Kitchen pranks at Le Franschhoek Hotel
We speak to Le Franschhoek’s Executive Chef, Darren Robberts who says that he absolutely hates chefs that brag about who they have cooked for. He also doesn’t want to mention that he was Val Kilmer’s personal chef for 7 months, has cooked for Brad Pitt, and in his days as butler he has served formally every single member of the British Royal family. “Nelson Mandela once told me I should stop dropping names,” says Darren. Diya asks him a few questions. 
Darren has worked in the UK, Vienna, in his native Australia, and at our own Fancourt Hotel where he managed 70 chefs and ran 17 kitchens. The man obviously needs nerves of steel and a fine sense of humour.
Diya: What sets La Verger Restaurant apart from other Restaurants that you have run?
Darren: Certainly the position and beautiful setting of Le Verger. The individual glass houses and the views across the valley filled with orchards and vineyards make it almost the perfect location.
Diya: What expertise have you introduced to Relais Gourmand?
Darren: The previous menu was lacking direction. It was a bit of a hotchpotch of dishes thrown together without too much thought. I believe the new menu now has a bit of depth.
Diya: What is the inspiration behind your menu?
Darren: Our menu is still in its infant stages, and each day we fine tune it with new platings and pairings. As usual, once I feel we have perfected the menu, we will then change it. It keeps the gastronomical juices flowing and stops one from becoming to stagnant. Ideally my menus follow trends from my home country, and reflect the Pacific Rim fusion I was trained in. However I love the idea of modern African Fusion.
Diya: What are some of the more unusual dishes that you have prepared in South Africa?
Darren: In my first restaurant in Johannesburg we took a couple of taxi rank specials and tried to ‘Sandtonise’ them. Traditional Taxi terms like “walkie talkies”, which are the feet and heads of the lambs, were replaced with fore quarter shanks and lamb tongues, with a spiced up pap cake. It wasn’t a great seller but made for a good talking point. The liver from a freshly culled impala was exceptionally good on the open fire one morning after a game expedition on the farm.
Diya: What uniquely South African ingredients do you particularly enjoy working with?
Darren: There is no better place in the world to work with game meat.
Diya: Chef’s are known for their practical jokes in the kitchen. Please share one of your favourite anecdotes with us.
Darren: We were making blood pudding one night and realised how similar pig’s blood was to human blood. A trainee chef lay down on the floor in the kitchen, a knife was placed in a potato behind his head, and the blood was splattered all over the floor. Cameras flashed and the suckers were called in to assist. It was amazing and hysterically funny to see everybody’s reaction and how they handled the joke. Some of the old house keeping ladies became quite violent and dished out a bit of corporal punishment to the poor guy on the floor.
