Fine Dining in Pretoria

There are several restaurants that describe themselves as being fine dining restaurants in Pretoria and the adjacent areas. But what exactly is fine dining? Fine dining is a phrase that is used to describe the experience one has when dining at a particular restaurant. The phrase does not describe just the food, though the food may well be an important part of the whole, which may include the location of the restaurant, the view from its windows, the interior, which is probably best described as elegant, the menu and the service. Baked beans on toast, even though served at the finest of restaurants, can hardly be called Fine Dining, and by the same token neither can a cordon bleu meal served by a flea market takeaway. It would be fair to say that most of the restaurants that describe themselves as being fine dining serve what is known as nouveau cuisine food.

One of the restaurants included as having this type of cuisine is Prue Leith’s restaurant.. Prue Leith’s restaurant is part and parcel of the Prue Leith College of Food and Wine. Set in a garden suburb in the picturesque town of Centurion, this small restaurant caters for a maximum sitting of sixty. The restaurant is open on Wednesdays to Saturdays from seven until late. Food is prepared and served under close professional supervision by students of the catering college, this forming part of their training curriculum. Students lay and wait at tables and in their final term serve as Maître d’Hotel, wine stewards and behind the bar. Don’t turn your nose up at the thought of the food being prepared by students – the restaurant was voted among the top ten in Gauteng and the top twenty in the whole of South Africa and the cuisine is superb.

The catering course at the college is extremely comprehensive, not only covering cooking, but also taking in such subjects as reservations, billing, finance and management. As part of their course students must spend six months at some of the top hotels and restaurants of South Africa, some even being seconded as far away as Dubai and Ireland. This is considered an essential part of their practical training. The Cape Wine Academy Certificate course is an integral part of the eighteen-month diploma and the college offers an optional wine tour to the wine lands of the Western Cape.

The catering course was developed with an accent on Pan-African cuisine, especially South African, with the idea of further improving the already high standards of South Africa’s game lodges and hotels. By the time students graduate from this Centurion college they have an expert knowledge of what fine dining is all about. Graduates from the catering college have the knowledge and ability to start their own restaurants by the time the three-term course has finished.