Chef Kabelo Christof has redefined traditional AFrican food. Picture: Hein Kaiser Some people talk a lot about what they do; others just do. Chef Kabelo Christof is a man of few words, but put him in a kitchen, and his cooking does the talking.
And you won’t find his cuisine just anywhere, because his speciality is traditional African food that he plates to rival any pretty food, anywhere. Christof said his style of cooking is Mamelodi style, the township where he spent his childhood. “Every ‘kasi has its own style of cooking,” he said.
“Just like Durban curry has a distinct flavour and style when compared to other Indian cuisine, so too every township has its own variants, flavours and traditions. Pretoria food is cooked a certain way,” he said. “You do not have to put a lot of ingredients.
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If you have salt and a couple of well-balanced spices, you are good to go. African flavours are mild, but there is something powerful about them.” His love of cooking comes from time spent as a youngster, on Sundays, helping his aunt and mother prepare lunch. “They loved cooking,” he said.
“I was always helping. That is where everything started.” At the time, he never pictured himself becoming a chef, but cooking, he said, was almost predestined. The 33-year-old’s career began in a small Sunnyside, Pretoria restaurant before moving through several other kitchens, including Ayepyep and Moja Café. Christof said that everything he knows about food has been self-taught and mentored.
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