Take a sneak peek into the career of a demi chef at one of Cape Town's trendy restaurants.

Bonga is a Demi Chef at a trendy, Japanese-influenced restaurant in Cape Town. He shared a little about his career with us, so we could learn more about the day-to-day experience of his life in the culinary industry.

Bonga completed a three-month Assistance Chef course before joining the One and Only restaurant in Cape Town. He heard that the One and Only was looking for an intern through a contact he knows from a volunteer programme. “The Nobu restaurant had a three-month long internship programme.” Bonga applied and four months later he was offered the job, where he started off working in the salad section.

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Once the internship was over Bonga moved on to work at a different restaurant. However, a few months into his new job, the Head Chef at the One and Only called Bonga with an offer for a permanent position as the restaurant’s commis chef. A year later, he was promoted to demi chef.

A demi chef is responsible for ensuring that the line cooks or station chefs in a kitchen are organised during food production. A demi chef calls out orders to station cooks and ensures that each menu item his station is responsible for is prepared on time.

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A demi chef also needs to oversee the preparation, cooking and presentation of plates. This requires a demi chef to be knowledgeable about the section he is managing, as well as how the kitchen is functioning as a whole. In smaller kitchens demi chefs can be used as station cooks, but in larger commercial kitchens they are often used as station managers as well.

For Bonga, broadening his recipe knowledge is what he loves most about his job. “I’ve learnt to make so many new dishes that I previously did not know. One of my favourite dishes to make is the Beef Giyoza” - a little parcel of meat with a crisp base. He also loves that he has a chance to help in preparing the food. “Previously I was responsible for assisting with the preparation of the salads, starters and soups. Occasionally, I would also assist with preparing cray fish for its use in tuna tacos and hot misos.  But now I can use the kitchen utensils, and have learnt the right technique for sautéing food.”

His advice for aspiring demi chefs is this, “It is important to be alert at all times when working in a kitchen. You need to be able to simultaneously keep up with the fast pace while ensuring that the dishes you’re responsible for all have the right ingredients before they are served.”

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Another reason for kitchen staff to be vigilant in the kitchen is so that they do not hurt themselves. “You’re working with a lot of hazardous objects, such as knives, hot surfaces and flames, and there is always a possibility of cutting or burning yourself.”

He also says it helps to be creative. “For instance, when an ingredient is unavailable, instead of asking the head chef for advice, you need to be able to think what you can substitute that ingredient with. There are a lot of opportunities to create your own dishes too.”

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