Dining college
In the grounds of the old Lyttleton Manor House in the Gauteng suburb of Hennopspark is a catering college with a difference – this one is a true dining college, for as well as the lecture theatre and teaching kitchens this college has its very own restaurant, the only chefs’ academy in the country that can boast this. But this restaurant is not just any old restaurant, for Prue Leiths has been awarded the Blazon from the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs – not only that, the restaurant is also listed among South Africa’s top 100 restaurants! Prue Leith’s restaurant is a running concern in the grounds of the Prue Leith Chefs’ Academy, once known as the Prue Leith College of Food and Wine.
This fine dining college was founded in 1997 and is rated by some of the country’s top chefs as being the top chefs’ training academy in South Africa. Prue Leith, a household name in catering circles worldwide, is patron of the college, which was started by two Johannesburg businessmen, Tiny Barnetson and Graham Ledger, after they had identified a shortage in the supply of highly motivated and well-trained catering staff in the country. This had come about with a large increase in the number of tourists visiting South Africa after democratization and the lifting of economic sanctions. The aim of this dining college was to “fill the gap” with graduates who had undergone a training program second to none. The aim of the academy is to encourage enthusiasm in the students and to encourage them to develop their individual natural talents.
Students are accepted into the college subject to passing an interview board and only after they have achieved at least a standard grade Matric pass. They must be eighteen years of age. Once accepted into the dining college students can expect to join one of the courses, which commence in January and July of each year. The courses last eighteen months and are split up into three semesters. Training is carried out in all parts of the college, in the lecture theatre, the demonstration kitchen and the training kitchen, the restaurant and even the college boma. In the Prue Leith Restaurant students are rostered to work from early in their first semester – here they prepare food, cook and serve at table, act as wine steward and Maître d’Hotel. They also cover Front of House, meeting guests and seating them at table.
During their second and third semesters students are required to spend two months at a time in selected five star hotels, restaurants and game lodges throughout South Africa and even further afield in exotic places like Dubai. They can end up as far away as Ireland. Since the inception of the dining college in 1997, Prue Leith Chefs’ Academy has trained chefs who have gone on to work in such places as Jamie Oliver’s and the Roux brothers. Perhaps our best accolade is to see an classified advertisement for chefs entitled “Prue Leith graduates only”! The standards of training at the college ensure that all students get the best training possible.
