Chef of the Year sizzles in Durban

Germaine Esau from Delaire Graff Estate in Stellenbosch took the hotly contested title of the 2014 Unilever Food Solutions Senior Chef of the Year while Amoré Botha from The Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa took the Junior title, presented at the awards ceremony held in Durban after a sizzling day in the kitchen. A total of R110 000 was won across the five categories of the competition this year.

“It’s been a tough few months for the Chef of the Year contestants, who have been preparing for the competition since the start of the call for entries in May this year,” says Craig Elliott, Executive Head Chef of Unilever Food Solutions South Africa.

Esau’s menu consisted of tuna tartare and seared tuna served with pickled mushroom, lemon pomegranate, crispy ham and carrot, followed by lamb loin, sautéed kidneys, broccoli sprouts with butternut and a camembert rice crème and dessert consisting of olive oil parfait, kiwi sauce, compressed nectarine with meringue.

Botha was the recipient of R10 000 for her starter of Carpaccio of salmon, salmon tartar, fried calamari, mussel croquette with lime cream cheese and pickled carrot; duo of quail, pan-fried breast, tomato-braised leg tortellini, butternut puree with roasted butternut and quail jus for main; and wild berry soufflé, cinnamon anglaise, gooseberry compote, vanilla pannacotta, macerated strawberries and walnut crumble for dessert.

The Bring Your Best Team category and R 20 000 was won by Tsogo Sun’s Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani in Durban for their starter of prawn-studded coriander-scented yellowtail fishcake, complimented by brandy bisque and red pepper coulis with an Asian finish; main course of herbed pork tenderloin set upon sweet potato, lentil and chorizo hash with blueberry onion marmalade, baby vegetables and a white wine jus; ending with brownie-based minted lemon cheesecake, vanilla crème brulée, accompanied by cinnamon chocolate sauce and peppered strawberry confetti.

The Creative Canapés category was won by Samantha Lloyd of The Taj in Cape Town for her hot canapés of chicken pea fritter, lamb potjie vetkoek, chicken curry bunny chow and bobotie burgers, and cold canapés of ostrich tartar with paw paw salsa, smoked snoek cheesecake with apricot chutney, beetroot-cured salmon with masala cream cheese and biltong and parmesan crisp. Lloyd won R7 000.

Winner of the Confectionary Showcase and R7 000 was Kevyn Buys of Capsicum Culinary Studio for his traditional rose petal infused four-tier cake with bead droppings.

Runners-up in the five categories included:

Senior category: Mluleki Luthuli of Radisson Blue Sandton took second place and R10 000, while third place went to Jade van der Spuy of 1000 Hills Chef School in KZN, who walked away with R5 000.

Junior category: Michaela van der Merwe from The Twelve Apostles, and Kirsten Howell of the Saxon in Johannesburg, who took home R 6 000 and R4 000 respectively.

Bring Your Best Team: Second place and R12 000 went to the Radisson Blu Gautrain in Johannesburg, while third place at R8 000 went to Western Province Caterers in Cape Town.

Creative Canapés: Second place and R2 000 went to Mpho Malaka of Radisson Blu Gautrain in Johannesburg and third place and R1 000 went to Ekkanut Imthawin of Hilton Durban.

Confectionary Showcase: Larissa Pillay of The Oyster Box in Umhlanga was awarded second place and R2 000, while Nathan Jacobs of The Twelve Apostles in Cape Town won third place and R1 000.