Peter Tempelhoff

‘Frank Zlomke in South Africa, Marco Pierre White and Giorgio Locatelli in England, Joël Robuchon and Anne-Sophie Pic in France… All these highly-renowned chefs, with whom I have either trained or come into contact, are united in their quest for perfection. I share their ideals for gastronomy. If a dish is not at the peak of perfection, it has no right to feature on the menu. It is this constant need that makes us push at the boundaries. At the Cellars-Hohenort, it means that we combine the cream of the finest ingredients to be found in South Africa with modern cooking techniques, not forgetting an environmentally-friendly approach.’

What is your Chef’s secret to preparing your star ingredient?

I’m a purist. I like oysters plain — just chew them up and swallow. At the restaurant right now, we serve them with a simple sauce made with green Tabasco, white pepper, crème fraîche, lime and cucumber.

How do you go about selecting your ingredients?

On the south coast, I like the oysters from Arniston very much. They are rich and meaty, with a hint of sweetness. The oyster farms on the west coast have the advantage of cold waters. They produce lovely oysters, rich in minerals and the flavors of the ocean.

Tell us about the ingredient that inspires you the most.

I don’t remember the first time I tasted oysters, but I do know when I fell in love with these mollusks: it was in 1998 at the Knysna Oyster Festival. I was a young trainee and I had to open several hundred of them every day — and I could eat as many as I wanted…