SA TOURISM has named two young Southern Cape executive chefs, Lizelle Stolze and Vanie Padayachee, among its Top Ten list of accolades and awards for talented South Africans.
Stolze, of Serendipity Restaurant in Wilderness and Padayachee, former executive chef at Fushi Restaurant in Plettenberg Bay, were both nominated on SA Tourism‘s website as its Top Ten Young SA Chefs.
Neither Stolze nor Padayachee was aware of her nomination.
Stolze said it was a pleasant surprise to see her name on the list after her mother called her to say she had stumbled on her name on the website.
“I am doing what I love, but I will have to live up to my reputation as there are some big names on that list,” Stolze said at the weekend.
The website describes Stolze‘s food as being “South African infused with ultra-modern gourmet chic”.
Stolze, who attained a BCom degree in hotel and tourism management at Pretoria University, was also a top honours student of the Prue Leith Academy of Food and Wine.
She and her husband Rudolf founded Serendipity in 2001 and the restaurant has been awarded “Top 100 Restaurant” status by Wine Magazine and Diners Club International since 2003. It has also been a recipient of the Gastro Nomix Top Ten Garden Route Restaurant Awards since 2004. Stolze was also the 2007 Garden Route Chef of the Year.
Padayachee was also unaware that she had been nominated until two weeks ago. “I only found out by accident. It is very nice to be nominated but it hasn‘t gone to my head,” she said.
Her accolade states that she “blends South Africa, Thailand, Japan, India and France into delicious and utterly unique mouthfuls of pleasure”.
Padayachee obtained her Hotel and Catering Management diploma from ML Sultan Hotel School in Durban, after which she started work at the Halyards in Port Alfred before moving to the Western Cape. She was also a finalist in the 2008 Sunday Times Chef of the Year competition.
While at Fushi, Padayachee was well known for her exciting fusion of spices and organically grown foods.
Source: The Weekend Post
