About us

Who are we?

We are Jeroen & Sanne Tanis, and together with our team we would like to welcome you to Restaurant Mezger.

Restaurant Mezger is the culinary dream that Jeroen cherished for a long time. In March 2017 he opened the doors of his own restaurant, which is located between the two villas of Mezger Lodges, in Domburg. Since then he has surprised his guests with an amazing culinary experience from the kitchen and unprecedented hospitality from "the front of the house".

Our team 

We work with a young, ambitious and enthusiastic team at both locations. Together we will ensure our guests that they can enjoy themselfs and that they want for nothing when visiting our restaurant. 

Where does the name 'Mezger' come from?

The name 'Mezger' comes from Dr. Johann Mezger, the founder of (current) physiotherapy as we know it in the Western World. He was popularly known as 'the man with the golden thumbs'. His Villa Irma stood on the site where Restaurant Mezger is now located.

Who was Dr. Mezger?

Johann Georg Mezger was born in 1838 in Amsterdam, in the midst of an emigrated German butcher's family. In his younger years he helped his parents in their butcher shop, and as a result developed an interest in the functioning of joints and tendons. In Amsterdam he trained in gymnastics, and thus became interested in what was called 'remedial gymnastics' at the time. While Mezger was working, he trained as a rural physician, followed by a study of medicine at the University of Leiden. He squeezed, rubbed, and patted his patients' limbs with his "golden thumbs." While it was customary to bandage body parts rigidly and to prescribe absolute rest, he promoted remedial gymnastics as a method of healing injured limbs.

From 1870, Mezger treated patients in the Amstel Hotel who belonged to the highest European nobility and whom he often referred to Zandvoort or Domburg for a healing sea bath. His wife was from Middelburg. Through her he ended up in Domburg. From 1886 Mezger worked here in the summer. He had a villa built here in 1887, Villa Irma on the Domburgseweg (where Restaurant Mezger is now located), where he received patients in the summer. Thanks in part to Mezger, Domburg became a very popular seaside resort on Walcheren. In the center of Domburg is a statue of Mezger, made by the artist August F.H. Falise. What Dr. Johann Mezger was very characteristic that he made no distinction between 'dishonest' people from the nobility and the 'ordinary' Zeeuw or citizen.
Anyone who was looking for a suitable treatment was very welcome.