The Best Chef award ceremony took place this week, and Peter Tempelhoff and James Gaag (the only South African chefs on the list) were nominated as two of the top 200 chefs in the world.
Johannesburg, South Africa (23 September 2022) – The Best Chef Awards released their top 200 list for 2022 and two South African chefs were named!
The Best Chef wants to be a bridge between the past, present and future by presenting the best of the world’s gastronomic scene: its current key players and the most interesting prospects of the new generation.
“Our mission is to gather all food lovers from all over the world and create a community of all those for whom food is passion – a platform that is a point of reference for them. The Best Chef is a place to exchange knowledge and experiences, to discuss current topics, and to debate on universal topics from the world of fine dining.”
Moreover, by presenting the best of the best during the annual awards event (the Top100 chefs and winners of special awards), The Best Chef wants to celebrate people whose experience, passion, and determination led them to achieve success. In this way, The Best Chef wants to inspire younger generations of chefs and show them what is important. The Best Chef has taken this desire to educate and inspire to the next level by creating two annual educational activities: Food Meets Science and Area Talks.
The award ceremony took place this week, and Peter Tempelhoff and James Gaag (the only South African chefs on the list) were nominated as two of the top 200 chefs in the world.
There is no official data on how many chefs there are globally but a guestimate would be around 3,5 million… so to land in the top 200 is no small feat.
This is what The Best Chef Awards had to say about our “local is lekker” duo.
Beginning his chef training in Cape Town at the Institute of Culinary Arts, Peter Tempelhoff embarked on his studies at the Culinary Institute of America and thereafter made his way through a series of Michelin-starred restaurants in London; where he was mentored by the likes of Marco Pierre White, Aaron Pattern and Giogio Locatelli, crafting restaurants to be the best in the city.
Appointed as executive chef at Grande Provence Heritage Wine Estate in Franschhoek on his return to South Africa, Tempelhoff quickly grew his local footprint to being voted Sunday Times Chef of the Year.
The chef inspiration
“I was inspired by my desire to spend the rest of my life in a creative space working with my hands and my senses. My passion comes from my love of flavours and that every plate is making someone happy”.
New urban restaurant in South African
Considered a stalwart on the South African culinary map, Chef Patron and founder of the new urban restaurant FYN, Peter Tempelhoff is a lover of complex dishes, favouring the use of coastal plants and fynbos. It is no surprise that Tempelhoff would name his new restaurant after the Afrikaans word fynbos, which also means ‘fine’ in English.
He says FYN is an urban restaurant for people who don’t have a lot of time, offering “a menu with as much flavour and texture in a shortened version as you would expect in a long tasting menu”. Served in the Japanese kaiseki tradition, guests can expect a completely different kind of fine dining experience.
Growing up in kitchens around food, James’ passion for cooking developed from a young age. His mother, Gaie Gaag, is a cooking, sugar craft and confectionary teacher at Silwood Kitchen, a culinary school in the heart of Cape Town’s Southern Suburbs. Here, James was exposed to food and cooking professionally, and the South African culinary industry.
In 2010 James joined La Colombe as a 3rd-year student and through hard work and determination, he rose through the ranks to sous chef.
In 2013, James left La Colombe and travelled to England, looking to gain international experience. He was offered a position in the kitchen of legendary chef Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxford. He spent a year in the renowned kitchen, learning as much as he could from the talented chefs at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, before returning back to South Africa in 2014.
Chef Gaag established himself at a young age
Back in his home country, James was appointed as the head chef of La Colombe. At the young age of 28, James Gaag, has already established a strong name for himself in the restaurant industrys a cooking, sugar craft and confectionary teacher at Silwood Kitchen which is where he was exposed to food and cooking in a professional way since living in South Africa.
The biggest reward is seeing the look of pleasure on every customer’s face
“What I enjoy the most about food, is the challenge of creating something new, something exciting and something thought provoking. You want your guest to be asking how has he done that? What makes it like that? Where is that flavour coming from or even, what is that flavour? That’s where we get to play as chefs, to trick the guest, to give them an experience. But at the end of the day, they still come to have an amazingly tasty meal! The biggest reward is seeing the look of pleasure on every customer’s face as they leave our restaurant satisfied.”
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