Exotic Chef School
There is an exotic chefs’ school that is habitually appraised by the country’s top chefs as being the finest chefs’ training school in South Africa, and it is called the Prue Leith Chefs’ Academy. Once known as the Prue Leith College of Wine and Food, this exotic chef school can be found tucked away in a quiet street in Hennopspark, a small garden suburb of Centurion, halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria. This college was founded in 1997 and has gone from strength to strength as the years have gone by. This chefs’ school has without doubt the most comprehensive curriculum of any catering academies, and has the added advantage of having its own restaurant in the college grounds – which incidentally are the grounds of the old Lyttleton Manor House.
The Prue Leith Chefs’ Academy Diploma course starts twice a year, in January and July, and a maximum of thirty students can be accommodated on each course. Prospective students can find an application form on our web site, and in order to be accepted must have reached eighteen years of age and have passed Matric, at least at standard grade. This exotic course is far reaching, and is certainly not all time spent in a lecture theatre or training kitchen. The chefs’ school has two state-of-the-art kitchens – one for demonstration cooking and a large training kitchen. From very early in their first semester students are rostered to work in Prue Leith’s – the school’s own restaurant. They will work in all of the different positions in the restaurant during their time at the school; these are the preparation and cooking of foods in the cold and hot kitchens, taking orders and serving at table, Front of House, Maître d’Hotel and Wine Steward. The restaurant is entirely run by students under the supervision of a restaurant manager.
One of the highlights of the course as far as the students are concerned is the eight-week period spent in each of the second and third semesters when they are placed at first-class catering establishments (these can be hotels, restaurants or game lodges) throughout South Africa and other exotic parts of the world. Students from the chefs’ school get exposed to the realities and responsibilities of the actual workplace. Most of the school’s graduates find themselves being offered positions at the establishment they have been seconded to once they have reached the end of their course. Another highlight and opportunity to see an alternative side of the catering industry is when students spend time with Prue Leith Catering, a newer member of the group. Here they get to see how catering is carried out from a central kitchen with a venue of the client’s choice.
The Cape Wine Academy Certificate Course is a compulsory part of the chef’s diploma course. Students must complete this course in order to graduate from the school. Accent is naturally placed on South African wines and on the marriage of exotic food and wine. There is also an optional trip to the wine lands of the Western Cape to witness wine production and visit vineyards. This trip is an extra for the students’ expense.
