Chef Jakes Warricker is only 26 years old, but has the CV of somebody twice his age.
He began cooking when he was 13 years old.
This bit of a bookworm at school, loved reading and participated in sport, without taking it seriously.
He was born in Camps Bay in Cape Town, but went to school at the Christian Sport Academy near Pennington in KwaZulu-Natal where he also took part in sport, but never committed himself.
His interest in cooking led to helping his mother in the kitchen and his professional career began when he studied at Silwoods School of Cookery in Cape Town, where he qualified top of his class.
He then went to a specialised school for World Fusion Global Cuisine where he learnt from Marco Nico Michelin, a star chef from Italy at La Storia Restaurant in Westville in Durban.
Shan Smith, National Executive Chef from Woolworths SA, was also one of his mentors.
Chef Jakes then spread his wings and worked for three years in Málaga, Spain and when his visa expired, he returned to South Africa and was awarded an Executive Jacket and the fourth star.
He visited Ermelo and quickly came on board and asked Louw Greyling if he could cook at the Butter Restaurant on Wednesday evenings, just to stay busy and Louw agreed.
He is now in partnership with Louw.
His food became so popular that on demand they are now open Monday to Saturday evenings.
In one year they grew from a 30-seater restaurant to a 100-seater and often have to show people away as they work on reservation only.
Chef Jakes was awarded National Young Chef of the Year in 2017, representing Mpumalanga.
The judging takes place under cover when judges move from restaurant to restaurant and eat the food without letting the chef know that they are judges.
Jakes was surprised when he received the call to say he was the winner as he did not know he was in the run for the prize.
To qualify you needed to have spent three years abroad and have a four star jacket which he had.
He was the youngest competitor in the competition by nine years.
He won the Nestle Rising Star competition in 2014 and in 2015 was the runner-up in the Sasko Brilliant Baking Competition.
Chef Jakes does not cook old-school and food must be innovative and creative.
He has a great dislike in frozen food, but believes in a finer dining experience and provides just that to the patrons at his restaurant, where frozen food will never be warmed up and served.
He firmly believes that food must be fresh and that is just what you will get in Butter Restaurant.
According to patrons, he makes a pizza that you will not easily forget.
Chef Jakes said his Italian food is the real deal and his inspiration comes from Marco Nico, an Italian chef.
He added that he can serve from a Karoo chop to Thai curry.
His days are long, first in in the morning and last out in the evening and some days are 14 to 16 hours long.
But he loves every minute and has never considered doing anything else, just giving his own flair and twist to traditional Italian food.
He believes that food is inspired by word and food and good company go together.
He is planning to bring Koos Kombuis to the restaurant on 24 March, Bottomless Coffee from Stellenbosch on 26 April and Jan Blohm on 24 May so people can look forward to some entertaining, while dining.
Butter is a fun place to eat and people rarely leave before midnight and on Fridays you get a bottle of house-wine free if you buy two pizzas.
He stressed that Butter is not for special occasions only, but for everybody in Ermelo to enjoy and invited people to drop in and enjoy their fresh food.
