Garth Almazan
Garth Almazan is a born and bred Capetonian. He has gone from strength to strength as one of South Africa’s most talented chefs - recently winning the American Express Award for Fine Dining 2007 which made it his 10th consecutive win of this prestigious award.
He has a multifaceted, international food background, presenting and highlighting South African cuisine worldwide. He has cooked for President Mandela and Princess Beatrice as well as President Thabo Mbeki.
Garth Almazan has met and cooked with some of the best in the world.
His philosophy on food and cooking is to use the freshest available produce and to keep it ‘simple’. Garth serves sophisticated, contemporary South African cuisine. His combination of flavouring and texture is a delight to the palate and his seasonal menu changes are greatly anticipated – innovative and exciting. There are regular gourmet evenings which have become a feature at Catharina’s.
The food matches the magnificent beauty of the Constantia Valley in which Catharina’s is set.]
Interview
Meet mushroom fanatic, Garth Almazan, executive chef at the newly revamped Catharina’s restaurant. Lisa van Aswegen, Eat Out’s Assistant Editor, chats to him.
How has the recently revamped Catharina’s venue influenced your food and menus?
It’s a more modern-looking restaurant with a lighter feel so my cooking has taken on a more modern approach with exotic ingredients. I still use mostly south African produce but create lighter dishes using more exciting cooking techniques.
Your dishes are delicately and precisely plated – why is that important to you?
The look of a dish is about 50% of the appeal. Like they say, you eat with your eyes first and that still remains important. Also using different-shaped and more unusual plates makes it easier to present the food.
You have loads of dishes with mushrooms on your menu, a mushroom tasting menu, and your mushroom tart was even voted best dish at Taste of Cape Town festival... What is it that you love about cooking with mushrooms?
Mushrooms are more freely available in winter and the choices we have now are incredible. It is such a versatile vegetable and takes easily to most cooking methods. To me, with its robust texture, it’s a perfect replacement for meat. Our mushroom tasting menu is a combination of all the different mushroom dishes I’ve done in the past, so I thought I would serve them all together to give my guests a different and more exciting experience.
How do you continue to be inspired in your cooking?
I get inspired by eating out in different restaurants. No matter whether it’s an ordinary or a fine dining restaurant, I always get inspired by what I see. Inspiration also comes through research by reading recipes and trying out new dishes.
What’s your favourite dish off your menu?
My favourite dish is the Franschhoek salmon trout with prawn risotto and asparagus soufflé. I like it because it uses local ingredients such as salmon trout and combines Italian and French cooking techniques, a truly global dish.
What’s the one ingredient you couldn’t live without?
Garth There are quite a few such as scallops, truffles, foie gras and fresh seafood but I must say it has to be the humble salt, especially Maldon sea salt is the ingredient I could not do without.
|
