CHEF Charlie Lakin says he is unpretentious and ‘rough and ready’. He likes to prepare his foraged food in a T-shirt and hat.
“What you see is what you get – there is no hidden agenda. I don’t like wearing a chef’s jacket as they’re uncomfortable, cost a fortune and they’re a pain to clean. For me, it’s a T-shirt and hat. When you cook for pleasure, you don’t put a chef’s jacket on. That’s why I don’t bother – because I cook for pleasure,” says Lakin.
Lakin is planning the opening of his first restaurant in Hillcrest. The chef has lived in South Africa for eight years and worked at several prestigious Durban eateries. The new restaurant will be his first solo eatery.
“This will be my first bricks-and-mortar, bums-on-seats restaurant of my own, other than the pop-ups that I’ve done. My business partner is Andy, owner of a crockery and cutlery supplier, and I will be able to work with great crockery and beautiful glassware from his shop,” says Lakin.
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The chef who lives in Hillcrest with his family, was born and bred in the Yorkshire Moors in England and says that he had the fairy-tale upbringing into food. Lakin says his whole family was involved with nature. His grandfather was a gamekeeper and his father a forester and dairy herdsman.
“My grandmother was a great cook, and I spent a lot of time with her in the kitchen. My mom was always cooking. I was eight years old the first time I cooked a full roast dinner. To this day, my style was shaped by things I learnt from my mother and grandmother,” says Lakin.
Lakin says it was an easy decision to become a chef.
“I’ve just always been into food, so I thought I would be a chef because I had always loved doing it and grew up in the forestry and farming environment,” says Lakin.
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Lakin’s cooking ethos is to forage or ‘scrump’ food as much as possible and if preparing meat, to use the entire animal from nose to tail.
“People think my method is a fashionable thing – that’s codswallop. I was born and bred with it, and I’m not trying to follow a fashion – I’m just being true to who I am. It’s my upbringing and my entire life. The way I was raised, you picked out of the woodlands, and you bought from guys around you,” says Lakin.
Lakin worked in several prestigious restaurants in the UK before emigrating to Africa.
“I worked with Andrew Pern, at his Michelin-starred pub. My first cheffing years were spent learning cooking skills and making sure things tasted great before perfecting presentation.”
Once Lakin and his South African wife started to grow their family, the chef realised that he wanted a slower lifestyle, so he could spend time with his daughters.
“I was working ridiculous hours as I had the Michelin Rising Star and the three rosettes. I had done Great British Menu two years running and was working 100-hour weeks. When I wasn’t at work, I was foraging or butchering. I could see the strain on my wife, so one day, I said, ‘Let’s give SA a go,’ and we just moved two months later. I’m not South African, but it has become home,” says Lakin.
The chef says that his wife is ‘an amazing cook’, and her bobotie dish is his favourite meal, followed closely by his mum’s stewed dumpling recipe. His oldest daughter is allergic to eggs, and the younger one is not partial to meat, so the family fare is mainly vegetarian.
The chef says his wife chose the name of the new eatery.
“‘Meraki’ means to do something with love and creativity, leaving the essence of you in it. It will be the mantra of our whole business. I can’t buy food from people that don’t have the same passion for food. I want to work with people who have pride and love for what they do,” says Lakin.
To book for a pop-up, contact Lakin through his FaceBook page or 072 316 0910.
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