Jasper Diks

A restaurant with a greenhouse: convenient!

‘Well, with 60 to 80 guests an evening the greenhouse would be empty in a blink of an eye. You need to see our greenhouse as a cultivation place. It shows what’s important to us: cooking with fruits and vegetables from the season, preferably from near by. But nothing grows in these dark months. Therefore we put in citrus trees as decoration.’

You apply green-to-no-my?

‘It’s a composition of gastronomy and greens. Like the art of good food and drinks with vegetables as a starting point. January a tough month? It’s all right. Even now there are delicious vegetables. Earthly like things as parsnip, salsify, Jerusalem artichoke, chervil turnips, carrots and onions. We roast them with a bit of olive oil and salt and put some aluminium foil over it. Incredible! With the vegetarian main course we also serve a onion cream, made of red onion peels. This way we don’t have any waste. Because we like to work as much as possible according to the full picture.’

From time to time this includes fish, meat or poultry?

‘Yes, fruits and vegetables are our point of focus. Fish, meat and poultry are, so to speak, an addition to a dish. That doesn’t mean all guests chose a vegetarian dish. For example, a popular dish is kale, parsnip, Norway lobster and chicken skin. I invented it February last year for the month April, but we thought it would be a little late for the kale. Therefore we waited till this winter. We bake the parsnip in the oven. From the kale we make a cream and we blanch the stalks. Thereby we serve Norway lobster with shallots and crispy chicken skin with cayenne. And a chickengravy, drawn from the chicken carcass with spices like star anise, bay leaf and orange peel. You’ll get a very strong gravy.’

Thanks to who or what do you find your inspiration

‘Difficult question. I’ve worked in restaurant De Nederlanden and Duin en Kruidberg. There i’ve gained a lot of knowledge and inspiration. Sometimes i use a component of a dish that i’ve learned to make over there. I often refer to the Vegetablebible and the Tastebible. Traveling? Unfortunately, far too little!’

What is your favorite kind of fruit and vegetable?

‘I have no personal favorites, cause i never cook at home. When i’m free of work, we always go out to eat. In terms of fruit: an apple is always a good idea. But at Le Jardin we work with more special products. For example karkalla with the dish of beet, anise and mackerel. They are seabananas, an edible beach plant which is already eaten for centuries in Australia, by the Aborigines. The history lesson you get at us for free.’

You swear by Rungis…

‘It’s simply the best supplier there is. Rungis offers an amazing quality. The cooperation is great. They have everything and they can do anything. Also in the field of mise en place, the cutting of fruits and vegetables. And above all their people are extremely nice.