Chef Q&A: Jess Van Dyk
The head chef and owner of Post & Pepper in Stellenbosch tells Amelie Maurice-Jones about overcoming “heartbreak and disappointment” in the restaurant industry.
How did growing up in the Northern Cape influence your food philosophy today?
Growing up in the platteland gave me a sense of generosity, comfort and ‘real/soul’ food. Growing up in small, Afrikaans communities influenced me heavily and sparked my love for sweet and salty flavour combinations, such as kerrie vetkoek, bobotie, koperpennieslaai, kerrieboontjies, slaphakskeentjies, sweet mustards and monkeygland-based meat dishes.
Post & Pepper is described as fine dining ‘without the starch, snobbery and price tag’. Why is this so important to you?
I have a massive love for my industry and the craft of fine dining food and restaurants – but where I grew up it is perceived as incredibly intimidating. Taking the starch and snobbery out of it and creating a comfortable and elevated environment allows people to share in my love for pretty, refined food and service without making them feel intimidated.
What’s behind the name?
The history of the old post office, the preserving and keeping that in the name allowed for us to build the Post & Pepper personality around it. Pepper just sounded nice with it, I wanted to bring a food aspect into the name, it rolled off the tongue.
One dish on your menu is simply titled, ‘the humble potato’. What is this?
It’s a twice fried baby potato topped with a Malay inspired sultana chutney and curried labneh. It’s something super simple but so indulging and delicious.
There’s a mix of international flavours on your menu. Is it inspired by places you’ve travelled to?
It’s not only places I’ve travelled, but flavours I’ve been exposed to. This could be flavours in my hometown growing up at a neighbourhood restaurant, or a pizza in Sardinia. I remember smells and flavours quite vividly and have learned how to bring them back to live.
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You’ve dabbled in food photography/videography. How has this influenced you as a chef?
I have always appreciated aesthetically pleasing things, even before working for a company that majored in that, and I know how to make dishes pretty. In the world we live in, everything gets photographed, so making things ‘photo ready’ helps sell your product.
Are you ever inspired by dishes you see on Instagram?
All the time! Take a creamy burrata cheese with chilli crunch for instance; the creaminess with the red oil would spike an idea. It’s not always that a fish dish spiked an idea for your own fish dish – but the colours, textures or nuance of ingredients on that picture would influence me to come up with a dish.
Pick a wine from your wine list, and the dish from your menu you’d pair it with?
We recently added a new gnocchi to the menu with all the spring colours and flavours and tasted through our white wines. The Olifantsberg Grenache Blanc was a phenomenal pairing, and so was the Hartenberg Chardonnay. The Chardonnay elevated the lemon elements in the dish, where the Grenache Blanc just brought everything together.
Post & Pepper is your first restaurant, what’s surprised you the most about running it?
It has been an incredible privilege but nobody can prepare you for the heartbreak and disappointment of running your own restaurant. People will let you down, staff will leave you no matter how hard you try to look after them and your business, the public will try to put you in a box or tell you what they think you should cook or how you should do things. Whether it’s your wine list, your staff training, your food philosophy- a small, independent business gets so much critique that the bigger brands never do. Everyone thinks they are an expert and will ride you to convert to their thinking. I think the most important thing is to stay true to what and who you are. It will be very hard at times, but as long as you are authentically you, the right people will follow.
What’s one cooking rule you were taught that you always ignore?
‘Low and slow’ is not my style. I can be a bit hasty when it comes to cooking. I’m not great at the patience game. Also, when it comes to pastry, I never sieve flour.
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