Though the chef-owner of Restaurant Mosaic be but small, she is certainly fierce competition in the international arena. Her latest coup? Being named best female chef. In the world
I grew up in Elandsfontein on the farm Restaurant Mosaic is situated on. During school holidays, we stayed with my gran. I think one of my warmest, fuzziest memories was of her teaching me how to make vetkoek. I remember the first time I made my own and broke it open; so yeasty and comforting and rewarding. And then, making a batch for my parents for dinner and being able to share that with them. Every time I smell vetkoek, those memories just come rushing back.
After qualifying as a chef, I worked as a commis chef under Nico Ladenis at Chez Nico in London. He’s a very, very hard task master; chefs like Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay came from his kitchen. I think that’s where I realised how important consistency is, because it was drilled into us every single service. The food had to be perfect and if it wasn’t perfect, it didn’t go out. You literally worked 18 hours a day, went home, got fourand-a-half hours’ sleep, and got back in the kitchen. Most of the time we were dead on our feet, but then you’d get back into the rush of service and you’d just push through – all of us fighting to keep those three Michelin stars.
This story is from the December 2017 edition of Woolworths TASTE.
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This story is from the December 2017 edition of Woolworths TASTE.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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