CADZAND: After 12 years at the helm of Pure C, Syrco Bakker will embark on a new culinary and entrepreneurial journey as he parts ways with his mentor and chef Sergio Herman. The Dutch chef has been working with Herman for over 15 years having started at 3 Michelin Star Oud Sluis before taking the helm at Pure C.
“Gratitude and pride prevail when I think about 15 years working with Sergio Herman. I have been able to develop optimally and mature. Now I am ready to write my own story. After obtaining two Michelin stars, an 18/20 Gault & Millau score and title of Chef of the Year in 2002 my next challenges will be in entrepreneurship and in fulfilling new ambitions,” Syrco Bakker said.
“I deeply respect, admire and appreciate Syrco and wish him nothing but the best for his future. To hold on to such a talent for more than 12 years in this fast changing world is unique and admirable. We are all convinced that his ongoing culinary path will be a successful one. The legacy of Pure C will be safeguarded in the hands of the operational team and the roadmap for its exciting future will be composed in close collaboration with the Sergio Herman group.”
Sergio Herman announced that Jeffrey Laarberg will take over the kitchen at Pure C. The Group will reveal its renewed philosophy for the restaurant in the coming months but it remains within the realms of fine dining secured under the supervision of Sergio Herman and close to the Zeeland roots with which the restaurant earned its reputation.
The new chef has worked within the Sergio Herman Group at restaurant Le Pristine in Antwerp and before than he spent 11 years at three Michelin star restaurant InterScaldes where he worked his way up to be Chef de Cuisine.
Both Syrco and Jeffrey have been working together for the past several months to ensure a smooth transition.
Syrco Bakker is already an entrepreneur par excellence. After creating a successful liqueur brand with Hierbas de las Dunas which uses 18 types of herbs, flowers and plants from the North Sea dunes he went on to create Toko Syrco which serves authentic Indonesian cuisine in its purest essence and Sambal Opa which he launched together with his father Cos Bakker. His father supervises every batch to preserve the artisinal family recipe.
Syrco told Food and Wine Gazette in an interview a few years back: “From Sergio I learned the drive, the attention to detail and constantly striving for quality. I worked at Oud Sluis for three years and it was amazing how he was developing and changing things so fast,” .
Sergio Herman is behind the Sergio Herman Group that today has become one of Europe’s most creative restaurant organisations. The Dutch chef and entrepreneur is known for his unparalleled urge to create his unmistakeable sense of aesthetics and style and his love for Zeeland products. Over the past three decades, Sergio Herman’s professional life has been completely devoted to learning and to developing unique concepts in both the Netherlands and Belgium.
In 2013 he closed the doors of his highly acclaimed restaurant Oud Sluis, a restaurant put on the map by father and mentor Ronnie Herman as the best mussel restaurant in the region. That restaurant was brought to the very top by Sergio where he received not only 3 Michelin stars but also a 20/20 score from Gault Millau. The desire to expand and to enlarge his horizons resulted in the setting up of the Sergio Herman Group under the leadership of CEO John Hansen.
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