Rok Flander is a former Slovenian Snowboard World Champion. A few years ago he decided to take on a new challenge and open a restaurant with the help of his wife Gabriella. Build from an old Bank into a shabby chic-looking restaurant, Wapalapam is now a very reputable place to eat in Le Morne Brabant.
You were born in Slovenia and had the opportunity to travel all around the world. What made you stay here in Mauritius?
Being a professional sportsman is a great privilege that helped me gather a lot of experience. I came to Mauritius for waves and I stayed in Mauritius because of waves. Just after I met my wife and we created a family!
You had a very successful career as a Snowboard World Champion, how did you decide to open a restaurant?
The restaurant and hotel business is a family tradition. My parents and my grandparents were renowned restaurant business owners in Slovenia.
How scary was this career shift?
The scariest was to decide and go live on the other side of the planet. Anyway, I guess I had no other choice as the place where I come from became to tights after 15 years of traveling on the Snowboard world tour. Mauritius and Le Morne was a great place to land as surfers from all over the world visit this place throughout the year. The entire business story came spontaneously. Sometimes I simply follow my instincts.
What do you like the most about being a restaurateur?
The thing that impresses me the most is the power of creation. I like interior design and I like to play with materials especially with old colonial wood. The fact that all our furniture is designed by us and produced in our workshop is a crazy cool thing. I am looking forward to seeing Wapalapam concept being spread around the world and represent Mauritius in its best possible way.
Can you tell us more about the concept behind #Eatdifferently?
As soon as we created the first Restaurant at Le Morne Chef Willibald Reinbacher joined us. Together we became a very strong team that represents the lifestyle and culinary experiences. Wapalapam nowadays represents island-inspired food and interior design that together bring you into an unforgettable culinary experience.
Last but not least, if you could only eat ONE item from Wapalapam’s menu for the rest of your life, which one would it be?
It would definitely be our signature dish Chilly Prawn created by Chef Willibald Reinbacher author of Aquacasia (The culinary jewels of Indian Ocean) rewarded as the world best self-published recipe
book of 2016!
