ABOUT US
Chef Jesper Nilsson
Jesper, who hails from Sweden, trained at the Institute of Culinary Arts in Stellenbosch and has worked for Darren Badenhorst at Grande Provence, Richard Carstens at Tokara Restaurant and Arno Janse van Rensburg at The Kitchen at Maison, Franschhoek. To gain further experience in the international culinary scene, Jesper travelled first to New Zealand and then to Sweden, where he joined Andreas Dahlberg’s team at Bastard Restaurant in Malmö. On his return to South Africa Jesper reunited with Arno at Janse & Co. Jesper’s vision for ëlgr is fine food, great wine and inspiring cocktails, all served in a relaxed environment. Menus are seasonal and change often, with exceptional, original, yet uncomplicated flavours. The dishes are creatively presented with simple, fresh ingredients.
“I take inspiration from my Nordic background and combine it with my culinary experience from South Africa. I take pride in craftsmanship and strive to create dishes that are authentic, trying to understand not only the flavours but also the cultural background of each component in the dish. Limiting yourself to one particular style means you are defining the outcome before you go through the process.”
Sommelier Le Roi van de Vyver
Our sommelier Le Roi van de Vyver comes to us from the Stellenbosch Winelands and brings a wealth of knowledge and an enormous passion for local wines to ëlgr.
Le Roi is our in-house wine detective and is an ace at discovering new wines and rare vintages and has a knack for storytelling that brings each and every wine in our cellar to life at the table.
Le Roi and Jesper work very closely together – every dish is tasted with a variety of wines so that you as our guest are guaranteed an extraordinary tasting and pairing experience, care of our front-of-house team or Le Roi himself.
While we keep our tasting and appreciation process fairly informal, rest assured that there is a wealth of serious discussion and planning behind our wine menu that goes on behind the scenes – it’s how we roll!