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Today, 24 November 2009

› McBride: I'm being bugged

› Hefner almost died

› Behind ANC battle lines

› Batting for Hersch

› Henry left devastated

Yesterday, 23 November 2009

› 'Malema must apologise'

› 'They tried to kill me'

› Boks are thugs - Ireland

› Malema attack 'racist'

› YCLSA: Malema a racist

Whether it's once a month or once a week I never fail to feel grand ambling up the driveway of The Nellie. Happily the place is such that my delusions of grandeur continue as the concierge doffs his cap and I swing through the revolving door.

This is the life — genteel, charming and really quite remote from anything crass, unpleasant or just plain ordinary. Not a bad way to spend a day ‘in the office’. Of course, unlike the myriad guests, I can’t merely swan around drinking Earl Grey and eating crust-less cucumber sandwiches while contemplating the beauty of the rainbow rhododendrons.

Instead, it’s work for me, I am here to spend the day with Executive Chef, Ian Mancais.

I settle among an array of chintz cushions and wait for the man himself…

“I was a naughty little bugger who had grand plans of being a cartoonist — I suppose food is creative though,” Ian says as his intense green/brown eyes twinkle with mischief.

“My great grandfather was a chef in France. So I suppose it was in my blood. My mum was Scottish. I was born in Cyprus and my dad’s job in the British military took us to Asia for many years. In fact, one of my earliest memories is of sitting outside our house with our Asian housekeeper eating pork-stuffed rice in banana leaves.”

This melting pot of cultures explains Ian’s penchant for and success with fusing Eastern and Western cuisines; one mouthful of his sticky Asian-style roast lamb and you’ll be hooked.

At 14 he started to dabble in his mother’s kitchen, was spotted at 16 by a Scottish chef and coaxed into an apprenticeship at The Preston Field House Hotel in Edinburgh. Four years later he qualified, it was the early eighties and the food scene in the UK was just taking off.

“I was working under Jean Michele Gauffre at the Sheraton Grand on Festival Square when this chef, Tom Covacs, arrives from the New Orleans Sheraton to help us with a festival for four days. I was a cocky little so ’n so and really wanted to impress him. I’d made vast quantities of this beef consommé and tossed a coin into the pot to prove how clear it was. He looked at it and, knowing I wouldn’t have a clue, asked how many litres there were, and how many portions I could get out of it. That put me in my place.”

Ian must have made an impression though because months later, at the very same moment that he and chef Gauffre were agreeing it was time for him to move on, Tom Covacs called and offered him a job as his gourmet fine dining chef at The Summit restaurant in Tokyo’s new Sheraton hotel. This same serendipity seems to have followed Ian throughout his life.

“The hotel generated lots of exposure and everyone got so interested in the international style food I was serving that I ended up doing TV shows and all sorts. It was really odd because obviously in the beginning I couldn’t speak a word of Japanese and I needed a translator, then one day, out of the blue, I was fluent. Funny really ’cos I’m not very smart,” Ian says with just the right amount of self-deprecating humour.

“After three years in Tokyo I did a stint in Waikiki, sadly nowhere near as sexy and exotic as it sounds and then went on to Bali to open a new Sheraton. Bali was fabulous and, bizarrely, I ended up opening another three hotels in Indonesia; I was becoming some sort of professional hotel-opening specialist. After a break in Scotland visiting my folks I got a call to open the Bora Bora Lagoon Resort in Tahiti. This would be the 7th hotel I opened before I was thirty.”

At this stage, much as I like travelling, I’m feeling exhausted at the thought of all this globe trotting and what sounds suspiciously like genuinely hard work. But I’ve got to admit at 43 Ian still looks damn good so it obviously worked for him.

‘This was the real deal, the place was paradise — a dot in the middle of the Indian Ocean — there were no roads and I could walk around the whole island in 25 minutes. It was very exclusive and I ended up cooking for and making friends with the likes of Steve Martin, Claudia Schiffer, David Copperfield and the late Ayrton Senna.”

I suppose that too much of a good thing gets boring — but I’d love the chance to test the theory.

In 1998 Ian found his way to our shores to open the Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront. Naturally he fell in love — not only with his wife-to-be, Lisa, but also with Cape Town itself. Never one to let the moss — or in his case wasabi — grow under his feet, Ian whisked Lisa off to Dubai (where they had their first child Megan), back to Japan, then onto Thailand—the stories are endless.

They popped off to the Maldives to open the Rangali Hilton. Here a number of extraordinary things happened — he personally delivered his second child, son Liam (the midwife was nowhere to be found), he became a dive master (not sure where he found the time) and he opened the world’s first under-sea restaurant, Ithaa (which means pearl in Maldivian).

Did I mention that this guy was one of a kind?

Courtesy of...

Good Taste magazine

“The structure for Ithaa cost $5.5 million. It was fabricated in the US, New Zealand and Singapore and then floated across from Singapore at a cost of $30 000 per day — it took 3 weeks. When it arrived we had to stabilise the barge, wait for perfect weather, fill the room completely with sand and then lower it onto the anchors — we only had a 5mm margin for error, it was unbelievable.”

At this stage both the photographer and I are hanging onto Ian’s every word but then our Ian likes an audience and rises to the task with much aplomb.

“It was the owner’s dream to have this restaurant and he put up all his own money, so when it was finally in place he came to me and said, “Ian, I’ve just given you the best plate in the world, now give me the best food.”

So I tried to do just that. I travelled in a little boat around to all the islands in the archipelago sampling traditional food and creating new recipes. Then we devised 26 dishes that made up 4 courses. By then my SA permanent residence had come through and it was time to settle down.

Again serendipitously, around that time The Mount Nelson called and offered me a job, and we duly arrived towards the end of 2006. I really love it here, both the restaurant and the place and although I know it sounds corny the Executive Sous Chef, Nick Haszaid and I have a real partnership. So work is great, I’ve got a gorgeous South African wife, two kids and last week we got a dog — the globe trotting is over, I’m here to stay.”

Welcome Ian, it’s delicious to have you.

Confit duck salad
Prep time: 5 minutes; Cooking time: 15 minutes

Pickling liquor:

Pour all the pickling ingredients into a pan, bring to the boil and cook for 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and allow to cool. Dry fry peppercorns in a hot pan until fragrant.

Add to the demi-glace and simmer slowly for about 10 minutes to infuse flavour.

Pour sauce through a fine sieve to remove any bits and set aside.

Combine salad ingredients in a mixing bowl.

To plate, divide salad equally between 4 plates, pour 2 tablespoons of the pickling liquid (juice only) over each, place duck legs on top of the salad and drizzle with Szechuan sauce and serve. Great served both hot and cold. Serves four.

The Cape Colony Restaurant, The Mount Nelson Hotel, 76 Orange Street, Gardens, Cape Town. For reservations call (021) 483-1000.