Michelin star chef Sergio Herman announces departure from Zeeland restaurants
Chef Sergio Herman is parting ways with his two restaurants in Cadzand after 15 years. It is time for him to chase his other dreams, and that means saying goodbye to Pure C and AIRrepublic, he announced in a statement published on Pure C’s website.
Last year, Pure C had two Michelin stars and AIRrepublic one. They lost the stars this year. Herman did not say whether this influenced his decision. The two restaurants in the Zeeland coastal town will go to the Strandhotel, a hotel in Cadzand with various gastronomic restaurant concepts. It is not yet known what their future will look like.
“After fifteen years, I feel that I am in danger of repeating myself. And that is not in my Zeeland nature,” Herman said. “With that ultimate passion for cooking, I also have other wishes, such as making more time for my family, children, and friends, traveling more, and taking a leap into unique international projects like in Asia. The horizon is still far from sight, but uniting one with the other is a field of tension in my current life, and that is why I have decided to close the Cadzand chapter and look for new dreams and opportunities.”
Herman said he was very proud of what he and his team achieved in Cadzand. “Working together with all those chefs, maîtres, sommeliers, and everyone else who contributed to making both Pure C and AIRrepublic a success has enriched my professional life in many ways.”
Herman’s team and the Strandhotel will work closely together in the period up to the handover, focusing their decisions on the well-being and careers of the restaurants’ employees, he said. The restaurants will continue under different names. “For me, Pure C and AIRrepublic are too closely linked to the personal memories I want to keep from the restaurants,” Herman said.
The last round in Pure C will be on 23 September 2023 and in AIRrepublic on 30 March 2024.
This year has been a tough one for top restaurants in the Netherlands. Amsterdam has already lost two Michelin-star restaurants with the closing of Le Restaurant and Vanderveen. And chefs Jannis and Claude Brevet closed their three-star restaurant Interscaldes in Kruiningen.
