Johannesburg - Handsome charmer Jean-Christophe Novelli, Britain’s favourite French chef, is heading to Africa in May to create a one-night-only pop-up restaurant for 300 guests in Joburg.
The restaurant, called The Art of 8, will be part of the launch for the new Audi A8.
Novelli is no stranger to South Africa, having run the prestigious Novelli’s in Cape Town while married to his second wife, Stellenbosch model Anzelle Visser.
The chef, author and entrepreneur, who is charged with creating a gourmet experience at the Sandton Convention Centre on May 6, is not prepared to reveal the menu just yet.
Known for his spaniel eyes, dimpled chin and glossy black mane – as well as his French flair in the kitchen – Novelli is a five-out-of-five AA Rosette and Michelin award-winning chef whose accolades include the AA chef of the year last year, a European chef of the year finalist – representing Great Britain – and the prestigious Egon Ronay dessert of the year.
His latest cook book, Simply Novelli, has been selling like hot brioche in Europe.
Novelli says that for most of his life, he’s been a complex person, but now he is all for simplicity. And it comes through in his cooking.
His new book, which he describes as “exciting”, features a host of classic French dishes.
“Nothing is complicated in the book. I was too complicated before. I resisted simplifying it because it felt like cheating, giving people something too simple.
“But it’s going back to the way my mom cooked, her philosophy. What I’m trying to do now is add in the access to equipment and ingredients. I love cooking. I don’t have to have the school. I do it anyway. Keith Floyd taught me that cooking is fun. It’s nothing serious.”
He is a familiar face on British TV shows, including Hell’s Kitchen, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Celebrity X Factor, Loose Women, Through the Keyhole, The Apprentice, The Alan Titchmarsh Show, BBC Breakfast and MTV Cribs.
The 52-year-old told a newspaper that he feels his career is all about “PR and presenting yourself”.
“At first, I didn’t like it, but I had to break that barrier. We had no PR in the beginning, but it’s all public relations now. You have to sell yourself.
“I remember being dragged into the restaurant from the kitchen to show my face many years ago. I used to fear that, because I didn’t know what to say and couldn’t speak the language very well. I used to think going out to speak to people was like taking a slap in the face.”
Novelli, who describes himself as “very hyperactive”, left school at 14 to work as a baker in his home town of Arras in north-east France, where his father was a factory worker and his mother sewed clothes. She also cooked up a storm in their small kitchen.
“All the women in my family – mom, aunties, grandmother, daughter – can cook. But my dad can’t even make an egg to save his life. Wait, he can do ravioli, because his family was Italian, but that’s it.”
At 19 Novelli was plucked from the patisserie and small restaurant circuit to be private head chef to the Rothschild family in Paris. After moving to Britain in 1983, he worked in various establishments. He opened his first restaurant in London in 1996 with £500, and two years later was worth millions - Weekend Argus