Course II
The Line
Every day, a little better than yesterday.
Course II — The Line
Learning the Trade, Fast
My journey started at Spirit Rotterdam, as a kitchen aid under Head Chef Daniel Saad. During my trial period he noticed something and took me under his wing, and things moved fast — recipes, preparation and cooking techniques, all absorbed in a remarkably short time, including the basics of pastry at a genuinely high level. That speed, and a knack for reading people quickly, led to a promotion to chef de partie: training and managing new kitchen staff and writing the mise en place lists that keep a kitchen honest.
At Spirit I eventually became sous chef — cost control, food cost, storage, stocking and sanitation, the quiet architecture behind every good service. On an average day we served 300 to 400 guests. It was a crash course in staying composed while the tickets never stop, and it's the foundation everything since is built on.
Then I went to Cas Spijkers Academy, where I learned a lot.
The Shift
Putain is where the craft changed for me. Under the guidance of Randy Woltman I learned the finer ropes of the profession — and a higher, more efficient pace of work. It was fine dining out of an open kitchen: nothing to hide behind, so cleanliness and hygiene weren't extras, they were the baseline. It's also where I felt something click — a daily drive to be the best I can be, and a little better than the day before. Somewhere in that repetition, it stopped being a goal and became who I am in a kitchen.
“Every day, a little better than yesterday.”
Widening the Palate
Then I wanted range. Kyatcha opened the door to the Asian kitchen — new cutting and processing techniques, a different logic for how food is built and prepared, and warm and cold Japanese side dishes and Japanese pastries that I quickly made my own. Alongside European and Mediterranean cooking, the warmth of African cooking, and the Korean flavours that were part of me before any of it, it gave me a range I try to use with respect. Every cuisine has its own logic, and when I cook one, I cook it the traditional way. What ties it together is feel: the more experience I gain, the more that feel sharpens, and in the end, feel decides the plate, not the recipe card.
Building Something of My Own
At NIKO I was Head Chef, and it was a different kind of test — not executing someone else's vision, but building one. I was given a free hand during the restaurant's renovation, and everything I'd learned at Spirit and Putain made it possible to use that freedom well. Together with the restaurant manager I created a new, more efficient and structured way of working, and wrote a new menu to go with it. It's one thing to follow a good system. It's another to be trusted to build one and watch it hold up under real service. It did.
Cooking to a Menu
After NIKO I moved to Three as sous chef, in an almost fine-dining Asian kitchen where service was built mostly around menus. Menu cooking is its own discipline: every dish has to earn its place in a sequence, timing and consistency matter as much as flavour, and the rhythm of the evening is designed rather than improvised. It sharpened my sense of composition — how a menu moves from the first plate to the last.
Choosing My Shifts
Freelance has been part of my last two and a half years, and I'll admit it: I'm a bit picky. I choose the shifts I like the look of and pass on the rest, which means I turn up to work I actually want to do.
The variety is the point. Walking dinners at events, banqueting, catering, or simply à la carte in someone else's kitchen — a bit of everything. Each asks for something different: a walking dinner is small, precise bites that have to hold up in the hand; banqueting and catering are about timing and scale, getting a lot of plates out well at once; à la carte is fast, à-la-minute cooking. Moving between them means walking into unfamiliar kitchens, reading the room quickly, and being useful from the first hour.
The kitchens, newest first
Experience
Events, banqueting, catering & à la carte
Selecting the shifts I like over the past two and a half years: walking dinners at events, banqueting, catering and à la carte — a bit of everything.
Three
Sous chef in an almost fine-dining Asian kitchen, with service built mostly around menus, including charcoaled steaks and wagyu.
NIKO
Given a free hand to build an organized, efficient kitchen department. During the restaurant's renovation, developed a new, more structured way of working with the restaurant manager, and created a new menu.
Kyatcha
Broadened into the Asian kitchen: new cutting and processing techniques, warm and cold Japanese side dishes, and Japanese pastries. Served charcoaled steaks and wagyu.
Putain
Trained under Randy Woltman: finer technique and a higher, more efficient pace of work, in an open kitchen where cleanliness and hygiene were essential. Worked with a Big Green Egg in the kitchen and a PacoJet on the pastry side.
Spirit Rotterdam
Kitchen aid, then chef de partie, then sous chef under Head Chef Daniel Saad. Pastry basics at a high level; training and managing kitchen staff, mise en place lists, cost control, food cost, storage and sanitation — serving 300–400 guests a day.