Tell us about your life before food:
I was born and bred in Zimbabwe, grew up loving wildlife, kept snakes, scorpions, tortoises, rabbits and had a butterfly collection…
What is your earliest memory with food:
Telling my mother that I wasn’t going to help her in the kitchen unless she made me a floppy chef’s hat!
Where did you train?
Belvoirpark Swiss Hotel School
What item in the kitchen can you not live without?
My santoku knife
Share a food secret with us?
A cooked boiled egg will spin perfectly on a counter but a raw egg will wobble
What is the best food advice you were given and by whom?
Stick to the basics and grow from there – Michel Gehrig
Stranded on an island – name 5 things you would not want to live without?
Peri peri chicken, coffee, red wine, vegetables, pork
Any advice for future chef’s?
Learn as much as possible, be hands on, get your hands dirty, work long hours to show your intent.
If you could say thank you to one person for where you are today – who would it be/why?
Would have to be two people, my parents, who believed in me and supported my decisions in my career.
If I say Banting – what do you think of?
Cauliflower – such a great vegetable for banting
What is your favourite recipe book?
The food of India, second Michel Roux’s pastry
If I say Plettenberg Bay – what dish do you think of?
Seafood Platter
Teach us a Foodie term and what it means?
Amuse-bouche, meaning “mouth amuser” in French is traditionally the same as a canapé and is served as a complimentary pre starter from the chef.
What 3 items would you insist on packing in a picnic basket?
Chicken liver pate, assorted cheese, Graham Beck Brut Rose
What are the down sides to being in the food industry?
No weekends, no public holidays, no Christmas or New Year!
What one cooking skill or recipe do you hope to master this year?
The art of making cheese
