The 2009 Sunday Times Food Awards winners were announced last night, Thursday, September 3, following a thrilling two-day cook off at the exquisite state-of-the art food emporium, the 7th Floor in Observatory, Cape Town.
The Food Awards, in association with Foodcorp, is made up of three competitions, with all three winners hailing from Cape Town.
Henrico Grobbelaar of Lady Phillips restaurant now holds the title of 2009 Sunday Times Chef of the Year.
Leon Jones of the Table Bay Hotel prevailed as the Young Chef of the Year and Silwood School of Cookery won the Chef School Challenge. Taking the honours for Silwood this year were students Nerita Bharuth and James Gaag.
All finalists that were shortlisted were chosen to compete due to their impeccably presented menus and unique reflections of the African theme in each of their recipes. These first-class menus then had to be brought to life on the day.
Henrico Grobbelaar tantalised the judges’ taste buds to win despite stiff competition from Joseph Govender, Jodi-Anne Pearton and Tammy Henton.
On Wednesday, September 2, the Chef School Challenge took place between the two finalist schools, Cape Town’s Silwood School of Cookery and 1000 Hills Chef School, based 40km outside of Durban. Last year’s champions of the Chef School Challenge, Silwood School of Cookery in Cape Town, continued their winning streak by taking the coveted title once again.
This year’s Chef of the Year received R50 000 plus a WEBER Q300, the Young Chef of the Year, R20 000 plus a Weber Q300 and winners of the Chef School Challenge took home R5 000 and R5 000 was also awarded to the winning school.
The awards are designed to give something back to the South African culinary community, to recognise and encourage the entrepreneurial spirit and innovation of South Africa’s top chefs, and the aspiring culinary stars of tomorrow.