Lucas Ndlovu | South African Masterchef

Lucas Ndlovu | The Man Who Rules The Kitchen With Magic In His Head Source: Hotel Resort Insider http://www.hotelresortinsider.com/news_story.php?news_id=480&cat_id=9

If you are a foodie and want to look up some  great African dishes, then you will definitely  come across the name of Lucas Ndlovu. He is  one of the most renowned South African  chefs and has been honored by the International Chaine de Rotisseurs to be one among the 24  South African chefs. His best known dishes include avocado with ginger, honey and celery, paper-thin ostrich carpaccio, roast quail with bacon rolls, served with  bread sauce, game chips and marula jelly and grilled baby kingklip  rolled in macademia nuts, served with a mango and mampoer sauce.  This man also earns the credit of sharing his dishes with the poor  children. Ndlovu's claims that the secret of him becoming a great chef lies in  the fact that he is a great foodie. This man illuminates Coach House  in Agatha, near Tzaneen, with his presence. This elegant hostelry  gets all the more popular as people here get to see the hands that  cook these excellent dishes. Once you enter this hostelry, you will  find the South African chef dressed in a white chef's jacket with  the overseas logo of the South African Chefs Association on it. He  also wears a chef's hat on a Zulu shield with crossed assegai and  knobkierie. After being dressed up, the executive chef is all set to  take the rounds of the dining room. If you want to know how Lucas Ndlovu went on to become the  man he is today, you will have to know what it took him to reach  the stars. This man started out his career as a "chef's assistant" in Hartebeespoort in 1958! Mind you - this was a period when the  blacks in professional kitchens were subjected to only cleaning  and chopping. Things were so bad that Ndlovu recalls the black  and white chefs eating separately in the old times. Back then, he was just a young trainee chef whose skill was  noticed by the executive chefs and employers. Ndlovu was soon  out of the scullery and since then he did not look back - he was  rapidly rising to the top in a chain of famous hotels, such as the  Rustenburg Hotel, Cybele Lodge in Mpumalanga and the  Silverton in Pretoria, where he first met his wife, Elizabeth Makae,  who is also a chef at present. Today, the South African chef can be found at the Coach House  along with his family from where he trains young chefs, travels  overseas for demonstrations and competitions and comes up  with new recipes. Formed in the early 1970s, the South African Chefs Association  seated Lucas Ndlovu as its first and only black member. The  association's Academy of Chefs also elected him as one among  the top 25 chefs. He has also been honored as being one of the  24 South African chefs, who had been inducted into the  international Chaine de Rotisseurs. This chef's claim to fame also includes the fact that he has tossed  up dishes for celebrities like, the former Home Affairs Minister  Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the former presidents Nelson Mandela  and FW de Klerk and other famous politicians and celebrities. World Cooks Tour for Hunger by World Association of Cooks  Societies is an annual event, where food is cooked for the poor  kids. This benevolent concept had been introduced by South African  chef and Ndlovu's mentor, Bill Gallagher, food and beverage director  of the Southern Sun hotel group. There are chefs from all over the  world at the event who travel at their own expense only for hosting  the fund-raising events that includes street parties for the  underprivileged children. Ndlovu finds his heart here every year.