Meet the chefs cooking at the restaurant industry’s biggest night

The South African culinary industry is gearing up for the local industry’s biggest awards, Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards after a two-year hiatus.

The Eat Out Awards will take place at the Grand Arena in Cape Town on 20 November. The best local chefs and restaurants will be honoured on the night. 

It is expected the food on the night will be world-class, so no pressure for the chefs set to cook. 

Chief judge Abigail Donnelly said the chefs were mandated to capture “ the essence of fine dining in South Africa” but keep the menu simple and proudly South African.

Donnelly explained in a statement: “This year, we want to keep the menu simple, with a focus on local flavours that I’ve discovered throughout my judging experience this year”. 

She added that the ingredients will be supplied by their partner Woolworths.

“It will be a celebration of South African homegrown chefs and South African ingredients while acknowledging different regional styles of eating – from Gauteng to KwaZulu-Natal to the Western Cape.”

The event will also spotlight young up-and-coming chefs making incredible strides in the industry. 

These are the top chefs cooking at the 2022 Eat Out Awards :

Jackie Cameron

Having held the position of Hartford House, a five-star boutique hotel Mooi River that won plenty of Eat Out Awards over the years, Cameron is now the founder of the Jackie Cameron School of Food & Wine. The chef is excited to be involved and happy that the awards have returned. 

Scott Parker

Parker is close to the Woolworths family he is the Culinary Innovation Research and Development Manager at the retailer. Teasing what dish they will make, he said: “To be able to showcase a dish that our team has worked hard in creating a dish that uses incredible local ingredients and is presented in a simple but fun way. Hopefully, it will put a smile on the guests’ faces for more reasons than one”. 

Jason Lilley

With a nickname such as “Captain Bake”, Lilley is a well-known and sort-after Cape Town baker. His restaurant, Jason Bakery, is popular for its top-notch bread, pastries and coffee. 

“Baking for the awards is a great creative challenge. I get to play with flavours, colours and textures and present to a captured audience of over 700 people,” he said. 

Moses Moloi

Zioux has become a go-to spot in Sandton and Moloi is one of the head chefs and was previously at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Florida – USA, Greenhouse in Constantia, Grei Restaurant in Gauteng and at FYN in Cape Town. Moloi said he was honoured to be involved and cooking this year. 

NOW READ: FYN Restaurant in Cape Town ranked among World’s 50 Best

Vusi Ndlovu 

Ndlovu was ranked among the top seven chefs at the global San Pellegrino Young Chef finale in 2018. He is also one of the founding members of the African Culinary Library, a resource dedicated to preserving and promoting African food culture and cuisine. This is not the first time Ndlovu’s cooked for Eat Out Awards as he praised Woolworth’s produce. 

Anouchka Horn and Neil Swart

This duo is known for their Cape Town restaurant Belly of The Beast. They reminisced about working with the awards over 12 years ago.

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“We’ve been following the awards for many years. Twelve years ago, we worked as students at one of the awards and it’s mind-blowing to think that we get to cook this year ourselves.”

Bertus Basson

Basson is best known for his group of restaurants in the Cape Winelands. The entrepreneur, TV personality and chef said his team is hard at work to make a “special course for the event”.

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Compiled by Sandisiwe Mbhele