Westcol chefs on top in national competition

Two second-year chefs, Wise Dlamini and Vasco Sabela from Westcol College, took top honours in the National Top Chef Competition hosted by the Vaal University of Technology.

The competition was held in September and saw chefs from all over South Africa compete. The competition required them to arrive in full uniform with their own tool kits for this mystery basket competition.

Their tool boxes were checked to ensure no ingredients were brought into the competition. Once the students received their mystery basket with ingredients, they had 30 minutes to plan a three-course menu for four people.

They were allowed to use ingredients from the communal table with kitchen staples, which closed one hour before the plating had to be completed.

After their planning, the chefs had another 30 minutes to collect all ingredients they would need in completing their planned starter, main course and dessert.

Three hours of preparation and cooking followed, which included plating and presentation of their master pieces.

During the three hours, each participant was responsible for cleaning their own stations, and judging took place on hygiene, safety, menu planning, food preparation and food presentation.

All this was done in a new kitchen, one they never have worked in before with equipment and stoves they were not familiar with.

After the gruelling three hours of cooking, the judges gave general feedback, and participants attended the gala dinner to hear the final results. Under the FET sector of the competition, Dlamini secured the second position with a total score of 538, with Saleba being victorious with 625 points awarded to him.

They were also the only two participants from FET and university participants that scored above the 500 mark.