A Journey from the Cape to the East
Outside the town of Stellenbosch, the entrance to Delaire Graff Estate, justifiably called “the jewel of the Winelands’, is beautiful. Steeple-high cypress trees, bright proteas and other indigenous plants offer a compelling view against a backdrop of mountains.
I stop to admire each Dylan Lewis wildlife sculpture, but soon realise that, if I give in to these distractions of visual splendour, I might never meet the chef. I whip past the diamond store, the exquisite art and the suites, villa and spa to the stylish, three-plated (a benchmark indication of exceptional dining) Indochine restaurant, where inside I find the ultimate artistic statement, an installation of 1 000 metallic swallows that swirl overhead.
Chef Virgil Kahn”s quiet demeanour and ready smile await. He proudly shows me to a copper table that glistens in the sunlight where, over coffee, he tells me about the flavours of home, his background and culture, and how he combines them seamlessly with the inspiration and tastes of the East.
“I grew up in Bonteheuwel on the Cape Flats, where it was the aromas of Cape cuisine that first attracted me to the kitchen," he says. ”I”m good with my hands and, back then, thought carpentry was my calling." Instead, he studied at the Cape Town Hotel School in Granger Bay, and while doing an internship at The Westin in Cape Town, his passion for food was fuelled.
A stint on the yachts was followed by earning his stripes at One&Only Cape Town, both in Gordon Ramsay”s Maze, and at Nobu, where he discovered his talent for Asian cuisine. He joined Indochine when it opened a
