A Place of Rest With Pops of Colour

Popular chef Mynhardt Joubert and lan Engelmohr's new home has brought about a wonderful mind shift for the couple.

- By Marian van Wyk

In Mynhardt and Ian’s front garden, a fire-engine red sculpture by Strijdom van der Merwe entitled There It Is points towards the neighbouring house and Paarl Rock. And fittingly so. The greenhouse next door belongs to Ian’s mother Bets Engelmohr and this is where it all began when the pair started looking for a home in Paarl.

“Now I have to drive to work, and I’m thrilled about it!” says Mynhardt, who kykNET viewers got to know in the TV series Kokkedoor and Makietie. One might think that getting behind the wheel of your car to commute for work is a step backwards, but this is not the case for Mynhardt, who is also a brand ambassador for KWV. He says it was the ideal lifestyle change because now his personal life and work are kept separate, and things are noticeably quieter at home.

Mynhardt and Ian, a chartered accountant and ceramic artist who works under the name Patat Design, lived in a bohemian loft in Paarl until December 2021. This apartment was the inspiration for Mynhardt’s new recipe book My Station Street Kitchen. (The loft apartment was featured in Home Paint It 2019.)

A sneak peek

Mynhardt and Ian are delighted that the house with its charming dark grey shutters and spacious back garden next door to Bets is now theirs. Mynhardt recalls how every time they visited “tannie” Bets, he’d peek over the fence at the boring backyard next door and daydream about how it could be transformed into an inviting entertainment area.