Black truffle soup, caviar-crowned oysters and spherical olives stand among gastronomy’s most celebrated signature dishes. But so too does vanilla ice cream with peaches, the classic cookpot, reimagined burgers and buttery mashed potatoes. When the spectrum of signature dishes can have Melba toast on one end and langoustine with liquorice on the other, it raises the question: are signature dishes as elusive to create as they are to define? We spoke to four South African chefs to uncover the creative elements and challenges of transforming an excellent dish into a celebrated plate of provenance.

The dish Duck may not be the ingredient you expect with crêpes Suzette, but at Luke Dale Roberts’s Salon, that’s exactly the intriguing pairing chef Carla Schulze serves. While her duck crêpes Suzette contains four key components, each plays off the others like a symphony.

“The roasted, seven-days-aged duck breast offers a perfect balance of ultra-crispy skin and tender, juicy meat,” she says. “The rich Shaoxing jus enhances the duck’s deep flavours, and is accompanied by a velvet-like celeriac purée, which delivers an earthy, creamy contrast.” Salon’s interactive dining experience sees the duck crêpes Suzette finished at the table: the delicate crêpe is flambéed with Grand Marnier and swirled through a citrus butter emulsion. “This infuses the dish with a fresh, zesty finish, cutting through the richness and elevating the entire experience.”

To read the full story, grab your copy of the 2025 Eat Out Magazine – on shelf at your nearest Woolies or online for R130.