Wong: Describe to us what typical Dutch food is like. What are the food traditions and culture? Kunz: Unfortunately, we don’t have a food culture like in Spain, Italy, or France. Typical Dutch food is mashed potatoes with vegetables like sauerkraut or kale and meat on the side. We are also known for our licorice. The typical Dutch food that I really love is Dutch eel! It is all very nice, but Dutch people, most of the time, do not have the same passion for food culture as some other countries do. I think the love for food is growing though. Wong: Are there specific Dutch culinary emphases at your restaurant? And what was your thinking behind it? Kunz: We always try to buy as much local food as we can. We use Dutch products and create dishes with pure flavors. “Het Westland” is our backyard; there are so many fresh and good local products for us to buy. Not only vegetables, but also our yellowtail fish is from Zeeland here in the Netherlands. Even the Tomasu soy sauce we buy is local. It is from Rotterdam and is really good. Wong: Being the youngest ever Dutch chef at twenty-four-years-old to receive a Michelin star at ‘t Raethuys, you started cooking professionally early. When and how did you know you want to be in this industry? Kunz: I started working when I was young, after school or during vacations, on the beach. I liked that very much. When I was seventeen, I just decided that I wanted to work at de Librije, which is now one of the two three-starred Dutch Michelin restaurants. I applied for an internship and luckily the owners, Jonnie and Thèrese Boer, accepted me. Working there motivated me a lot. So much so that I returned there to work even after leaving a year to work
at De Bokkedoorns, a Michelin two- starred restaurant. Both restaurants and the chefs taught me a lot and motivated me to work hard and eventually earn my own Michelin star. Wong: Due to Coronavirus, your previous restaurant Restaurant Niven went bankrupt at the end of March. That must be a very difficult time. Was that the most challenging thing you’ve had to overcome professionally? Kunz: It was a difficult time and decision, but it was for the best. We did not have a lot of other options. Luckily, we are blessed with very supportive family and friends who pulled us through. But I think this is a difficult time and it’s hard on everybody. We can’t complain despite the bankruptcy as everybody we love is still healthy during this pandemic. We’re very thankful for that. Wong: Your fiancé Virginie is very supportive of your work. You also have a very strong team that moved with you to the new restaurant. Is that something that’s important to you and how did you build it? Kunz: That is a very important thing to me. Virginie and I built this restaurant together along with our previous one and we are equal business partners. We have so much fun working together, we are a real team, in good and bad times, in work, and in private. We complement each other very much. I think that is very special and unique. We are also very lucky with the team we have. We were so happy that they wanted to be a part of the new restaurant. They do such great work and are very important to us and the restaurant. We have fantastic chemistry with the whole team. Our guests are also very happy to see them in the new restaurant. We are very proud of them.
Wong: Having worked in the industry for such a long time, do you have a dream goal? Kunz: I always have a dream to get better and have fun working. My dream is earning more than one Michelin star in the future—although one is already fantastic to have. Right now we have to wait until January to hear if we earned our Michelin star back. That would be fantastic.
Kunz: My third cookbook is postponed to 2021 because of COVID-19. But we are very much looking forward to working further on that project. It is going to be a table book, full of beautiful pictures of the dishes. And of course, there will also be recipes in the book for the cooking fanatics. We also want to improve our quality and make it even more special for our guests. Our team and I are working hard on perfecting our menu and service. Wong: What is the one food that’s the most comforting and you miss most often?
Wong: In addition to your third cookbook, what else are you working on?
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