Restaurant Klein JAN
Fine dining restaurant · Kgalagadi ·
Culinary journey celebrating South African heritage with local ingredients
Culinary journey celebrating South African heritage with local ingredients
"Situated on the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, the intimate dining room juxtaposes a jet-black counter and synchronized chef service with sweeping views of red soil and roaming wildlife. The kitchen applies a Noma-inspired tasting-menu sensibility to locally sourced, inventive dishes—highlights include savory lamington cakes flavored with biltong, a squash–chile–spekboom salad, and preparations featuring preserved peaches—while founder Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen emphasizes rare regional ingredients and fresh local products to elevate traditional safari fare into contemporary fine dining." - Mary Holland Mary Holland Mary Holland is a writer and editor based in New York. She is the former online editor of GQ and Glamour South Africa. Her work has also appeared in The Financial Times, WSJ. Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, Afar, and others. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines
"Located within a large private wildlife reserve in the Kalahari, this restaurant reflects the harsh, arid landscape through a menu built on native ingredients like tsama melons, balsam pear, and preserved pumpkins, and by using preservation techniques such as curing to extend shelf life. Opened in 2021 as a return-to-roots project, the cuisine emphasizes regional provenance and the chef’s heritage, translating the underexplored plains’ flavors into a thoughtful, terroir-driven dining experience." - Alicia Erickson
"Housed in a 100-year-old farmhouse on the reserve, this celebrated restaurant is the work of chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen—who earned a Michelin star for his restaurant in Nice—and delivers a world-class dining experience rooted in traditional South African cuisine and hyper-local, often foraged, ingredients. Dinners here are framed as a highlight for guests, combining rustic charm with refined, creative tasting menus that showcase produce sourced from the reserve and surrounding region." - AFAR
"A surprising, high-end dining experience from a Michelin-starred South African chef that left fellow diners calling it the “James Bond of dining experiences.” It’s presented as a culinary highlight that families can enjoy when childcare is available, offering an adventurous, memorable meal that contrasts with the rustic bush context." - Travel + Leisure Editors
"Set in a remote Kalahari game reserve, this restaurant feels like a cinematic discovery: diners begin with drinks and hors d'oeuvres on the terrace of a century-old farmhouse, pass through an antique-filled one-room house and down a spiral staircase to an underground brick cellar stocked with honey, produce and pickles, then emerge into a lofty dining room cut into the hillside that frames an arrestingly still desert landscape. Led by Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen — a South African chef who earned a Michelin star while based in France — the menu reimagines his Afrikaans grandmother’s Dutch-influenced farm cooking, from mieliepap presented as fritters to a vegetarian bobotie made with lentils, and highlights hyperregional ingredients such as wild tsama melons and homemade cheeses sourced locally despite the arid surroundings. The theatrical progression of spaces, refined service (white-linen tables, crystal glasses) and emphasis on storytelling make for an unexpectedly luxurious, homecoming-style dining experience in a far-flung safari setting." - Mary Holland Mary Holland Mary Holland is a writer and editor based in New York. She is the former online editor of GQ and Glamour South Africa. Her work has also appeared in The Financial Times, WSJ. Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, Afar, and others. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines
Laubscher C.
Kaia S.
Ed W.
Chris J.
Ruan P.
Shirley S.
Tiaan R.
Jonathan D.