Prominent Utrechters talking about their favourite spots in the city. This month: chef Jasper Kaan from De Klub, tells us about the Chinese restaurant Tai Soen in Hoog Catharijne. So, Tai Soen? ‘It’s an amazing place, where I used to take my daughter (who’s now 16) on Wednesday afternoons to eat dim sum. It’s fun and absolutely delicious. I still enjoy eating there. All the staff from De Klub sometimes go there, and we sit at one of those huge round tables. My own culinary basis is French-Italian, but this place inspires me too. I once combined the oyster with black bean sauce with a steamed roll filled with pork to create my own entremets, which I might even put back on the menu.’ Biggest disappointment? ‘I feel like a grumpy old man saying this, but I think that Utrecht has really changed in the last 12 years or so. It’s much busier, there are more homeless people and beggars on the streets, and the city’s lost some of its identity. We moved to Vredenburg last May, and we’re surrounded by chains. De Klub used to be outside the city, on Europaplein. In business terms, our new premises are much better: we’re even fully booked on Tuesdays now. So I guess there are pros and cons, but I’m not used to it yet.’ Guilty pleasure? ‘A broodje-halfom from Broodje van Martin in Willemstraat. Martin and his wife Ria are well known in Utrecht and they’re lovely people who still shell their own eggs and make their own meatballs. They sell about 400 per week. I hate to say it, but a broodje-halfom is originally from Amsterdam; it’s a sandwich filled with liver and salted meat. A lot of people turn their nose up at it, but I love the strong flavour of offal. It’s on my menu, but in moderation. You cook to please people, and most people don’t like it.’ Best memory? ‘Twenty years ago, after I’d finished my training, I started my first job as a proper chef in restaurant 030 on Voorstraat. It’s not there anymore. Before that, I’d done placements in Michelin star restaurants in Amsterdam, like Vermeer. Fantastic places, but I was often in tears on the train going home because the hours were so long and I was being treated like trash. In 030, we worked flat out, but with a young, enthusiastic team. And after closing time, we often went out clubbing: the rock ‘n roll years.’ Moved to tears? ‘Watching the film De Terugreis starring Leny Breederveld and Martin van Waardenberg. It’s about an elderly couple, and the wife is in the early stages of dementia. I could identify with it because my parents and parents-in-law are elderly, and my mother-in-law has dementia. In the film, the wife is steadily losing her grip on reality, and although the husband gets irritated, he plays along with her. For example, they’re lying in bed one night and she’s scared, because there are five people in the wardrobe. He chases the imaginary figures away for her. This scene really moved me.’ Inspirational Utrechter? ‘Jac Rijks from restobar Rosie on Lucasbolwerk! Very few people can compete with his impassioned, pure style of cooking. But he’s modest too: if I pay him a compliment, he walks away. Jac, who’s ten years older than me, has had several restaurants in Utrecht including Amberes and L’ami Jac. His latest place, Rosie, is both a step forward and a step back. It’s less high-end, a smaller setting and less formal, but his surprising cooking style hasn’t changed. I would never copy him, but he certainly inspires me.’ Biggest disappointment? ‘I’ve lived in Utrecht for about six years now, I studied at the Herman Brood Academy, but I’m originally from the Wijchen, a village in Gelderland. There’s no way I’d go back to it, but I hate the way that people in the city always walk around with earbuds in or staring at their phones. It’s so alienating. We all have to live together in this world, but we seem to be terrified of overstepping the mark.’