{"id":17057,"date":"2011-02-16T09:38:30","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T07:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=17057"},"modified":"2011-04-15T14:44:04","modified_gmt":"2011-04-15T12:44:04","slug":"restaurant-awards-how-do-chefs-feel-about-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/restaurant-awards-how-do-chefs-feel-about-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Awards: how do chefs feel about them?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The latest Opulent Living<\/strong>\u00a0magazine<\/a>, one of the best lifestyle magazines available currently, and clever about marrying the magazine with a regular e-magazine that\u00a0is easy to navigate, as well as with a blog, contains an interview with three leading chefs, and all three said that\u00a0restaurant awards have\u00a0both negatives\u00a0and positives attached to them.<\/p>\n

The three chefs interviewed were David Higgs of Rust en Vrede<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, number one on the South African Top 10 Eat<\/strong> Out <\/strong>restaurant list, Margot Janse<\/strong><\/a> of Le Quartier Fran\u00e7ais, and Luke Dale Roberts<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, previously of La Colombe and now owner of The Test Kitchen and number one Eat Out <\/strong>Top 10 chef in 2009.\u00a0 All three chefs made it to the San Pellegrino Top 50 Restaurants<\/a> in the World, Dale-Roberts’ ranking being the best ever South African performance, with his 12th position in 2010.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Acknowledging the \u00a0power of restaurant awards, in terms of increased awareness and resulting in bookings, the chefs\u00a0felt that it created a negative pressure on themselves and their staff prior to the awards events.\u00a0\u00a0 “To be honest with you, the less awards, the less stars and all those things that we have to think about, the better our lives are” said Luke Dale-Roberts.\u00a0\u00a0 He added that he thought that awarding stars was better, as it means that there are no winners and losers.\u00a0 Then it is no longer a competition, and one is just competing against oneself, to maintain that star.\u00a0 David Higgs added that\u00a0awards place a lot of pressure on chefs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>David Higgs said that he felt that South African cuisine is on a par with international restaurants, but it was felt that service levels were not yet on a par with the food.\u00a0 All three restaurants work hard at this.\u00a0 Rust en Vrede is only open five\u00a0nights a week, and the other days are used for training, hands-on by the chef.\u00a0\u00a0 It was felt that South African chefs are not moulded by a particular food style as may happen in Europe, and there is more\u00a0standardisation and duplication\u00a0of dishes\u00a0on European menus\u00a0(e.g. cauliflower pure\u00e9 with scallops, or foie gras).\u00a0\u00a0 As South Africa does not have a distinctive food style, it gives chefs a far\u00a0greater opportunity to experiment, and to not be pigeon-holed in their cuisine style.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

All three the chefs focus on local produce, but introduce an imported product on occasion, to share a special treat (e.g. a French cheese, Kobe beef) with their patrons.\u00a0\u00a0 The three chefs agreed to sharing supplier names, but felt weary of too much sharing as they are sometimes blatantly copied.\u00a0\u00a0 The internet and television have added to the food knowledge of chefs and their restaurants, and David Higgs said that the public are appreciating food better.<\/p>\n

POSTSCRIPT 15\/4<\/strong>: It has been announced that David Higgs has resigned<\/a><\/strong><\/span> from Rust en Vrede, and will leave mid-June.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 Twitter:@WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The latest Opulent Living\u00a0magazine, one of the best lifestyle magazines available currently, and clever about marrying the magazine with a regular e-magazine that\u00a0is easy to navigate, as well as with a blog, contains an interview with three leading chefs, and all three said that\u00a0restaurant awards have\u00a0both negatives\u00a0and positives attached to them. The three chefs interviewed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,14,20,31,21],"tags":[6785,9962,1591,3808,240,32378,9960,139,9958,2164,549,9957,9961,555,1604,9956,9955,34,9963,7199,9959,9964,9965,7518,3557,32373],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t