Lowveld Chef GT Lundie bags first place title in World Chaîne Day competition

On Tuesday July 9, Chef GT Lundie of Zest Restaurant was awarded the first place title in the World Chaîne Day competition in South Africa that took place on April 20, sponsored by Macadamias South Africa (SAMAC).

Lundie saw this as more of a challenge than a competition, saying: “It’s more for me to get the ingredients and see what I can do with them, than it is about the competition.”

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The competition took place under Chaîne des Rôtisseurs South Africa, where several of the regions that fall under the association, called bailliages or bailiwicks, would compete. These bailiwicks are areas of operation where respective committee members will have jurisdiction. They include among others Limpopo, Outeniqua, Gauteng, the Western Cape and the Lowveld.

In order to compete, chefs need to be nominated and accept further invites to participate. Anton Pieters, the vice press officer and Bailli of the Lowveld bailiwick, nominated Lundie as a contender, noting that it was his best choice. “I knew he would win, I can always count on him,” he said.

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The competition involves being given a list of ingredients that every chef must use in order to create a menu. Photos of these dishes are then taken and sent to the Cape Town bailiwicks to be judged based on presentation.

Lundie argued that the ingredients he had to use weren’t common and he enjoyed having that change of pace. His head chef, Xolani Mashego, was a big inspiration for the dishes he presented. Mashego started working as a dishwasher at Zest and over 17 years, he worked himself up the ranks to where he now helped Lundie with setting up the menu for the competition.

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Lundie is also thankful to have represented the region. “It was nice to also have some recognition come to the Lowveld,” he added.

Some of the ingredients he included were mopane worms, amadumbe (wild taro), marogo imbuya (wild spinach), macadamia nuts, snoek, biltong and Saldanha mussels.

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The Chaîne des Rôtisseurs started in the Lowveld in 2007. During this time, Lundie also opened Orange, a restaurant in Mbombela. He later joined the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs in 2008. According to him, he was the first member to bring Chaîne des Rôtisseurs to Mbombela.