The awards were given at an
exclusive gourmet lunch at The Conservatory at the Cellars-Hohenort Hotel in
Constantia.
Sliver’s Slivers are not ordinary
awards.
There is no ‘top 10’, each is of equal value, they are not attached to
a specific year, and a restaurant, chef or restaurateur is only likely ever to
be awarded one.
In this way they are more like the blazons of the Chaînes des Rôtisseurs
than the formal annual awards and ‘Top 10s’ doled out by others.
They are not
in competition with other restaurant awards. Rather, they play a role of their
own in bestowing a singular stamp on a restaurant. They are not given lightly,
and they are not there to honour a flavour-of-the-month or a fly-by-night.
As Jackman says, ‘When you have a
Sliver’s Silver, it’s a badge of honour and respect from me to them.
The
criteria for winning a Sliver’s Silver?
‘It means I have observed their
excellence for some time, in some cases years and in one or two cases as long
as a decade-and-a-half, and have been consistently impressed with their abiliy
to get it right, again and again. It’s been suggested that they are a little
like a Michelin star, a mark of honour more than a conventional award.’
The awards are bespoke ceramic
plates, individually handcrafted and fired by Mervyn Gers Ceramics and
featuring his inimitable koi motif. None of the plates is quite the same as any
other.
ALL THE WINNERS:
The first edition of Sliver’s
Silvers were awarded at The Conservatory, Cellars-Hohenort Hotel, on Monday
March 25, 2013, to the following chefs and restaurateurs:
Peter Tempelhoff, Relais &
Chateaux Grand Chef, The Greenhouse, Cellars-Hohenort Hotel, Constantia, for
his exquisite progressive South African cuisine.
Giorgio Nava, chef-patron, 95
Keerom restaurant, for inspired Italian authenticity and Milanese charm
Chef-patron Bertus Basson,
Overture restaurant, Hidden Valley, Stellenbosch, for seasonal expression and
detail
Margot Janse, The Tasting Room, Le
Quartier Francais, Franschhoek, for Avant-Garde African cuisine that always
surprises
Restaurateur Sabi Sabharwal, owner
of Haiku Asian restaurant in central Cape Town, for striking Asian versatility
and consistency
Luke Dale Roberts, chef-patron of
the Test Kitchen, Old Biscuit Mill, Woodstock, for wizardry with flavour and
texture
Michael Broughton, Terroir, Kleine
Zalze, Stellenbosch, for being a saucier par excellence
Henrico Grobbelaar, Azure, Twelve
Apostles Hotel, Camps Bay, for his finely engineered cuisine
Franck Dangereux, The Foodbarn,
Noordhoek, for texture and nuance with Gallic charm
Peter Weetman, owner of Societi
Bistro, Gardens, for the most beloved neighbourhood bistro
Congratulations to all!