When I was asked to do another restaurant pop-up at Feastival, I was hesitant. I never started a restaurant because I think it would take the fun out of it for me. But something niggled at me. I do really enjoy the challenge of designing a menu, and love cooking in front of people and sharing my passion about food and the stories behind it. I enjoy collaborating with proudly South African small businesses, who are just as passionate about “food as a craft” as I am.

And when my wife asked me “will it bring you joy?”, and I knew the answer to that question was “yes” the decision was made.

Less than a month after winning MasterChef SA, I opened a pop-up restaurant together with Chefs Darren Badenhorst and Callan Austin at Makers Landing, the V&A Waterfront. Having made it through many MasterChef challenges, dreaming up a fine dining menu and then executing MasterChef quality (fine dining) dishes to twenty-four guests simultaneously was a new challenge altogether.