The Top Chef SA
judges were revealed earlier this week and now it's time to get to know the cheftestants who'll be sharpening their knives when the series starts on SABC3 on Tuesday (12 July at 20h00).
The 14 hopefuls are:
Annemarie Robertson
Annemarie was born and raised in Klerksdorp is Executive Chef at Burrata, Bocca & Open Door. She has a diploma in cooking and cites travelling as an assistant chef to Margot as a career highlight. Annemarie helped with cooking shows (events) in Thailand, Italy and Brazil.
Her passion for cooking came from her big and close-knit family who cooked together. At 18 her parents encouraged her to pursue this passion, so she went to the UK where she worked kitchens and got some of her training. Thereafter she worked with her role model Margot.
Annemarie describes herself as a perfectionist who has a high respect for her craft.
Ayabonga Gope
Ayabonga is currently employed at The Deck House in Cape Town and studied Hotel Management and Culinary & Arts. He cites winning an Eat Out certificate for the Best Seafood in Cape Town as a career highlight.
Ayabonga started cooking at a young age, he used to cook rice while waiting for his mother to come back from work and from there his love affair with cooking grew. After finishing high school his mom suggested that he become a chef and he started working in restaurants and studied Hotel Management.
He still delights in rice and eggs with tomato sauce, because it reminds him of when he started cooking.
Devin Gregory Hogan
Devin is head chef and owner at SMAK Delicatessen and Restaurant in Cape Town. He holds a Grande Diploma from Prue Leith Chefs Academy.
Raised by his mom and grandmother, Devin’s love for cooking was inspired by spending lots of time with both of them in the kitchen. His passion started slowly as he began to prepare meals for the family every Thursday evening and soon it evolved into a daily occurrence.
Devin has worked internationally in Sweden at Fratze’n and in the UK and also learnt a lot at the Test Kitchen. Mentored by Ivor Jones, he worked every section in his almost 3 years there.
Devin enjoys the hot kitchen and loves cooking with purees and sauces. He says that he's excited to be involved with Top Chef and says, “A lot of people don’t know what happens in a proper kitchen. I want to show what goes on.”
Hezron Louw
Hezron is a self-taught chef and the co-owner and chef of the Sumting Fresh Food Bus and gourmet street food company. Since starting the business about 6 years ago, after quitting his job at a bank, the food bushas made a name for itself and has offered services for festivals like Bushfire (Swaziland), Oppikoppi and corporate events.
Born to Mozambican parents in Ennerdale, Hezron used to hang out at the cafeteria of the hospital his mother worked at. The cafeteria lady used to get him to chop vegetables and help with menial tasks and in exchange she would make him different food as a treat. This is how his passion for cooking started.
Hezron’s food ‘education’ comes from experimenting and from some of his chef buddies. He describes himself as a bubbly, good natured guy and he's branded himself as the pro of ‘street cuisine’.
Kerwin Buckley
Kerwin is Head Chef at Durban’s St James on Venice Boutique Hotel. He qualified from the International Hotel School with a diploma and has taken part in numerous cooking challenges, including the SA Global Pizza Challenge where he made it to the finals. In 2014 he was the Unilever Masters of Time winner.
Kerwin learnt how to cook when he helped his mother, who does private catering. He knew early on that that being a chef is what he wanted to do for a living.
Kerwin likens himself to Gordon Ramsey because he can lose his cool when things go wrong in the kitchen.
Kim Crystal Clement
Kim owns two companies: Urban Eatery and her newest venture Central Pizza - both in Pretoria. After school she worked under a chef who was on the South African Olympic cooking team.
Kim is a single mother who says cooking is in her blood. When she was 6 years old she used to pretend that she owned a kitchen and would make up concoctions. It was also at this age that she entered her first kiddie's cook competition purely because her brother convinced her to. This planted the seed to her career in the industry before she even knew that the industry was in her blood.
Kim describes herself as driven and ambitious.
