Restaurant Klein JAN is going from strength to strength, which is no surprise, given that it is owned by Restaurateur and Chef Jan-Hendrik van der Westhuizen. What is a surprise is that it is in the Kalahari Desert on Tswalu Private Game Reserve, miles away from anywhere.
Now Restaurant Klein JAN has received a new accolade, not for its cooking but for its beauty, being one of two South African restaurants making the 2021 Conde Nast Traveller Most Beautiful Restaurants in the World List, out of 39 restaurants in total, and accompanied by Wolfgat in Paternoster.
Conde Nast Traveller wrote about Restaurant Klein JAN as follows:
‘KLEIN JAN, KALAHARI
A wildly ambitious subterranean space in the heart of the Kalahari
If anybody can package local provenance provocatively, it’s Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen, the first South African chef to achieve a Michelin star, for his namesake restaurant in Nice, France. And while Cape Town would have been the obvious choice for his home-turf debut, instead he opted for the meatier task of creating a ground-breaking restaurant, Klein JAN, in Tswalu game reserve in the southern Kalahari. The initial challenge of tracking down Northern Cape ingredients involved driving for days (sourcing within 300 miles is considered close in these parts) to 
meet small-scale farmers growing pecans, pistachios, grapes and organic grains to mill into unrefined flour for bread. Then there were the cheesemakers, fourth-generation butchers and craft distillers creating not just gin and vermouth but local favourite witblits. The restaurant’s architecture is brilliantly elemental, taking its design cues from native creatures that seek refuge by burrowing underground. Here, nobody sits in a chair for hours on end. Guests are given different courses in different spaces; built beneath a dune, most of Klein JAN remains unseen until you descend into the cathedral-like root cellar. Try biltong-dusted savoury lamingtons on the stoep, or a mug of butternut-squash soup cooked on Jan’s grandmother’s old stove. The 10-plate main course is delivered at once, as if for a photoshoot, in the glass-fronted long room and might include dry-aged beef from Kuruman sizzling on a hot rock and mini sweet-potato mille-feuille. After pudding and local cheeses (served with brandy-steeped raisins), everyone ends up on the roof to stargaze while sipping coffee made from the roasted, ground roots of a shepherd’s tree. By Jane Broughton
The magazine had the following to say about Wolfgat, owned by Chef Kobus van der Merwe:
A foraged find in South Africa
The 20 seats in this humble cottage above a beach in Paternoster, two hours from Cape Town, get 
snapped up months in advance. Here, chef Kobus van der Merwe has gained a cult following for his foraged beach vegetation menu. But success didn’t arrive overnight. He has been pioneering sustainable cooking on South Africa’s west coast for a decade – first at Oep ve Koep (the tiny bistro he still runs in his parents’ farm stall) and now at Wolfgat, pictured, named after a nearby cave which contains remnants of an early civilisation. Today, he uses ingredients typical of the ancient diet of the nomadic Strandlopers, who combed the shores of this stark coast. Seasonal foods include bokkoms (dried fish), veldkool (flower buds) and pickled slangbessies berries. Wild oysters are whipped into a pâté with housemade fynbos-infused vermouth and foraged purslane. And for pudding there might be crispy kelp served with sweet pear ice cream. This off-the-beaten-track spot is worth the significant detour out of the city. By Jane Broughton
The other 37 restaurants on the Conde Nast Traveller Most Beautiful Restaurants in the World list include a number of restaurants based in Asia, a handful in the USA, a number in Stockholm and Denmark, one further African restaurant based in Zimbabwe, one in Australia, and some in Germany. Only one is from South America, Kjolle in Lima, at which I ate in July 2019:
The wife of Lima’s most famous chef goes it on her own
Working with her husband Virgilio Martínez at their restaurant Central in Lima, Pía León may just be the most famous chef you’ve never heard of. She’s spent the last decade traversing Peru’s mountains, valleys and rivers sourcing ingredients such as Amazonian pacay (ice-cream bean) for the Mater Elevations menu at Central, ranked number six in the World’s 50 Best list. But, this year – following the launch of Mil, the couple’s ambitious Andean project, 3,500 metres above sea level, as well as the relocation of Central to Lima’s hipster Barranco district – León has opened 
her first solo joint: Kjolle (pronounced coy-yay).
Where Central focuses on ecosystems on an altitude-by-altitude basis, here León is plating Peru her way. Her monthly-changing eight-step tasting menu fuses ingredients from all over the country, matching the Amazon jungle with the Andean high plateau. Pato curado – duck tartare – stars Pacific baby squid, crunchy onion rings and kañihua, an Andean cereal, while Muchos Tubérculos is a vibrant tart tribute to Peru’s 4,000 root vegetables. The indidivual dishes on the tasting menu can also be ordered as larger sharing platters.
This new Barranco hub is home to a cocktail bar, Mayo, too, as well as the HQ of the couple’s biological and cultural research arm, Mater Iniciativa. Some flavours will tickle taste buds for the first time, such as black mashua – a wrinkled black tuber that tastes like fermented corn juice. ‘Mater does its work, then I do mine,’ explains León. Finally, Peru’s best female chef has taken centre stage. By Sorrel Moseley-Williams’
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
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