One the road again

So we are out and about once again on the roads of Sothern Africa. Folllow Justin, the crew and our three new landies @ http://twitter.com/cookedinafrica

7 women, Justin and a baby

So Cooked 4 is finally well underway. We have spent the last week shooting at Gold restaurant on Strand Street in Cape Town. What a restaurant this is, a little garden oasis smack-bang in the heart of South Africa's oldest CBD. If you haven't yet been there check it out, its well worth it!

The restaurant is owned by Cindy. She not only runs the restaurant but also doubles as a cook. The kitchen is 'manned' by Mpumi, the head chef and her team of multicultural African women. Not such a bad place to spend a week, had Justin not been trying his hand at cutting it in a propper kitchen with a team of pros.

The fascinating dynamic in this professional set up is not that this might just be the only female run restaurant-kitchen I know about but rather that Mpumi, and her team rely on what their mothers' and grandmothers' have taught them about food, instead of a bunch of degrees. This is cooking as it's meant to be: a series of tasting and discussing rather than qualifications and cookbooks.

After a tough and rewarding week Justin is going to have to bring his A- game. He'll be taking what he has learned at Gold and mixing it with his Cooked style for WOMEN (and men) today in Franschhoek - the heat is on.