Lebogang Mpuang
Lebogang has diplomas in Culinary Arts and Pastry, as well as a short course in Chocolate and Sugar work. She has worked at big hotels in South Africa, restaurants in Europe and Asia and as a private chef for high profile people, celebrities and government MEC's, ministers and directors.
She co-owns an events and catering company as well as a food consulting and training company Blackcurrant Food Concepts. She currently works with her family on their urban farm Merakeng in the Northern Cape.
Having grown up in a big family, her earliest memory of cooking was watching her grandmother cook for her aunts and uncles.
Food was always a form of comfort and love but Lebogang’s passion for cooking came from her father, who loves cooking various cuisines and always encouraged her to learn from him and reinvent meals. His passion for agriculture guided hers and now she plans on teaching and instilling that same passion in other young people in South Africa.
Linda Nirina Mazibuko
Linda has a diploma in Culinary Arts from the HTA School of Culinary Arts. She currently co-owns the catering company Blackcurrant Food Concepts with fellow cheftestant Lebogang.
Linda was born in Madagascar and one of her earliest memories involving food is of her grandma and sisters cooking grasshoppers. She used to watch her mom cook and always envied her abilities in the kitchen.
Linda worked as a chef in Qatar for 6 months. Linda describes herself as fairly reserved and light hearted in nature.
Martine Christian
Martine is Executive Chef at Escondido Tapas in Joburg and holds a diploma from the Cape Town Hotel School, Granger Bay campus. Her food and some recipes have been featured in local magazines.
At a young age Martine and her twin sister went to live with their grandmother who enjoyed cooking (both just for the family and for functions). Watching her grandmother work and later learning to help her is what sparked Martine’s love for cooking. She knew that her career would revolve around food.
Martine describes herself as shy with a dramatic flair.
Paddy Khuele
Paddy, who hails from Soweto, works as a chef at Thrive Cafe in Vilikazi Street in Soweto. He qualified as a chef at the International Hotel School.
He is the last child of three children and says he started cooking when he was very young. Paddy has over 8 years experience in the industry and travelled to Florida in the US to up-skill his culinary skills.
Paddy describes himself as socialite diva with a love of French cuisine and the history behind it. He also has an uncanny appreciation for beer.
Phillip Nel
Phillip works at Rust en Vrede as a Chef de Partie (CDP). He is a qualified chef with a diploma in Culinary Arts. Phillip was also a San Pellegrino Top Young Chef Nominee this year.
Phillip grew up in the mining town of Westonaria and was schooled there. His mother taught him how to cook when she used to ask him to help make dinners at home. This evolved over the years and he now has 7 years experience in the culinary industry.
He describes himself as an introvert who likes to relax after a long day in the kitchen by taking a bath and chilling with a cup of coffee.
Sachin Gosai
Sachin is currently Head Chef at The National in Parktown North, Joburg. He is a qualified chef with a diploma in Culinary Arts.
Sachin knew from an early age that he’d be a chef when his passion for cooking emerged while he was in high school.
Sachin describes himself as an energetic workaholic who loves experimenting with new flavours and spices.
Themba Tebogo Bawuti
Themba is a Sous Chef at La Mouette in Cape Town. He was born in Pretoria and studied through the International Hotel School.
Themba says he always wanted to be a chef because of his love for food. His single mom and his grandfather played a big role in his life, with his grandfather teaching him family values and Ubuntu, which is why Themba is family-oriented at home and a team player in the kitchen. He's currently engaged to a chef and they have two children together.
Themba favours flavourful food over arty food and his cooking has a lot of Italian influences because he worked in an Italian restaurant when he was a junior chef.
Tsholo Mbele
Tsholo is a business consultant from Gauteng who has no formal culinary training but who loves to cook and experiment with new recipes. She's a big fan of cooking shows, especially MasterChef and Hell's Kitchen
.
She started cooking when she was 10 years old. Her mother was a nurse and had to work shifts so she became the family’s designated cook. From then on, she's relished spending time in the kitchen experimenting with recipes.
Tsholo says that she oozes confidence, despite not having professional experience.