Award-winning American chef Kurt Ramborger famously states that people do not need ears to cook. Given he is deaf, his words have a resonance that should shake up anyone’s perceptions of what people with disabilities can achieve.
Yet, despite the SA hospitality industry being in dire need of good chefs, many potentially talented cooks never make it into the kitchen simply because they cannot hear. It is for this reason that Cargo Hold chef Warren Frantz and restaurant manager Michael Opperman are hosting a unique dinner in their uShaka-based premises next month.
The concept was born after the men visited the Kwa Thintwa School for the Deaf in Inchanga. It was a visit aimed at creating opportunities for interested students to take their place in the hospitality industry.
The school has a small restaurant called The Laughing Pot on site that provides practical experience for matric pupils interested in hospitality. Specifically, they learn to cook and wait with their in-house chef.
On April 17 the matric pupils will have the opportunity to be waiters and waitresses as well as help Frantz in the Cargo Hold kitchen. For a R285 cover price, guests will be treated to a gourmand tasting menu including butternut and chilli soup, an avocado and prawn cocktail, pan-fried lamb cutlets a la Kwa Thintwa and a duo of chocolate soufflé and stewed fruit compote.
Yet, more than the food, it will be an opportunity for future leaders to shine in an environment of which many could only dream.
“These young men and women deserve the same opportunities to become successful as those with good hearing. Initiatives such as these boost their self-esteem and skills in the kitchen,” Opperman says.
As a charity event, the dinner will also raise funds for the school to buy new kitchen and cooking equipment for their restaurant – and maybe there will be an SA Kurt Ramborger in the years ahead.
On a different tack, but still one meant to highlight hidden talent, Nederburg has launched an online series of entertaining Winemaster’s Classes to correlate with the inaugural season of Masterchef SA that started on Tuesday.
The winery is the official wine sponsor and also the venue for much of the reality cooking show being broadcast over the next 18 weeks.
All the wines available to the contestants are drawn from the Nederburg Winemaster’s Reserve range.
Every second week a short video clip featuring Nederburg cellarmaster Razvan Macici will be shown at www.nederburg.co.za in which he talks about a particular wine and its flavours and offers some food pairing suggestions.
Winemaster’s Class participants will be asked a single question based on the discussion to enable them to move on to the next video clip and stand a chance to win a Le Creuset three-piece cookery set.
The classes will be relaxed but informative and will be a reflection of the extent to which Macici views wine, food and life – wine appreciation is a pleasure that should not be masked by technicalities.
Lastly, because wine is also about celebration, those of us who were caught up in the pageantry of Charlene Wittstock’s marriage to Prince Albert of Monaco last year may well want a souvenir of that historic occasion.
The Oyster Box has received a limited stock of Chalbert, the wine named to celebrate that union, for sale off the hotel wine list and in the gift shop as a memento.
Annandale owner and winemaker Hempies du Toit specially chose the 2005 merlot when approached by Charlene’s father, Mike Wittstock, to bottle some wine to be served at the Monaco nuptials.
In doing justice to the occasion, Du Toit selected a wine that had spent six years maturing in French oak. The vintage was both an outstanding one and the year in which the couple had met.
Only 1 000 bottles were produced. The equivalent of 300 was drunk in magnums during the wedding reception. The rest are now being sold of which the Oyster Box has a supply for R450 each.
Bookings for the Cargo Hold dinner can be made via uShaka at 031 328 8000. - The Mercury