.....over George Jardine

George Jardine George Jardine is one of South Africa’s finest chefs and has previously been awarded Eat Out Chef of the Year. He started his career in the position of commis chef at one of London’s finest restaurants Inn on the Park situated at The Four Seasons Hotel, Park Lane. Under the direction of Jean Christophe Novelli the restaurant was awarded a Michelin Star and 5 AA rosettes - the only hotel restaurant of this time to receive this prestigious international accolade. During Jardine’s stint two of the restaurants, Maison Novelli and Les Sauvere de Jean Christophe, were awarded Michelin star status. Jardine accepted the position of executive chef at the exclusive five-star Relais & Chateau property: The Cellars-Hohenort Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa. In 2001 he moved to Indonesia with the Rosewood Hotel Group as chef de cuisine at the fine dining Sriwijaya Restaurant, Dharmawangsa Hotel, Jakarta. During this time, Sriwijaya Restaurant was awarded Asia’s Hottest New restaurant accolade by East Asia Magazine. After a 12 month stint George moved over to join the Shangri-La Hotel Group and headed up the pre opening team at the Adam Tihany design (Spago’s and Le Circque 2000 fame) new fine dining restaurant Lafi te, situated at the Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Lafi te received many awards including: The Golden Cauldron Award, Best Restaurant - Kuala Lumpur International Gourmet Festival and Best Overall Restaurant at the Hospitality Asia Platinum Awards. Jardine expanded his career under the Shangri-La Hotel Group with the launch of Sydney’s 105 seater Altitude Restaurant and adjacent Blu Horizon Bar, situated at the redeveloped site of Level 36, Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney. The Australian Hospitality Association named Altitude Restaurant Australia’s “Restaurant of the Year” for 2005. After an absence of five years from South Africa, George has returned to Cape Town and opened his own restaurant Jardine to acclaim in May 2006. Jardine was recently placed in the top ten of the 2008 Prudential Eat Out Restaurant Awards. Interview George Jardine, chef-proprietor of the popular Eat Out Top 10 restaurant, Jardine, is a man of few words - with a bone-dry sense of humour to match. Annette Klinger managed to knead a few answers out of him, whilst he waited for bread rolls to prove in his restaurant kitchen. Driving home down Bree Street one afternoon I passed Jardine only to spot you and Jason Lilley, the baker from the adjoining Jardine Bakery, helping yourselves to figs from the tree across the road. Is this an established ritual between the two of you? We don’t do that very often, no. We did a photo shoot one day for a specific dish that required figs, and since they weren’t in season, we raided the tree next door. They’re not really very good figs, though. They’re probably full of carbon monoxide and lead. Judging by the long lines of people queuing at Jardine Bakery every day, it seems to be a hit amongst Capetonians. Do you think the bakery’s success has further contributed to the popularity of the restaurant? The people who come to the bakery aren’t necessarily the same people who come to Jardine, but we have found that some of them are filtering through to the restaurant. I think the important thing is that You were awarded the esteemed title of Eat Out Chef of the Year for two years running in 2006 and 2007 and the restaurant has been on the Eat Out Top 10 list since its opening. To what do you attribute the success of the restaurant? We’ve got fantastic staff that work here. We’re all quite passionate about what we do and I think that translates to the guests. Who would you say are your heroes in the local restaurant industry? All the usual faces: Reuben Riffel, Margot Janse, Neil Pendock, Richard Carstens and Pete Goffe-Wood. As a group, we communicate on a regular basis – when one of us finds nice products, for example, we tell each other about it. We’re a nice little collective and continually inspire each other and I think that speeds up the development of local restaurants to a certain extent. ‘Innovation’ and ‘excellence’ are two adjectives that have become synonymous with the fare featured on your menu. How do you keep inspired? The dishes that we make in the restaurant are product based. When there are lots of fantastic products to choose from we have a wider variety of dishes. In spring there’s an abundance of ingredients to experiment with and incorporate into our daily menus, whilst in winter there’s less to choose from, so we end up drawing upon dishes that we’ve done previously. You are a native Scotsman, but have been residing in Cape Town for quite some time now. Do you miss the food back home? Have you ever considered incorporating haggis into your menu? No, I haven’t. I love haggis, but I’m quite orthodox, so I don’t believe in fancifying or beautifying it. It’s quite a basic dish, and I think the best way to serve it is with mashed potatoes and turnips. I do miss certain aspects of Scotland’s food – the seafood back home is particularly good, for example. But generally there’s enough here to keep me from getting homesick. What was the best meal you had in 2008? Bar anything from your own restaurant, that is. I was at a lunch at Overture where Chef Bertus Basson prepared a rather large tasting menu featuring quite simple but really flavoursome food, like mushroom gnocchi, pickles and a tasty beetroot dish. I would say the overall experience, ranging from the setting, the service and the passion of Bertus and his staff, made it the best meal of the year. In what way have you experienced the financial crunch of the current economic crisis at Jardine? During this time of year the restaurant is normally over-full, so it’s definitely a bit quieter than usual, but we’re still managing to fill the tables. What food trends do you predict for South Africa in 2009? I don’t follow trends, so I’m the wrong person to ask that question. Any interesting developments on Jardine’s menu during 2009? Previously we would change our menu every two months, but now the menu changes every day. That’s probably the newest and most exciting development. Yesterday, for example, we got an organic suckling pig from Kimilili [George opens an industrial walk-in fridge to reveal a hapless piglet dangling from its hindquarters]. So today, for example we’ll use the rack and the shoulder of the pig and the next day we’ll use the head and the legs, and so forth. Changing the menu each day keeps us on our toes.

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