is an equal partner and inspiration herself. A medical doctor, interior designer, stylist, and entrepreneur, it is impressive how she manages to juggle all these responsibilities. We get to give deeper as she shared more of her life with us. Wong: When did you start working with Chef Kunz? van Bronckhorst: Niven and I have been together for ten years. As the years passed by, I got more involved with the previous restaurant. I think that you can say we’ve been “working together” since 2013. When we had to let the previous restaurant go at the beginning of the Coronavirus crisis, we decided that we still wanted to continue our dream and business together. To make it better than it was. I believe it is good to have a goal and strive to be better. We got a fresh start in this strange and difficult time, and Triptyque was born. Wong: What made you want to get involved in the venture? van Bronckhorst: I always liked cooking. I grew up with fresh-cooked food. My parents and grandparents always cooked with fresh food and herbs. I liked cooking as a child and learned a lot from my parents. ‘Till this day, I like cooking with fresh ingredients a lot. It also happens that I love going out for lunch or dinner and I really like to organize and manage. What better than combining the things I love in my work? Niven and I both love to work in and for the restaurant. We are a great team and have a clear division of roles. He manages the kitchen and creates the dishes together with our kitchen chef, Maarten. I take care of the interior design and styling of the restaurant, as I did in our previous restaurant, as well as social media. Together we are both responsible for the overall organization and management of the restaurant.
Kunz: I really love Indonesian food. You can wake me up in the middle of the night for some good Indonesian food. Virginie learned it from her mother, father, and grandfather. And I learned a little Indonesian cooking from them as well. I really enjoy it when Virginie or her family cook that for me. Wong: What do you love most about being a chef? Kunz: Creating. I love to create with our team, whether it is for a new dish or an experience for the guest. I can put my creativity in the dishes and I do that together with my kitchen chef, Maarten Westerhout. Wong: Where do you draw your creative inspiration from? Kunz: I get a lot of inspiration from the new products of our suppliers. It is very important for me to visit the greenhouses and be close to the source of our products. I also get a lot of inspiration from the seasons and seasonal products. Maarten and I like to work with products that are in-season. You automatically get a good variation throughout the year in dishes because of the changing products, but we also like to do this from a sustainable point of view. Wong: Do you see any new food trends that are happening now? Kunz: I think that replacing meat for a vegetarian or even vegan option is a big trend right now. I’ve worked with the eighty/twenty vegetables-meat rule for a long time already, but I am pleased to see that more chefs and people at home are using the same rule. It is better for the climate and eating less meat is also healthier. You can do so much with vegetables. It is a good thing that people are more conscious and aware about what they are eating and where the product comes from. For her role, Virginie van Bronckhorst
Wong: What is a typical day like for you? van Bronckhorst: A typical day for me is to start my consultations at eight-thirty AM until about five PM. I go home, cook dinner with fresh ingredients and then go back to work for our restaurant. During the week I do this from home on my laptop; during the weekends I am always in the restaurant.
Wong: You are a medical doctor. You do interior design as well as the styling of the restaurant. How do you combine your job as a doctor and as an entrepreneur? van Bronckhorst: I think the key ingredient is having fun and loving what you do. I really love my work as a doctor and also love my work as an entrepreneur. The combination and variety are great and they give me a lot of energy. Interior designing and styling is a big hobby of mine; I feel relaxed when I am searching and looking for new things and styles.
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