a privilege to have the experience of my daughter cooking for me in this incredible restaurant. A real treat for the senses in every respect. From being flown up in Tswalu’s private jet, to dining at Klein Jan and spending time in Jess’s little house at the edge of the bushveld. Priceless!! Thank you for organising this Jess, I’m so proud of you 🤗‘.

Jo offered to tell me more, and telephonically the proud mom shared more information about her 25 year old daughter. Jess had studied Law initially, but dropped out, realising that cheffing is her passion. She studied at Silwood, from which she graduated with distinction, and was placed at JAN Innovation Studio in Cape Town as an intern during her studies. In this time, she was sent to Tswalu, to forage herbs and other produce in the desert with the Bushman, an invaluable experience. She compiled a Tasting Menu, which was tested and tasted by the Oppenheimers, owners of Tswalu.  She and Chef Josie Romer-Lee are Commis Chefs, reporting to Head Chef Etienne Wessels, who moved across from a resort in the Seychelles, the Chefs working in a small team of four.

Jo has promised to send me some food photographs, which I will post next week.

 

 

 

 

 

Jo posted two,photographs of the Meringue Bomb dessert:

 

 

 

Pippa de Bruyn visited Tswalu and ate at KLEIN JAN at the end of April, and enthused about her experience as follows on Facebook:

‘The thing about dining at Klein Jan is the layering. I thought I’d arrived (pun intended) when I relaxed into a sheepskin chair, sipping Orange River Cellars Brut at a linen-draped table on the verandah of the old Bosnia farm house. But no. Through the century-old room – preprandial snack en route, if I recall – and out into the backyard, where the old Karoo windmill stands sentinel. A hidden door in the corrugated plaasdam pulled back to reveal a spiral staircase, backdropped by a curtain of water (to infuse the space with ‘petrichor, the smell of rain falling on dry earth’). Down we went, Russel and I, four meters into the earth, to the start of a 20m arch-roofed ‘root’ cellar. Shelf after shelf, loaded with local produce: pumpkins, cheese, nuts, meat, pickles, wheat, honey, wine – the pride in the surprising bounty of the Kalahari made palpable, and bookended on the other side by a ‘library kitchen’… several breads and a pumpkin soup, heated on Jan’s family stove, provenance of all explained, and on it goes, a visual feast leading you finally into the dining room – open to the Kalahari plains; a wall of liquor to delight the Afrikaner heart before the sit down part starts … a puree of ‘Eben se Wenwors’, sourced by Tannie Daleen from Upington Slaghuis, followed by ‘ten plates’ of tapas style Kalahari delicacies … a couple of desserts, skipped by us in favour of a delicious array of cheese, hobby of local grape farmer Tiaan Visser. A hybrid theatre-dining experience that nourishes so much more than just the belly, made all the more remarkable for launching now.
Bookings for Restaurant Klein JAN opened in April to guests of Tswalu; from May it is open to day visitors for lunch at R2000pp.

@restaurantkleinjan @tswalu @tswalufoundation @imaginetravels 🙏🏽‘

She posted a number of photographs too, but none of the Tasting Menu dishes :

 

 

Flying to Tswalu by private jet would be the only feasible way to get to KLEIN JAN, almost 1000 km from Cape Town. At least we now have first real diner experiences of our country’s most expensive restaurant, at R2500 including a wine pairing, as a second-hand experience.

Restaurant KLEIN JAN, Tswalu, Kalahari, Northern Cape. www.janonline.com Reservations via @dineplan_app Twitter: @janhendrikvdwes Instagram: @restaurantkleinjan

 

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whaletalesblog.com www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide