Wine & Dine School
When it comes to Wine & Dine schools in South Africa, there’s only one worth mentioning, and that is the Prue Leith Chef’s Academy. Once known as the Prue Leith College of Food and Wine, this fine wine & dine school is situated in the quiet backwater of Hennopspark, close to Centurion. The Prue Leith Chef’s Academy was originally opened in 1996, the brainchild of Tiny Barnetson and Graham Ledger, who identified a niche in the catering industry and decided to do something about it. A number of the industry’s leaders had been complaining for some time that there was a shortage of well-trained and efficient staff in South Africa. They decided to start a college in order to attempt to fill the shortage, which had emerged following the lifting of economic sanctions. Democratisation brought with it a surge in tourism to South Africa, and with it the inevitable sudden demand for well trained staff in the country’s hotels, lodges and restaurants.
Courses at this fine wine & dine school commence twice a year, in January and July, and last for eighteen months, which are split into three semesters. In order to be accepted at the academy students must have reached the age of eighteen and have completed their Matric exams with the minimum of a standard grade pass. Students enrolled at the chef’s academy don’t just spend their time in the training kitchen and lecture theatre. They also spend much of their time working in Prue Leith’s, a restaurant in the school’s grounds. Here they work in the kitchens preparing and cooking meals that have been ordered by diners in the restaurant, they wait at table and act as wine steward, and they get experience at all of the different jobs that are to be found in a top class restaurant. All of this time is spent under the supervision of one of our professional chefs. The restaurant is open to the public Wednesday to Saturday in the evenings.
During their second and third semesters, students from the wine & dine school spend a minimum of two months at a time at a selected restaurant, hotel or game lodge. These can be anywhere in the world, and are always well known establishments of high repute. Students can find themselves at the Dubai Sheraton, at le Quartier Français in Franschhoek or even as far away as the Merion Hotel in Dublin, Ireland. Further training takes place in the boma in the wine & dine school grounds where students take a special course in pan-African cuisine and bush cooking.
A popular part of every course is the Cape Wine Academy’s certificate course, which students must complete before they graduate from the school. There is also a very popular and optional tour to the Western Cape wine lands subject to enough students wishing to take part. Students who successfully complete the course are awarded the Prue Leith Diploma, recognized as the world’s top wine & dine school diploma throughout the western world.
