Celebrated chef Wandile Mabaso transforms food into dishes that captivate both the palate and the soul. His mission is to create a locally sourced, thus sustainable fine dining experience for his guests.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 Chef Wandele Mbassel, an artist at heart
00:06 using food as his medium.
00:08 From the bustling kitchens of mission-starred restaurants
00:12 in New York and Paris, to kitchens across the globe,
00:15 Chef Wandele has refined his craft
00:17 with a touch of international magic.
00:20 And now he is creating a first-of-its-kind
00:22 fine dining experience in South Africa.
00:25 - I came back to South Africa because,
00:28 well, first and foremost, it is home.
00:30 From the beginning, you know, the plan was to travel
00:34 and gain as much experience and exposure as possible,
00:37 and then eventually come back home
00:39 and to do something of my own.
00:41 - The tastiest dishes start with the freshest ingredients
00:45 and what's better than locally sourced?
00:48 The chef gets 90% of his produce from Portion 85 Farm,
00:51 located 20 kilometers from his restaurant in Bryanston.
00:55 The close proximity of the farm
00:56 also assists in Wandele's efforts towards sustainability.
00:59 - It's definitely all about sustainability,
01:03 about freshness, quality,
01:05 and just supporting local farmers, very important.
01:10 A lot of thought goes into my food process
01:12 and food creation.
01:14 I'm inspired by everything around me,
01:16 but most importantly, by the produce
01:18 that nature is supplying for us.
01:21 Therefore, I focus on seasons,
01:24 because whatever is in season,
01:26 it's probably at its best in terms of flavor and quality.
01:30 How this translates to my signature dish
01:33 is quite interesting,
01:34 because I never feel like a dish is complete.
01:38 At the restaurant, we always change our menu
01:41 every three weeks,
01:42 and the process is working on the dish over time,
01:46 trying to rectify it and refine it and refine it
01:49 to a point where probably after two to three weeks,
01:53 we find that it's reached a level of perfection.
01:57 - Fair warning if you're vegan,
02:01 on today's menu is duck.
02:03 - So we use the duck from head to toe.
02:08 We call it duck 360.
02:09 It goes back to sustainability,
02:12 and everything that you're gonna have today
02:14 is utilized from this farm.
02:15 - Chef Wandele established
02:18 his South African fine dining restaurant,
02:20 Le Creatifs, in 2019.
02:22 This is where culinary brilliance meets artistic flair.
02:26 Each dish is a masterpiece,
02:27 treated with unrivaled perfection
02:29 and presented in the most bespoke setting imaginable.
02:33 - I've taken what I've learned from the French,
02:36 and I've taken the techniques and the philosophy,
02:38 and I've brought it back to South Africa
02:41 and started focusing more on local indigenous products.
02:46 And what I've done is I've taken all our cultures
02:49 and designing a cuisine that speaks to our people
02:53 and tells our story.
02:54 And we've termed this kind of cooking as Afric modern.
02:58 - Wandele's culinary journey started at the age of nine.
03:02 He showed potential by catching birds
03:04 and cooking them for his family and friends.
03:06 By the age of 17, he enrolled in hotel school.
03:10 - Really fell in love with the idea of food
03:13 and creation of food.
03:15 Before I even knew that it could be a profession.
03:18 Being a chef at that time was not as popular as it is today.
03:23 And so my parents couldn't really understand
03:25 why you want to be a cook for a living.
03:27 But I still went on and really focused on the kitchen
03:32 more than anything in the hotel school anyway.
03:34 - He eventually made his way to New York
03:37 where he battled to find employment
03:40 before proving himself
03:41 amongst the city's finest culinary talents.
03:44 - Very, very, very tough city to be in.
03:47 And obviously I went there with no job,
03:51 probably like $500 in my pocket
03:53 and went from door to door with my chef jacket and knives
03:57 and knocked at all the best French restaurants in Manhattan.
04:01 And every day I'd wake up and just grind
04:03 and look for that opportunity, which I finally got.
04:07 And then I ended up in Paris
04:09 working at a two-star Michelin restaurant at Le Maurice.
04:13 And then eventually came back 2018,
04:16 back to Johannesburg after over a decade
04:19 and had to start from scratch.
04:21 - Chef Wandele is appreciative of the mentorship
04:25 that he received while establishing himself
04:27 as a professional chef.
04:29 So much so that he has invested in others
04:31 that wish to walk the same path.
04:33 - Chef Ginosim Alebia,
04:36 who is now currently our executive pastry chef
04:40 and also creative director
04:43 for the entire restaurant and myself.
04:45 He just walked in and said, "Chef, I wanna cook.
04:47 I wanna learn how to cook."
04:49 Obviously the artistic approach
04:51 and the potential that he had.
04:52 And I thought it would be great
04:54 to then send him over to France in Paris,
04:56 where he worked with one of my old colleagues.
05:00 - How I became part of Chef Wandele's team
05:05 from graphic designer to technician
05:10 for one of the big telecoms company.
05:13 The truth is like, I wanted to be free.
05:15 I wanted to be happy.
05:16 So what I love about cooking is that it feels,
05:20 it always feels like a new experience every day.
05:23 What I enjoy about Chef Wandele's mentorship
05:26 is that he believes in his mentees.
05:29 He allows you to make as many mistakes as you can.
05:32 And through those mistakes,
05:34 you learn to better yourself, to better your next step.
05:38 - It's important for me because in my career,
05:42 I was mentored the right way.
05:43 You have to transfer skills
05:45 and you have to transfer exposure
05:47 and you have to transfer education.
05:49 And that's what we need.
05:51 And that's what I believe in.
05:52 - Aesthetically pleasing and carefully considered.
05:56 This is not just a meal.
05:58 It's an immersive journey
05:59 into the heart of culinary artistry.
06:01 (upbeat music)