Alumnus: Wandile Mabaso

Soweto-born Wandile Mabaso is one of South Africa’s most talked about chefs who is revolutionising the way people think about modern African food. He started cooking from the age of 10, went to hotel school and got his first professional job at Nando’s, then headed overseas for work experience and by the age of 23 had been all over Europe and the Baltics. He returned to South Africa to further his culinary studies at Capsicum and after graduating headed to New York where he found a job at a French restaurant, his first luxury restaurant experience. It was then onto Paris to work at Le Meurice under Ducasse and Jocelyn Herland. However, Africa called and Mabaso returned home to turn a former office space in Bryanston into a bastion of fine dining - Les Créatifs (The Creatives) - which he opened five years ago and where he combines the best French techniques with local ingredients and African influence. Over the years, Wandile has received multiple accolades including Chef of the Year at the Luxe Restaurant Awards, as well as acknowledgement from the Gourmet Guide, Eat Out, The Rasa Awards and The Sunday Times. Before his return to to South Africa and while he was working in Paris, he was given the highest award that exists for a chef in France, the Culinary Excellence of the College de France.