Fine Cuisine

There are a number of good restaurants where you can find Fine Cuisine in and around Gauteng, but there is one that is unique among all the others. This fine cuisine restaurant is Prue Leith’s. Prue Leith’s has been awarded its Blaizon from the Chaîne Des Rotisseurs and has been ranked in the top twenty restaurants in the country and the top ten restaurants in Gauteng by Business Day. Prue Leith’s Restaurant is fully licensed, and a full range of liquor, wines, beers, liqueurs and mixers can be ordered from the bar. Prue Leith’s Restaurant is located on the premises of the Prue Leith College of Food and Wine in the former Lyttelton Manor House, and is surrounded by attractive gardens. The Restaurant seats 60 and is a 15-minute drive from the northern suburbs of Johannesburg and the eastern suburbs of Pretoria.

The students from Prue Leith College are intimately involved in Prue Leith’s, and during their 18-month course, are responsible for every aspect, under close professional supervision. Within two weeks of arriving at the College in their first semester, the students begin cooking for the public and professional chefs, managers and tutors continually and closely monitor their performance. As part of the Diploma course, students are required to lay tables, welcome guests, take orders, prepare, cook and serve meals under the supervision of the restaurant manager. In their final semester, students take on the more serious jobs of Maître d’Hotel, wine stewards and barmen. The Odd Plate restaurant is not promoted as a training restaurant, and must compete in all respects with the other top restaurants in Gauteng.

The Diploma Course at the college is spread over three six-month semesters and starts in January and July of each year. With a maximum of forty students per course this means that there can be up to 120 students at the college at any one time. You won’t see them all, though, for during their last semester students are placed at select game lodges, restaurants or hotels for six months in order to get first hand working experience. Most of these establishments are dotted around South Africa, although students could find themselves as far away as the Sheraton in Dubai or the Park Kenmare in Ireland.

During the course students study an extremely wide range of subjects. These range from Finance and Management, Professional Ethics, Kitchen Organization as well as all of the usual subjects required to perfect the fine cuisine that these students will produce. Students are required to complete the Cape Wine Academy Certificate course in order to graduate from the college. Emphasis is placed on the marriage of food and wine with particular attention to South African wines. One of the more unusual aspects of this course is the training the students get in the college boma, where they learn about the finer aspects of bush cooking and of fine Pan African cuisine. This is the background of the students you will find working in Prue Leith’s fine cuisine restaurant.