Most chefs you speak have that aha moment when they realised cooking was going to be their vocation. For some it was cooking with their mother or grandmother or remembering something they had eaten which triggered that spark. Not for Alberto Landgraf, chef of Rio de Janeiro restaurant Oteque. "For me it was different because I went to London to study English and finish my studies. My mother was an English teacher and wanted me to finish my studies in England. For some reason, I ended up working in a kitchen," he told Food and Wine Gazette in an interview. The chef who is slowly but surely putting Rio de Janeiro on the food map thanks to his work at Oteque could not crack an egg when he arrived in London. He found himself working in a kitchen to be able to extend his stay and this triggered his interest. "I thought this was the best place to be because I am a very active person, have always been involved in all kinds of sports, loved adrenaline and the rush it brings to you." … [Read more...]

Things were looking bright for Dutch born chef Margot Janse just before disaster struck. Two years ago she decided to quit her job and focus on building her charity which she had set up as part of her work at one of most well known fine-dining restaurants in South Africa, The Tasting Room at the Le Quartier Francais. A change in the ownership of the hotel which housed her restaurant made her adjust her priorities in life. “I stayed to work for another year but then realised this was was no longer my world. It was time for change but the question I had was what would I do about the children I had been feeding through the charity. I thought that the new owners would keep the charity which was connected to the hotel but given my name was so closely associated with it, I feared they might change the emphasis of the project. So I decided to take it with me and started to think what I could do, how I could handle the logistics of serving 200 meals a day from a domestic kitchen and with a … [Read more...]

Go back a few years and Kobus van der Merwe would have probably been sitting close to me for an event like the World Restaurant Awards organised in Paris on Monday 18 February. Instead he walked out of the auditorium of the Palais Broignart head held high to the tune of Toto's 1980s hit song Africa as he clinched the first ever Restaurant of the Year award. The lyrics of the song with the 'drums echoing tonight' and 'blessing the rains down in Africa' never felt more apt. A former journalist and food writer, he was writing about the global restaurant scene and dealing with restaurants every day until he was 30 when one day he started to feel his real calling. He wanted to be on the other side of things and not just writing about restaurants. He had no idea how to enter that world because he never worked as a chef before and only had one year of culinary school training to vouch for which he had acquired just after high school many years back. He found an opening in 2009 when … [Read more...]

Rob Roy Cameron was no stranger to stress. He had worked at the legendary el Bulli before helping Albert Adria open 41 Degrees and Hoja Santo clinching a Michelin star for both restaurants in the process. As he said, the stress of opening a restaurant is huge but when he embarked on a motorcycle journey from Barcelona to South Africa to visit his family, this certainly helped put things in perspective. After having worked at Hoja Santo and 41 Degrees he was feeling not only under stress but he felt that he needed time for himself. He needed a break and he needed to decide on his future. “Do I work in pastry or chocolate or do I become a chef,” was the question that was tearing him apart. Originally from South Africa, he arrived in Spain via the UK where he had originally moved to become a photographer. The digital revolution had played havoc with his plans as photography moved from analog to digital. He had not visited his father’s place in South Africa for a long time and so he … [Read more...]

Tom Kerridge has recently published a new book Tom Kerridge's Fresh Start to coincide with a new BBC Two television series of the same name. We recently caught up with him for a long interview at the Corinthia Hotel London where he has opened the acclaimed Tom Kerridge Bar and Grill. This is the second part of our interview with Tom in our Q&A format. The first part of the interview can be found here. Your best ever meal? My best ever restaurant meal was at the Fat Duck. My best ever meal is Christmas Day with family and friends. Your favourite dish? It depends on where you are at but probably it would be fish and chips sitting on the beach at winter time. Is there something you don't eat? I have a shellfish allergy so shellfish. One thing in a professional kitchen that should be in every person's kitchen? A very nice set of knives that are sharp and work. Best places to eat in the UK? Bidendum or Core by Clare Smyth in London, Restaurant Sat Bains … [Read more...]

It has been a hot summer’s day in Portugal. Temperatures have soared to 43 degrees celsius at the Herdade dos Grous farm in the Alentejo region which we visited with Hans Neuner, chef of two Michelin star restaurant Ocean and Kurt Gillig, the managing director of Vila Vita Parc who has invested in this 1700-acre farm to produce organic products for its hotel and restaurants. The heat is stifling. It is like nothing I’ve experienced before. But the evening promises to be cooler as we head to the Atlantic Ocean to fish for calamari. We set foot in the cold sea to board the fishing boat outside the idyllic beach in front of Vila Vita Parc and we are off to get a taste of what its like to fish for mackerel and calamari. We’re on a small fishing boat with Hans Neuner who never imagined he would still be in Portugal when he arrived here in 2007. “When I arrived, I had given it two three years to try it out and see how it goes. But I fell in love with it and stayed. You will not … [Read more...]