EAT OUT AWARDS WINNERS 2004

Chef of the Year: Reuben Riffel
Restaurant of the year: Reuben’s
Eat Out Johnnie Walker Top Country Kitchens: Mariana’s and Vergelegen Guest House
Restaurants were not ranked within the Top 10, and are presented alphabetically below:

95 Keerom
Auberge Michel
Bosman’s
Ginja
Jemima’s
Linger Longer
Lynton Hall
One.Waterfront
Sides
Yum

EAT OUT REVIEW TEAM 2004

ABIGAIL DONNELY (AD)
Abigail is food editor for Fair Lady magazine. Her life-long passion for food started when she was very young, helping her grandmother in the kitchen. In later years she began collecting recipes – mostly clippings from various magazines – and this inspired her to become the one creating them. Her philosophy is that food should be creative yet simple, cooked with care and generosity.

ADELLE HORLER (AH)
Adelle is a freelance travel journalist and editor and author of The Cape Route Finder. She wanders far and wide looking for interesting things to write about – and then eat. As former managing editor of Eat Out, she’s having a whole lot more fun visiting these restaurants, rather than editing the copy.

BABALWA SHOTA (BS)
Babalwa graduated from Peninsula Technikon in Cape Town, where her staple diet was Pro Vita and crunchy peanut butter. She’s since moved on to Jozi and finger foods thanks to her job as the Sunday Times’s entertainment columnist and resident party animal. Far from being a culinary goddess herself, she admits to making a mean scrambled egg.

DAVID BULLARD (DB)
David is a freelance writer with a controversial weekly column in the Sunday Times. He is also presenter of the SABC3 Car Torque show. He doesn’t claim to be an expert on food but has been eating out long enough to know what he does and doesn’t like.

DIANE DE BEER (DdB)
As the arts editor of the Pretoria News, writing about restaurants forms part of Diane’s brief. She believes Pretoria is buzzing – much to the delight of the resident foodies. But the purple city is still the country’s best kept secret – and that’s the way she likes it.

FRANK CHEMALY (FAC)
Frank is chief subeditor of the Daily News and has been writing about his culinary and travel experiences for the last decade – his 28-inch waist is a distant memory. He believes there is no finer enjoyment than munching on the freshest ingredients, beautifully and simply prepared, with a top-notch vintage, while watching the moon rise over the Indian Ocean.

GRAHAM HOWE (GH)
Graham, journalist, critic and traveller, writes passionately about global cuisine. A seasoned contributor to many local and British publications, he is wine and food editor of Habitat and correspondent for Wine & Spirit International. When not wining and dining or globetrotting on exotic travel assignments, he works off all epicurean indulgences on long walks with his wife and Jack Russells on Table Mountain.

HERMAN WASSERMAN (HW)
Herman is a former arts critic and restaurant writer for Die Burger, and now teaches Journalism at the University of Stellenbosch. He is seriously in touch with his culinary side: not only does he know how to light a braai, he can also effortlessly order food from a menu.

INGRID SHEVLIN (IMS)
Ingrid is senior arts and lifestyle writer of the Sunday Tribune’s magazine supplement, SM. She unashamedly admits that writing about food and restaurants is her main passion and occupation in life. Sad, but true.

JANINE WALKER (JW)
Janine has worked in entertainment for the past 20 years. In 1999 she was inducted as a Chevalier, Dame de la Chaîne of the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs and in the same year was a founder member of the South African Food and Wine Writers Guild. Languid Sunday lunches with fabulous food, wonderful complementing wines and good company make her heart beat a little faster. So does Colin Firth.

JOHAN VAN ZYL (JvZ)
This Namaqualand boy loves to treat his tongue, but no afval please. Johan was a senior reporter for Die Burger, but readers of Visi, Insig and De Kat will also know his enticing profile interviews. He was appointed chief subeditor of Tuis in 2004. He’s at his happiest with his books, his garden and an empty pot to experiment with.

JOSEF TALOTTA (JT)
Josef is a Johannesburg-based journalist and columnist. He has written for Condé Nast House & Garden, GQ and Time Out Johannesburg in SA; and Wallpaper, Spruce and Conde Nast Traveller in the UK. He is cofounder of the Thursday Club, a charity drinks gathering in Johannesburg and Cape Town that raises money for Starfish, a benefit organisation for HIV/AIDS orphans.

LEATITIA PIENAAR (LP)
Leatitia is head of publications at the University of the Free State and has lectured in the hospitality service department at both the Free State Technikon and the Bloem College. She has a certificate in wine and was cofounder of a wine tasting club in Secunda.

LEIGH ROBERTSON (LR)
Food, wine, fashion and similar feel-good topics are what drive and inspire lifestyle writer and editor Leigh Robertson. Her first food memories, thanks to imaginative parents, are moules marinières, huevos rancheros and a sip of her mum’s margarita…

LESLEY SPIRO (LS)
Lesley loves to cook, to eat, and to write about food. Based in Johannesburg, Lesley is New Media’s consulting food editor. Her current culinary achievement is a 13-month-old laatlammetjie who bypassed baby food in favour of porcini mushroom risotto, aubergines and chickpea curry.

