Culinary Arts School
You would have to go a long way to find a school that teaches the culinary arts as well and as comprehensively as the Prue Leith Chefs’ Academy. The academy was established in 1997 as the Prue Leith College of Wine and Food, and has grown in reputation year after year. One of the reasons that the Prue Leith Chefs’ Academy has such a fine reputation is because of the wide-ranging curriculum that was originally put together by Prue. The curriculum has been maintained and improved upon over the years and is under constant review. This vibrant culinary arts school is one of the world’s only chefs’ academies that boasts its own restaurant in the college grounds. The school grounds are extensive and set in the estate of the old Lyttleton Manor House. There are two culinary arts teaching kitchens, one for demonstrations and one for practicals, a lecture theatre, and as well as the restaurant a tea garden, a venue for receptions and an outdoor boma.
The Prue Leith restaurant is staffed entirely by students under the supervision of a professional restaurant manager. This makes the fact that the restaurant is placed in South Africa’s top hundred restaurants even more special. The restaurant is, in fact, an offshoot of the culinary arts school. But the school’s restaurant is not the only hands-on training that Prue Leith students get. They are also placed at a number of other important five star catering establishments throughout South Africa for eight-week periods during the second and third semesters of the course. The course itself is eighteen months long and commences twice a year in January and July. Prospective culinary arts students may apply to the school (an application can be found on our website), but must
- Have reached eighteen years of age
- Have passed their Matric exams (minimum Standard grade pass)
- Satisfy a college interview board
The course content offered by this fine culinary arts school include Entremetier, Saucier & Rotisseur, Poissonier, Farinaceous, Garde-manger and Patisserie as well as a comprehensive list of theoretical culinary subjects. There is a Finance module that is presented by qualified accountants, and specialist guest speakers deliver modules on Thai, Chinese and Japanese cooking, on pan-African cuisine, and in the college boma students learn the delights of bush cooking. A compulsory element of the Diploma course is that of the Cape Wine Academy Certificate course – students must complete this course within a course in order to graduate from the college. An absolute must at any good culinary arts school, the course teaches the marriage of food and wine with a strong emphasis being placed on South African wines. Students may complement this Cape Wine Academy Certificate course by taking part in an optional tour to the Cape wine lands of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl, where they visit vineyards and learn how wine is produced. The tour depends upon a minimum of twenty participants to make it viable, and the cost is billed to the students.
