Sergio Herman opens THE JANE RESTAURANT in Antwerp

Antwerp, Belgium, 25 March 2014 - The Jane restaurant in Antwerp will open its doors today. The new restaurant run by chefs Sergio Herman and Nick Bril is located in the chapel of a former military hospital in the city. With their tattooed kitchen, customised clothing and detailed focus on art and design, the duo are looking forward to presenting restaurant-goers with a new dining experience.

Herman and Bril spent three years working on preparations for their new restaurant. Herman: 'To me, dining out is about more than a plate of fabulous food; the overall restaurant experience has become progressively important in recent years. So it's not just the dishes that must reflect our vision and our 'feel', but everything that surrounds them too, from the front desk to the tablecloths, the crockery - even the bread baskets. Everything at The Jane was specially made for us. And that takes time.'

Fashion, art and design
Herman and Bril created The Jane in partnership with a number of artists, designers and DJs. Dutch architects Piet Boon designed the interior and René Nijboer produced it. The custom-designed clothing for staff was the work of G-Star, the printed windows were designed by Studio Job and Flemish designer Michaël Verheyden created the accessories, including the leather bread baskets and butter dishes. Other eye-catchers include an illuminated neon skull by Kendell Geers from the Walter Vanhaerents Art Collection and an 800-kilo chandelier with 150 points of light by the Lebanese lighting design company .PSLAB. Also striking are the results of collaboration with a group of designers based in Tel Aviv: cutlery maker Tomer Botner produced the Florentine knives, industrial designers Andrey and Shay came up with the leather pouches, Yaara Landau-Katz conceived the special dishes and Galia Tamuz produced the cups.

Kitchen
The kitchen, which is designed to look like an artist's studio, is the province of master chef Nick Bril, Herman's former right-hand man at the Michelin three-star Oud Sluis restaurant (now closed) in the Dutch town of Sluis. Bril and Herman are responsible for both the fixed and à la carte menus, which feature some of the classic dishes they produced in Oud Sluis. Bril: 'It's hugely exciting to create something new after all those years at Oud Sluis. Naturally I'm shaking like a leaf. But we held a couple of trial dinners last week, and we're now ready to roll.'

Upper Room Bar
The in-house food and cocktail bar, the Upper Room Bar, will also be opening on 25 March. The Upper Room Bar has a separate menu. It also serves cocktails and specialist beers, in addition to wine.

Opening times and bookings
The Jane seats approximately 60 and is open for lunch and dinner from Tuesday to Saturday. The Upper Room Bar has 35 covers and the same opening hours.

You can book a table at both The Jane and the Upper Room Bar online at www.thejaneantwerp.com

The Jane is accepting bookings for three months' time, the Upper Room Bar for a month ahead.

The Jane is already fully booked for the next three months.

About Sergio Herman
Dutch master chef Sergio Herman (1970) spent 25 years running the Oud Sluis family restaurant in Sluis, the Netherlands. Since 2005, Herman has held three Michelin stars and Oud Sluis was among the top 50 in the list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants. Despite this success, he decided to close Oud Sluis in December 2013 in order to focus on new projects. In addition to The Jane in Antwerp, he has also owns the Michelin one-star restaurant Pure C at the Dutch seaside resort of Cadzand. He is also co-owner of the culinary publishing company Minestrone. Herman is famous for his light dishes, refined dressings and highly developed aesthetic sense.

More information: www.thejaneantwerp.com
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