De Buys Nortier

Laingsburg, South Africa.

I completed my Chef qualification at Warwick’s Chef School in the Western Cape in 2006. I went on to work as a Commis Chef at Bosman’s Restaurant with Che, Frank Zlomke. After that I moved to Le Quartier Francais, The Tasting Room with Chef Margot Janse, as a Senior Chef de Partie.

Since The Tasting Room, I’ve work at several restaurants: One & Only, Maze Restaurant in Cape Town with Chef Phil Carmichael; The Sailing Club, Sandals Restaurant as a Head Chef in Nha Trang, Vietnam and Issaya Siamese Club in Bangkok with Chef Ian Kittichai.

I moved back to Cape Town, South Africa to work as Head Chef/consultant at Quaglino’s Restaurant and after that Delaire Graff Estate, Indochine Restaurant in Stellenbosch, South Africa with Chef Virgil Kahn.

I moved to Australia, where I worked at Pier 70 in Paynesville, Victoria; followed by Lake House in Daylesford, Victoria with Chef Alla Wolf-Tasker.

No. I wanted to be a farmer when I was younger, but always had a love of food.

I am classically trained but fell in love with Asian cuisine while I was living in Vietnam and Thailand. Since moving to Australia, I’ve become very interested in Australian ingredients and try to incorporate them into my dishes.

Fish sauce, it gives dishes a deeper flavour.

I love experimenting with smoke, cured meats and fermentation.

The rush of service, finding that perfect ingredient and people enjoying our food. 

I’ve been very fortunate to work with some very talented and creative Chefs throughout my career and that’s been a major driving factor behind my style of cooking.

We do change the menu constantly, at the moment our Nido dessert is probably my favourite - ruby and white chocolate, rosewater macerated berries, red velvet cake, white chocolate mousse, strawberry purée, milk crumb, ruby tuile.