Vusumuzi Ndlovu announced as S.Pellegrino Young Chef Africa and Middle East semi-final winner
With his dish titled Isicupho, sous chef Vusumuzi Ndlovu from the Pot Luck Club pop up at Marabi Club has been announced as the winner of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2018 Africa and Middle East semi-final, finishing ahead of nine other local semi-finalists, all hand-selected by ALMA, the world's leading international educational and training centre for Italian cuisine.
Ndlovu will advance to the global finals round to take place in June of 2018 in Milan, Italy.
The regional challenge took place at International Centre for Culinary Arts, in Dubai and featured a distinguished jury of chefs, including Sascha Triemer, Marthinus Ferreira and Dominique Grel representing Dubai, South Africa and Mauritius respectively. Semi-finalists prepared signature dishes based on their adherence to the competition’s five “Golden Rules”: ingredients, skill, genius, beauty and message.
Alongside Ndlovu, other regional semi-finalists included Aditya Kumar Jha from Tamba Abu Dhabi, Mario Christianto from The Exchange Grill Restaurant in Dubai and Nigel Lobo at The Eloquent Elephant, Jorge Alexis Falcon Valera from Cantina Kahlo in Bahrain, Georgios Spandos from Palm Hotel & Spa; Bianca Strydom from The Restaurant at Waterkloof, Garth Raubenheimer from Restaurant Mosaic at the Orient, Paul Prinsloo from The Restaurant at Waterkloof, Sheldon Raju from Sheldon Raju Consultancy and Harringtons Cocktail Lounge in South Africa.
“I'm proud of what I have achieved in Dubai - I couldn't have achieved all of that without the great minds around me. As much as I'll be representing the region, I'm representing all of these people too. So, it's a win for them too,” said Ndlovu.
The local competitions round will continue from June to December 2017, where semi-finalists from across the world will compete for a chance to move on to the global finals in Milan. By the end of December 2017, 21 young chefs will be announced as official finalists, who will each be assigned a mentor chef from their regional jury. The mentor chefs will support the young chefs leading up to the Grand Finale, providing them guidance on how to improve their signature dishes.
