Mark Vaessen
Born in 1974 in a small town in the south of the Netherlands, “where people still eat as they should”, the chef Mark Vaessen admits that his love affair with cooking began in his childhood, when he would watch food being prepared with ingredients from small local farms. It was always clear to him that he wanted to become a chef. He was passionate about the hectic atmosphere of the kitchens, the constant comings and goings and the trained movements of the chefs. At just 16 years old he began working in kitchens on weekends and has not been able to let go ever since.
“I’ve been to many places. At first I did it at least once a year because I was convinced that if I wanted to learn I had to see a lot of places”, the Dutchman recounts nostalgically. Later he moved to Amsterdam where he put all his effort into making classic French cuisine until he mastered it. However, at 28 he felt he needed to see more, that the world was so big, so he set off to travel around Asia, visiting Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Japan and New Zealand. All these trips forged in his cuisine an eclectic and very personal style.
Now in his fourth year as head chef of OKU Ibiza, he claims the island has a high standard, from the smallest beach bar to the most luxurious restaurant, and that the gastronomy scene is improving year upon year. Proof of the advances that the island is making can be found in the new restaurants that appear in the most prestigious culinary guides on a yearly basis.
What can we find at OKU IBIZA?
“My food revolves around the produce. When you have produce as good as that used in Mediterranean and Japanese cuisine, when you see its impressive beauty, the exceptional quality, you think that you don’t have to do much with it. Think about Japan, the amazing produce they have there, the vegetables, the fish and the seafood and yet they prepare them in a basic way. That’s my philosophy, the simplicity of good produce”, says Vaessen, adding that “At OKU we try to guide customers through a full, sophisticated but to some extent casual experience. It is important to us to provide the highest quality service and food. How we do it is also important. What I mean is that most of our dishes are meant to be shared around a table, as is common in both Mediterranean and Japanese cuisine.
Nikkei-Japanese cuisine inspired by different countries
“I wouldn’t say that our food is Japanese-Nikkei, but a fusion of different countries”, says the Dutch chef categorically, giving the example of one of the dishes on the OKU menu, a tuna tartar with crispy potatoes, fried egg and caviar that is inspired by the popular Spanish dish huevos rotos (broken eggs). In fact, the waiting staff finish the dish at the table as they do with the main courses, breaking up and stirring the eggs. We also have a red carabinero prawn sashimi, whose skin we turn into salt, which is accompanied by the juice from the grilled heads, something that is very typical in Spain.
New features for 2023
OKU’s menu for the 2023 season includes new dishes, such as the scallop tiradito with tuzazu sauce, as well as some very innovative creations. Another change they have made is to include several signature dishes on the menu so that diners can sample several of them.
Another new feature this year is the new bar, located at one end of the restaurant, acting as a perfect meeting point for a drink before or after dinner. What’s more, we cannot forget that OKU has a resident DJ who provides the perfect soundtrack to dinner in the purest Ibiza style.
Produce-based cuisine
“I have fetish ingredients. In Spanish cuisine you can find amazing ingredients such as carabinero prawns and Balfegó tuna. When I manage to bring fresh wasabi from Japan I’m happy. I also love oysters from the north of the Netherlands, which are extraordinary, and a soy sauce that is also produced in my country, which I can’t work without. That’s not to mention the local tomatoes, which, unlike Dutch ones, which don’t taste of anything, have such an intense flavour and aroma”, says Vaessen. All in all, I’m obsessed with good produce, whether it’s fish, meat or vegetables. For example, we are now in the middle of a process whereby we are trying to cure a sea bass and I’m very happy to work with such a fresh, good ingredient”, he adds.
