This dish takes me back to Sundays at my granny’s house in Soweto. A coal stove warmed the kitchen as she prepared lesheleshele, a sorghum porridge for breakfast. After church, we’d stop for chicken feet and heads from a roadside braai, a simple kasi snack before rushing home to the smell of lunch. Those Sundays taught me that food is love, family and identity. This dish honours my grandmother and the streets that raised me, it’s a taste of Soweto.

The power of flavor in simplicity with my love for fusion. Throughout my journey as a chef, I have never really appreciated my own skill because as a chef, you always feel like you can do better. I rather found comfort in how people reacted to my dishes when they ate them and so therefore with this dish, I embrace the produce the earth gives us, I want each and every little component to be felt with every bite for what it is! With this dish I embrace my skills and I appreciate the simplicity.

Coming from the Northern Cape, the braai is often seen as the place for a man. From a young age I was by my father's side, learning how to master the fire. Later, I would always host the braai, ready to cook the meat while frowning male faces were ready to save me from the 'burden' of yielding the grid. This dish represents how my love for the braai has only grown, celebrating women's ability to tame the flames, along with my passion of showcasing my heritage and enjoyment of local ingredients.

The dish itself express completely south eastern turkish cuisine where the people eats lamb, mix spices and local carbs such as barley, chickpea etc. . this dish explain the culture and the life style of people in the region. Handmade clay pot by the Anatolians and raised ships by the shepherds feeded naturally. In this this you will find all the richness of region given by the nature to us. The cooking method absolutely how people use to do many years ago. Slow cooking technique in clay pot.

Inspired by the core memoir of my culinary journey, surrounded by amazing people from around the world in Middle East, which is a melting pot of culture region, where the aromas, flavors, and tradition come together, create a dynamic culinary scene as it is now. I carry the essence of my roots, to honor where i come from and staying true what i come here for. From my signature dish, i want to educate my guest how important to practicing sustainability. Because, small things can make different...

I wanted to create a dish that can live on a high class fine dining menu, made with “cheap”, attainable, everyday ingredients that I grew up eating at least once a week. It is so important to remember that knowledge, skill and technique counts for so much, a roast potato, a soft boiled egg and an average plate of pasta have so much potential if you know how to work with them.

This dish expresses my journey as a chef shaped by humble beginnings, where my earliest memories were on a rooftop in Egypt with my grandmother, feeding and preparing duck for our family table. It is a tribute to those shared meals, rooted in Egypt’s ancient Nile Valley culinary traditions and agricultural culture. Through duck, freekeh, and molokhiya, I reinterpret our heritage with refined technique, honoring where I come from and who I am becoming.

During my visit to Egypt, I was welcomed into my friend's family celebration of Eid. Grateful for their hospitality, I offered to cook the dinner to discover their tradition of sacrificing a lamb for the festival. I felt a deep respect for their customs. My dish is inspired by that experience, so I wanted to do a dish where I use the whole animal. Each ingredient, spice, and technique is a tribute to the love and generosity they showed me during that unforgettable time in Egypt.

Through The Fifth Quarter, I want to express a philosophy of care, transformation and respect. Inspired by Tamil food traditions around Madurai, where brain, bones and broth nourished families and workers, this dish reimagines overlooked ingredients with intention. The name comes from the “fifth quarter” — the parts beyond prized cuts that complete the animal. It reflects the chef I aspire to become: one who values sustainability, memory and nourishment over excess.

My personal experience has made me believe that life always start at the end of your comfort zone.
Few years ago, I choose to leave my comfort zone in France, in order to travel through Africa and middle east, this has made me the chef I am today.
My signature dish is built around this idea.
I have selected unusual products that will make my guest living, I believe, a unique experience.
As I always lived near by the sea; I choose to build my identity exclusively around seafood.

I'm presenting a modern twist on a traditional Egyptian breakfast, a staple eaten by nearly all Egyptians but largely unknown outside the country. This dish represents years of my life and is easily accessible to people from all walks of life due to its affordability . As a nod to my childhood memories of bustling vendors, I've decided to elevate this vegetarian dish with my own presentation, texture, and cooking techniques while staying true to its traditional flavor.

Sobriety taught me clarity, restraint, and respect for the process. I found those same qualities in line-caught Cape yellowtail a fish often taken for granted despite its versatility and value. By using the whole fish, this dish reflects transformation, turning what is commonly discarded into something worthy of care and showing that true value lies in seeing potential where others do not.

The Strandveld ecosystem dish is a representation of the coastline along Southern Africa. The plate is designed by me and handmade by Corinne de Haas from the Potters Gallery in Kleinmond, South Africa. The plate is inspired by a rock at the Cape Agulhas coastline, the most Southern point of Africa. The dish has a variety of indigenous medicinal fynbos plants which grows in this ecosystem.

I want to express South African Terrior!

 

I am sharing the story of the first traces of humankind through the art of culinary expression. This dish is a tribute to the women of the Khoi-Khoin the Taras whose footprints lie deep in the Southern Coast. Her pure shell jewellery strings around her neck as she heals her family with every meal. I would like to convey the unique diversity of South African Indigenous healing plants. The origin of flavour. By sharing the story of our ecosystems, we could create unity through food in our country.

Te Oyoo Ten tells the story of my journey from Egypt to Ghana, my home for five years. The first words I heard were “Te Oyoo Ten” – “How are you?” – a greeting that reflects Ghanaian warmth and hospitality. This dish brings together Egyptian and Ghanaian flavors through lamb glazed with fermented pomegranate molasses, shito, and fufu, one of Africa’s most iconic staples. The creams reflect the red, yellow, and green of the Ghanaian flag. It is my tribute to African cuisine and its place in globa

This dish conveys African traditional dishes in a modern way or style, where by sorghum it's the main source our traditional beer dishes so fermentation of it and burning it to make an ash it says alot of smoke and natural flavors involved. The use of kudu its our Afrikaans way of making family barbecue and eating fresh meat with its juices and braai flavors.

This dish expresses the versatility of one of my favorite vegetables, the celeriac, using every part of it in 4 different ways, without waste any. It's an earthy dish that wanna bring you in the woods during the autumn season.

The future of cuisine belongs to chefs who act as conscious custodians of the nature. 'Maati - The soul of Earth' is my personal take on Bhil tribe's food practices and their ideology: 'soil is our first mother'. Honoring this reverence, I interpret their ancestral wisdom by cooking GI tagged Kadaknath in a traditional earthen pot, paired with forest harvested mahua and dubraj rice. This dish defines my journey, bridging indigenous heritage with a responsible, sustainable future.