Introducing Executive Chef – Jean Delport

Benguela on Main

Benguela on Main’s executive chef Jean Delport is on a culinary crusade. Jean’s training in classical French and English cooking has given him the confidence to become an innovator in the kitchen. Jean trained at Zevenwacht Chef School, where he was awarded both the Patissier Award in 2007 and Best Overall Student Award in his second year in 2008. He has worked with some of the top chefs in the country at the likes of Rust en Vrede and Terroir to name a few. As well as stints alongside old-school Michelin stared chef Dan Evans, Jean also broadened his views on cooking with a few seasons in the south of Ireland.

He cites as his influences British celebrity chef Marco Pierre White, Swiss chef Daniel Humm and local talent John Shuttleworth. Jean presides over a kitchen that does not hold with a stalemate; menus are changed regularly, as are the dishes. Jean does not consider any dish to be perfect and says that trying to attain perfection is his quest, for this very reason he says that he does not have a signature dish and feels we should always be evolving. He understands the symbiosis between good food and good wine and is intent on showing how these interact and complement each other.

“We try to use only fresh, seasonal ingredients within our dishes that are as local as possible. Never making a dish over complicated is the key for me, where we want our base ingredients to really speak for themselves. Working with classic combinations in more inventive ways with our own style spun in alongside. We never want to disguise what we doing but always like to have that one quirky little twist.”

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Also see: Prestigious Food & Wine Pairing Experience at Jacobsdal courtesy of Jean Delport from Benguela on Main.
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Contact Information

Call: 087 357 0637

Email: onmain@benguelacove.co.za

Visit: Benguela on Main, c/o Main Road and Coronation Ave, Somerset West, 7130, Cape Town