OnTap Magazine

It is the most iconic Belgian restaurant in South Africa, and this year Den Anker, based at the V&A Waterfront, celebrates 30 years of importing and serving fine Belgian beers to accompany the restaurant’s fine Belgian food. Den Anker’s General Manager, Rejeanne Vlietman, talked to us about the restaurant’s long-running success. The restaurant business is notoriously difficult and has a very high failure rate. Staying in business for 30 years is a huge accomplishment.What’s your secret? Thirty years certainly is a milestone, and I think that the secret spice lies within the team who show up daily and give of themselves to ensure that our guests feel welcome and at home, and the suppliers who we can depend on as we respect and value each other. Alongside that we have always strived to keep things fresh and watch trends without being overly trendy. And we are always changing things slightly to keep things interesting. How long have you been with the restaurant? Almost since the start. It will be 30 years in December! I started as a student in 1994. I did two shifts behind the bar and then started waitressing. I started managing when I was 21 and took over the running of the operation in 2004 when the restaurant’s founder, Dennis Bouckaert, passed away. Running a restaurant has to be very stressful. Can you think of one experience that makes it all worthwhile? There is one moment which has stood out for me – about 25 years ago we had a client who lost his cool with his waiter in the most insane way possible. We did our best to salvage the situation and he departed the restaurant after a tough evening. I remember hiding in the kitchen as it was super stressful. The following day the same gent came back and asked if he could explain that he had lost a dear friend the day before and still had to attend a dinner that had been planned with us. He was apologetic for taking his sadness and frustration out on our team. It was a lesson in the fact that everyone has things going on daily and an upset on site could be a legitimate complaint for sure, however there is usually something way more critical at play in the background which contributes to clients taking their frustrations out on a team member. Everyone is human and we all should be handled with kindness and grace despite the situation. Beer has always been a big part of your business – howhas that changed over the years? The evolution of the beer industry has created more interest and excitement among the local client base; in the early years the people who drank our beers were largely foreigners. Today most guests who are adventurous and enjoy beer are keen to try the Belgian greats which we have always stocked. What are you doing to celebrate your landmark birthday? ThroughoutOctober – our birthdaymonth – we ran a social media campaign with prizes of vouchers to the value of R1994 – the year the restaurant was founded. And we had a proper celebration event with suppliers and the team in November. What’s next for Den Anker? Keeping up with the trends, remaining relevant, and refining our trade. We are taking a pod at Makers Landing which will be a preparation and training space, and we will sell our signature bitterballen. DEN ANKER YOUR LEFT SHOE If you hang around at Den Anker long enough, you might spot certain drinkers handing over their shoes when ordering beer. The beer in question is Kwak, a strong Belgian amber ale served in an iconic glass. Called the koetsiersglas , or coachman’s glass, it was designed to circumvent a Napoleonic rule forbidding coachmen from drinking in taverns with their riders. Instead, the beer would be brought to them and the glass placed in a wooden frame that could be attached to the outside of a coach, avoiding spillage. Kwak is still served in the same glass and in many bars that serve the beer you have to hand over your left shoe as a deposit to ensure the glassware doesn’t end up as another trophy in a beer lover’s kitchen. Den Anker team: Elisabeth De Visscher, Rejeanne and Doekle Vlietman and Laurence Bouckaert ontapmag.co.za | Summer 2024 | 51