MARIËTTE CRAFFORD (MC)
Mariëtte is a full-time food lover and freelance writer. For her, food is a love letter to her dinner guests. She cooks to please, charm and delight people – herself included – with honest food. It thrills her to use indigenous ingredients creatively in contemporary dishes.

MARLENE VAN EEDEN (MvE)
Marlene loves to throw impromptu feasts for her friends with lots of merrymaking, eating and drinking. Her mean cocktails are well-documented specialities. She travels off the beaten track whenever she can in search of fun food. She also collects beautiful cookbooks and the language is irrelevant!

MARTY KLINZMAN (MK)
Food and travel writer and consultant Marty Klinzman is author and co-author of over a dozen cookbooks and has written for and edited a number of magazines. She enjoys travelling locally and overseas to review restaurants and keep up on food trends.

MATHABO LE ROUX (MlR)
Born and raised on a farm in the beautiful Eastern Free State, Mathabo’s fondest gastronomic memory is of sitting cross-legged with her nanny, Bettie, on the grass and eating putupap from a driebeenpot. It was a jolly ritual and laid the foundation for this Taurean’s love of down-to-earth food, good company and rollicking laughter. Her taste for wine developed a little later.

NATANIËL (N)
Singer/Songwriter/Author Nataniël has written and staged more than 40 theatre productions, released 11 albums and published 10 books, including three top-selling cookbooks. He regularly does cooking demonstrations and contributes to features for magazines and television. Nataniël believes in fresh ingredients, simple food, perfect table settings and good conversation.

NEIL PENDOCK (NP)
Neil is a reformed mathematician, drinks columnist for the Sunday Times and wine writer for the Financial Mail. As a lifestyle journo, he’s had more restaurant meals than he cares to remember and has engaged in various picaresque quests like searching for the hottest curry and finest hamburger in Jo’burg. Neil is also a taster for the John Platter Wine Guide and a judge at wine shows.

NIKKI WERNER (NW)
For this journalist-turned-food-stylist a block of dark chocolate dunked in an espresso is a beautiful start to the day! She lives and works in Cape Town freelancing for magazines and couldn’t live without Marmite, Tabasco, German wurst or Vietnamese pho soup.

ORIELLE BERRY (OB)
Orielle is food and wine editor of The Next 48hOURS. She has contributed to Food & Home, Wine magazine, The Star, Argus Tonight and the Pretoria News. An international judge of the Slow Food Movement, she recently opened her own deli and café in Darling on the West Coast.

PAUL MURRAY (PM)
Paul teaches at Bishops in Rondebosch where he is the senior history master. He recently co-edited Leipoldt’s Food and Wine and writes his own column “Murray’s Food Trails” for LitNet, combining his two passions, food and history.

PENNY SUKHRAJ (PS)
Penny is a general news reporter for the Sunday Times. She has fond memories of her mom’s mouth-watering curries and incredible roasts in Durban. As an adult in Johannesburg she has had to learn to cook for herself, but she finds it therapeutic. Her proudest achievement to date is her falling-off-the-bone lamb shank and her darling nine-month-old son Neo!

PETER VAN NOORD (PvN)
Peter is a freelance journalist who loves cooking (and dishwashers), but does not mind being served good food. A Stellenbosch graduate, he works for several magazines including Tuis, Wegbreek, Visi and Sarie Bruid. He’s a Mondi winner and was named Media24 Magazines’ first journalist of the year in 2001 for his work on Insig.

ROSANNE BUCHANAN (RB)
Rosanne was the deputy editor of Food & Home Entertaining magazine until June this year and now lives in Grahamstown, where she has opened a book-and-coffee shop. Baking cakes and muffins is now her thing. It’s bliss to be out of the rat race!

RUSSEL WASSERFALL (RW)
Food writer and photographer Russel Wasserfall owes the ever-changing landscape of his physique to fine food and good company. His favourite meals are as much about ingredients and cooking as the people who share them. Atmosphere is vital. Fussy food irritates him and he’ll never eat in a place where he can’t wear jeans.

SAMANTHA SMITH (SS)
When this journalist of 13 years isn’t news editing two major newspapers in the Eastern Cape, she spends her time furrowing out new and unusual eateries in Port Elizabeth. Especially those that ooze ambience, good, simple food and warm service. Her pet hates are fussy, pretentious cuisine and limp lettuce.

SAM WOULIDGE (SW)
Sam eats bread and butter while reading glorious cookbooks. Her favourite foodie word is “reservations” and the flavours she loves are cinnamon (all that melkkos as a child …), garlic and chilli. She would also sell her soul for a coastal oyster. But mostly she loves books.

WINNIE GRAHAM (WG)
Winnie started her journalistic career more than 40 years ago and thought she had done it all – till Eat Out asked her to look at restaurants in Limpopo and Mpumalanga. Wandering from place to place in fairly remote corners, she discovered some interesting and unconventional eateries. Here home cooking is the norm, and most of it surprisingly good!