Meet the Chef - Petrus Madutlela - The Poet, Matfield

What inspired you to become a chef? I grew up in a rural township near Pretoria, South Africa. Our home was a tin hut, with no electricity or running water. My mum and dad worked long hours, so I ended up cooking for my little brothers & sisters. At school I dreamt of becoming a doctor, but at the age of 16, I had to go out & earn money to support my family. I went to work in the kitchens of a local golf club, washing dishes and cleaning. I was curious about food and asked the chefs lots of questions. Soon the Head Chef rewarded my enthusiasm by offering to train me as a Commis. I've never looked back ! How long have you worked at the Poet? The time has flown since I started at The Poet six years ago. What is your favourite part of your job? I love being part of a team, developing young chefs & working towards our goal of making customers happy. What is your best dish you have ever created? Mushroom veloute & sous vide egg, finished with parmesan foam & grated parmesan. It's currently on the menu at The Poet. When it's not on the menu, customers ask if it can make a re-appearance. I guess that's a good sign. What has been your most challenging moment as chef? When Covid hit, we were under a lot of pressure. We had to quickly adapt and change to sell food via delivery & collection. I'm happy to say that we made it through the pandemic without making any of the team redundant. What do you consider to be the most underrated ingredient ? If you don't have the right team, you can't succeed in hospitality. The team at the Poet are absolutely vital ingredients but I think that generally people who work in hospitality are under rated. That will need to change in the future, for the survival of the industry. How do you spend your free time ? I'm a bit football mad & enjoy weekly friendly 7-a-side with fellow local dads, as well as kickabouts with my boys.