“I was able to work for him for years as his right hand and when he was ill I was able to lead the team for seven months. Fortunately, we were able to keep the business and the quality up to standard.” According to Van Wolde, Hermsen actually deserved three stars. “He was a great professional. Not really an entrepreneur, he could have made more out of it, but he wasn’t really concerned with that. The love for the profession was everything to him. And he paid a lot of attention to the details, such as the flowers in the large vase, they always had to be fresh.”
Hans van Wolde, who now has two stars with his business Brut 172 in Reijmerstok, still remembers the moment when Hermsen in Maastricht got his second star, and he himself got a star in his newly opened business. “We had a big party together then. Toine and I were friends for life.”
Margo Reuten
says with a trembling voice in her kitchen at Da Vinci in Maasbracht. “The chef, because that’s what I always called him, meant everything to me. I learned so much from him at Juliana. And later I was allowed to become sous-chef in his own business in Maastricht. He taught me the passion for the profession, because he had it himself. All those wonderful flavors, from partridge with sauerkraut to his langoustine. My, my, that flavor was so pure, so refined. A real master. He and Cas Spijkers, they were the founders of gastronomy in the Netherlands. I am proud that I was allowed to work for him. I have already spoken to so many colleagues on the phone today, everyone is devastated.”
Nico Boreas (**) was also one of his students. “He was not only a great teacher, but also a wonderful person. Very nice to work with. He enjoyed his work so much. I had the pleasure of working with him for four years in Valkenburg and then Maastricht. Yes, many of the techniques you learned from him, you never forget.”
Eric van Loo, currently owner of Parkheuvel (**) in Rotterdam, thinks back with nostalgia to Hermsen in the time he worked with him at Prinses Juliana. “A fantastic guy. And an authority in the kitchen without raising his voice. He didn’t need that because of his class. He seemed calm on the outside, but inside he must have always felt the drive. When I think of those wonderful classics he made, such as confit de canard and sweetbreads, to lick your fingers. He was a real professional idiot in the positive sense of the word.”
Robert Levelsvan Château Neercanne worked for him twice. “Once as chef de partie and then again as chef. I have had shivers all day at the news of his passing. He was a great chef and then so incredibly modest. Toine was not someone for the spotlight. Everyone in the culinary world now has the feeling: how can we still honor him? His passing has taken us by surprise.”
