They hope to follow in the footsteps of last year's winner of the Wine Steward category, Tinashe Nyamudoka, who has worked at One&Only since its opening five years ago.
The Cape Legends Inter Hotel Challenge focuses on the vital part hotels play in the South African tourism and hospitality sector when it comes to nurturing new talent. In its second year and now taking place on a national level, this competition sees young chefs and wine stewards at some of South Africa's top hotels vie for awards. Twenty-one top hotels around the country will be taking part this year.
Young trainees not only are inspired and mentored, but eventually become ambassadors for South Africa too. Showcook, run by food doyenne Annette Kesler has helped to create and facilitate this opportunity for our young talent to shine. "This initiative is unique in that it is both a competition and collaboration," says Kesler. "It is a competition in the sense that each hotel and their representatives will be striving to be the best among peers. It is a collaboration not only in the pairing of hotels and wine estates but also in its purpose of promoting South Africa as a destination for discerning tourists."
In the competition, the hotel teams are paired with a Cape Legends wine estate: candidate chefs must create a three-course menu, which will be paired with wine chosen from the estate by the wine steward. Their respective executive chefs will mentor candidate chefs, while sommeliers will mentor their candidate wine stewards.
"Having just returned from Johannesburg and Durban I can say that there is a great deal of determination and a will to win from all our hotels. So yes, it will not be a walk in the park, but what this initiative will do is to raise the bar."
Prizes include bursaries, master classes and the Rolls Royce of kitchen equipment by KitchenAid and a variety of mentorships and memberships.
The winners of this year's Inter Hotel Challenge will be announced at a gala evening on 25 July at the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel's Ballroom.
