Stay abreast of COVID-19 information and developments here
Provided by the South African National Department of Health
SA’s hottest chefs
— and their award-winning signatures
Fresh from the recent Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards, SA’s hottest clutch of chefs share their views on beer pairings, their secret weapons, and Parisian midnight snacks.
How did it feel to win Restaurant of the Year for the fifth time this year?
This award is massive for me! You brush it off for the whole year and then in the run- up to it, you really start worrying. I’d like to pay tribute to the team. There’s always a bit of controversy about receiving this award, but people should know we put in a lot of hard work.
We spend a hell of a lot of time trying to reinvent things and create new flavours and experiences so our customers can leave the restaurant knowing they’ve had a great experience. I truly have the best of the best working with me. Every day I come to work and thrive on their energy.
What’s your signature dish – or something you’re proud of right now?
The tuna – herb-fried tuna loin with kale done three ways, roasted fish-bone jelly, poached quail egg, green olive and garlic puree and tofu cream.
Despite being outrageously successful, you closed for a whirlwind refurbishment this winter. What made you decide to redesign the Test Kitchen?
When I opened The Test Kitchen, it was a 24-seater and it didn’t do lunches. It was a creative project, which became a bit of a monster. When Ivor [Jones, former head chef] left, we could either have decided to pare back or push it again for the next few years. It’s fun – quite expensive fun – but my gut feeling says I have to change and evolve. We took 40 bookings in two minutes when we reopened after the refurbish, so I think it’s working!
What new dishes are you working on?
We’re doing a beer mug filled with black jelly, Guinness emulsion, pork scratchings – like that tradition of the old pub snack, a beer and pork scratchings. We’re also doing a Japanese pickle trolley
What’s your signature dish?
I don’t have a signature dish as such, but I have a signature ingredient. Right now, we’re using raw milk in everything – unpasteurised farm milk. It’s got a very different flavour. We use it in ice cream and sauces, and in our sweet potato dish.
What’s your favourite food and wine pairing?
We focus more on beer pairing – and it changes with the seasons. Right now, I love the amber ale with our kushiyaki lamb rib roast apple with marjoram and French oak teriyaki.
What’s your secret weapon in the kitchen?
Our kushiyaki grill – we use it a lot!
Which food fad do you wish would go away?
Spherification – turning everything into balls with alginate.
What’s your signature dish?
Cold coconut and lime broth with beef carpaccio, grated coconut and pickled cucumber. It’s a starter dish – very refreshing, and lovely when you’re sitting outside here on a summer day. You get the Asian flavours coming through – lemongrass, coconut, ginger.
What’s your favourite food and wine pairing?
I don’t drink, but our assistant restaurant manager, Benny, loves the starter prawn salad made with minced prawns, squid-ink fried veggies, homemade mayo and avo puree, pickled ginger and pickled daikon with our Delaire Graff Coastal Cuvee. It’s a sauvignon blanc semillon blend, so it’s quite green, and goes very well with the fresh prawn dish.
What’s your secret weapon in the kitchen?
My team and my hands and my brain! With our kind of food you can’t have any fancy gadgets, it’s really about thinking a lot. I get my inspiration from embracing local cuisine. I have travelled, but it’s also my Cape Malay upbringing that inspires me.
Who are your food heroes?
I look up to Raymond Blanc and his kitchen fundamentals. Also Gordon Ramsay for his kitchen management — that old-school discipline. I also look up to Gaggan [Anand] in Thailand – he’s doing amazing things modernising Indian cuisine. I would love to go there – I have to tick that one off my list!
What food trend are you excited about?
I’m very into sustainability and farm-to-plate cooking. We aren’t fully sustainable yet, but we’re striving as much as possible here at Indochine and get a lot of our produce from local places or our own garden.
How does it feel to have your restaurant in the top 10 for the first time and also, to receive the Chef of the Year award?
I was speechless. My team deserves the recognition because they work so hard every day. I go to work to do what I love and because my passion is food.
What’s your signature dish right now?
The Belnori Phantom Forest [a mould-ripened Chèvre cheese encased in ash]. I serve it with hibiscus and apple balsamic. It’s a good reflection of my style of cooking.
What’s your favourite food and wine pairing?
It’s a fourme d’ambert [a French blue cheese] served with a spiced brioche with amarena cherries and paired with a 40-year-old port. I just can’t get enough. It used to be my midnight snack in Paris.
Who is your biggest food hero?
Daniel Humm from Eleven Madison Park in New York. I just love his approach in cooking, the style of food, his plating and his philosophy and the whole set up of the restaurant. Really, really inspiring.
Which food fad do you wish would go away?
The gluten-free ‘fever’. I understand it’s a medical condition for a lot of people but they represent a fraction compared to the number of people who actually follow the movement just because it’s the latest food trend.
What’s your signature dish right now?
I have three! The mousse de mer, with langoustines in a rooibos risotto. It’s filled with ingredients to make a diner happy, to get the blood flowing and to aid the digestion. Then there’s the alchemist infusion, which is really a hero dish, it’s saffron tortellini with hibiscus consommé, and also features lemongrass and fennel – it really makes diners happy. Then there’s the simply shoots with garden velouté, fava bean mousse and pea shoots.
What’s your favourite food and wine pairing?
There’s a dish we call mitosis – it’s a goose liver mousse topped with muscat grapes and a champagne jelly. We went to France and met the winemaker, who’d actually designed the champagne specifically to pair with foie gras or goose liver. It’s an incredible pairing, because of the sweetness content – and so special for me, having met the very passionate winemaker.
What’s your favourite ingredient to cook with right now?
It used to be beetroot, but right now I’m totally fascinated with the tulip family – tulips are the new beetroots for me! Depending on which part of the flower you use – the bulb, the stem, or the petals – the flavour differs, but it has a sweet, earthy, natural taste, and the petals are a little spicy and peppery.
What food trend are you really excited about?
Delving deeper into botanical cuisine – incorporating flowers into a dish to enhance the palate – and exploring the historical relevance of flowers.
We can help you maximise your returns through an integrated investment plan tailor-made for you.
Niel Laubscher has spent 10 years in Investment Management.
Have a question for Niel?
