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There is a new vibe at Whanga Eats in Whangaripo, where chef Jason van Dorsten has taken over from café founder Debbie Came.
The café, which can seat up to 45, has a rustic character befitting its rural location, near the corner of Matakana Valley and Pakiri Roads. It is one of the things that first drew van Dorsten to the business.
“The café has a lot of potential,” he says. “But for the moment, we just want to give customers simple, honest food. Everything is made fresh, using quality free range ingredients and we use as much local produce as we can source.”
The ‘we’ is Jason’s sister Sapphire Edmeades, who is also involved front of house and in the kitchen.
After years of working in hospitality in Auckland and overseas, and running award winning restaurants such as Café Hanoi in Britomart, van Dorsten is especially keen to be involved in a business that has family-friendly hours. He and partner Emma London, a district nurse, have three young children, and for the past two years, van Dorsten has been a stay-at-home Dad.
“The café offers the opportunity to do what I love, but still be there for my family.”
Van Dorsten, who was the chef behind the successful Hotel Vietnam event held over 12-weeks at Warkworth Hotel last year, says he fell in love with Vietnamese food during a three-month backpacking holiday in Vietnam.
“After years of working as a chef is some very high-end establishments in Auckland and London, where a lot of dishes involved rich sauces and lots of butter, I loved the freshness and simplicity of the food in Vietnam.”
But he is quick to put on the record that Whanga Eats is not Café Hanoi or Hotel Vietnam.
“In time, when we are happy with the way the café is working, then we will apply for a licence and maybe open later on Friday and Saturday nights for standard fare like fish and chips and burgers. It’s such a great venue that there will be opportunity for one-off special events, but that is definitely not something we are planning to do at this stage.
“For a start, we just want to be part of the community and have some fun.”
