Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen grew up on a farm in South Africa and cooked on private yachts in Monaco before opening JAN, a 20-seat restaurant near the port of Nice. It has held a MICHELIN star since 2016.
In this story · 4 sections
JAN is at 12 rue Lascaris, in the quarter behind the old port of Nice. It is small – 20 seats – and furnished more like a private house than a restaurant: Vogue France compared it to an 18th-century villa, with stone arches, candelabra on the tables and wicker chairs. The French MICHELIN Guide awarded it a star in February 2016, and it has kept it ever since; the restaurant has recently celebrated its tenth anniversary.
JAN
Restaurant · Le Port, Nice
© OpenStreetMap contributors · OpenFreeMap
- Address
- 12 rue Lascaris, 06300 Nice
- Classique – four courses
- €165
- Signature – six courses with the MARIA cheese experience
- €195
- Wine pairing Classique – four glasses
- €115
- Wine pairing Signature · Prestige – five glasses
- €145 · €180
- Non-alcoholic pairing (Classique · Signature)
- €35 · €45
- Open
- Dinner five days a week, Tuesday to Saturday
- Source
- Official website janonline.com and MICHELIN Guide opening hours, checked 25 October 2026
Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen's 20-seat restaurant: creative cooking with South African roots and Côte d'Azur produce, with the MARIA cheese room across the street.
01From Middelburg to Nice
Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen grew up on a farm near Middelburg, in the north of South Africa, and his road to the stove was not a straight one: before JAN he worked as a chef on private yachts in Monaco and as a photojournalist for a magazine. He opened the restaurant, he writes, to serve dishes inspired by his home country and to show how its traditional recipes had evolved into something of their own – South African favourites such as melktert, bobotie and biltong, adapted for a European gastronomic table.
He is a publisher too. JAN the Journal, his own magazine, has reached its sixteenth volume, and the brand sells tableware, linen and kitchen goods alongside the restaurant.
02Sweet, sour and smoky
The MICHELIN inspectors describe creative, personal cooking that plays on sweet-and-sour combinations and dabbles in smoky, spicy and acidic flavours – a window onto South African cuisine. The produce, though, is local: everything comes from within 500 kilometres of the restaurant, from organic vegetables and eggs grown in Puget-Théniers and fish landed at the port of Nice to country bread from a Nice baker and cheese from the Fromagerie Métin in Vence.
Insider tipBook online with a deposit; dress code chic and elegant.
Dinner comes in two forms. Classique is four courses with arrival snacks and mignardises; Signature is six courses and includes the MARIA cheese experience. The wine pairings set South African bottles beside French ones, and there is a non-alcoholic pairing as well.
03MARIA, across the street
In 2017 the chef opened MARIA in a space opposite the restaurant and named it after his grandmother – his ouma – who died at 91. It is a room for cheese and condiments: the MICHELIN inspectors describe a buffet of some twenty cheeses with drinks, preserves and dried fruit, and guests cross the street for it in the middle of dinner.
04Getting a table
Bookings are taken online only. Because the room is so small, JAN asks for a deposit to confirm a reservation and a confirmation by email or phone 48 hours before arrival; tables are for two or four. Mention allergies, special occasions and gift-voucher numbers when you book. The dress code is chic and elegant.
