Pretoria’s Quintessential Culinary School

Pretoria’s Quintessential Culinary School

The esteemed Prue Leith Chefs Academy is located in Centurion in Gauteng. Centurion is a city in its own right, directly adjacent to Pretoria to the south. Today, because of development and expansion, the cities of Johannesburg, Midrand, Centurion, and Pretoria have almost joined, with Centurion – and, therefore, Prue Leith’s culinary school – conveniently near the middle. Many highways in an extensive road network link up or intersect in and around Centurion.

Culinary School and Real Restaurant

Centurion’s leafy suburbs are mainly residential, perfect for the location of a culinary school like the prestigious Prue Leith Chefs Academy, as well as its academy’s acclaimed fine-dining restaurant, situated on the same site. Here, the academy’s students in their second commis semester gain real, hands-on experience in an actual restaurant environment, preparing and serving excellent fare to discerning diners. The Prue Leith culinary school’s restaurant has proved so popular that our guests typically have to book their reservations well in advance to avoid disappointment.

Hallmarks of the Prue Leith Brand

Our guests happily travel to Pretoria to dine out. They are paying restaurant guests, appreciative of superior service, fine dining standards, and gourmet cuisine, some of the distinctive hallmarks of the Prue Leith brand. Likewise, our culinary academy’s education, training, courses, curricula, facilities, lecturers, and academic staff all comply with the exacting expectations of our patron, Prue Leith CBE, and the demands of the local and overseas hospitality industry. Our graduates are equipped with the knowledge, self-confidence, and skills to assume responsibility in a professional kitchen once they qualify. They are, therefore, also sought-after by the South African hospitality industry, which regards our academy in Pretoria as the leading culinary school in South Africa.

Prue, Our Patron

Prue travels periodically, at least once a year, from her home in England to visit us at the academy that proudly bears her name. Additionally, we always consult her when important decisions are to be made regarding our culinary school. She also appears in our informative website videos because she understands and endorses our ethos, which is integral to the Prue Leith Chefs Academy and our students and graduates. This South African-born lady’s illustrious career is incredibly varied. It is astonishing that she has had the energy and determination to manage to pack so much into one busy professional career thus far, and she has by no means finished her myriad of accomplishments.

Amongst these, there is her involvement in her charities, jetting around the world as a board member of Orient Express Hotels, her work as a food columnist, as well as writing several novels (currently numbering five), to name only a few of Prue’s multiple endeavours. Needless to say, a food theme or link runs through Prue’s professional life and accomplishments. It comes as no surprise that her accolades include a CBE in 2010, which followed on an OBE, awarded to her in 1989, some eight years before Prue Leith’s culinary school opened its doors just outside Pretoria in 1997.

Now, we are also South Africa’s first accredited Chef Trade Test Centre, another feather in our – and Prue’s – chefs’ hats.