Photos by Jordan Roberts

Chef Petrus Madutlela sprinkles his South African flavour in the UK

South Africa’s most likeable chef has made a name for himself in the UK, but has not forgotten his roots, (and his mum’s pap en vleis).

Photos by Jordan Roberts

Petrus Madutlela grew up feasting on his mother’s homemade pap en vleis in a township called Mothotlung, near Pretoria. Today Petrus is a highly-acclaimed chef in England, and yet he still bubbles with the excitement of a boy when talking about his mother’s cooking.

Petrus developed a passion for cooking when working as a kitchen porter at Pecanwood Golf and Country Estate. While he aspired to become a doctor, Petrus couldn’t keep his nose out the kitchen. Eventually the chefs asked if he wanted to join them and he jumped at the opportunity.

It’s difficult not to warm to this terribly humble man with his wholesome smile. It is this smile that has stayed constant through every journey and challenge. “Wherever I’ve worked, I’ve never had any problems with people,” Petrus confesses. “Because that’s my motto, you just have to keep your smile.”

When Petrus took part in MasterChef the Professionals in 2013, it was his expertise in the kitchen topped with his contagious charisma that carried him through to the quarter finals. “But then I got kicked out because I cooked pap en vleis,” he laughs.

To this day, Petrus stands by his decision to cook the South African staple. “I believe that as a chef I don’t have to be afraid to show people where I come from. The only way I can do that is through food – the food that we cook at home.  So that is my belief, I’m not scared to show people what is morogo, what is pap en vleis.”

Petrus has the same attitude about his upbringing. He laughs at strangers who ask if South Africa is dangerous and if he had a difficult childhood. “I grew up not having bread with cheese and all that. I used to have pap with tea in the morning and people think I was suffering,” he scoffs.  “And I’m like, ‘No, that’s how I grew up’.”

Petrus Madutlela
“You don’t need a lot to create flavour, you just need to know where you get your flavour from.”

While Petrus brushes off his awards as a “few competitions here and there”, a bit of digging and you’ll discover that he represented South Africa in the ‘Concours International des Jeunes Commis Rôtisseurs’ in 2007 where he placed 4th out of 21 countries. He then went on to win the title of ‘Unilever South African Chef of the Year’ in 2010 and ‘by Invitiation only South African chef of the Year’ in 2011.

Even though he may be reluctant to talk about his accomplishments, he is eager to talk about his biggest joy in life – his wife. Petrus met Shirley at the Institute of Culinary Arts near Stellenbosch where he had received a scholarship to train. The two then decided to move to the UK as Shirley is British. “It wasn’t a difficult decision to make,” says Petrus. “When you are in that heat, when you are in love, you don’t even think, you just go with the flow.”

And Petrus flew right into a job as a Chef de Partie at the Savoy in London, a restaurant he had always dreamed of working at. Fast forward to 2016 and Petrus is Head Chef at The Poet at Matfield, an English pub nestled in leafy Kent, where he lives with his wife and two boys.

But Petrus has not forgotten South Africa. He makes his way back home intermittently to catch up with his mum and act as guest judge on Ultimate Braai Master. He feels deeply about his home country; when South Africa hurts him he shows it in his face.

“It’s just those corrupt ones that have to leave,” he says decidedly. “Because if God was not far, I’m telling you they would be in trouble. There’s no way in life you can be chosen to be a leader, to lead people with souls, and you do stuff like that.”

He lowers his voice to soothe the atmosphere and says: “Sometimes it will rain, sometimes it will stop raining.” Petrus is optimistic that the youth will fight to change South Africa. And when the time is right, Petrus will go back.

“I would love to have my restaurant in South Africa one day,” he says, his eyes growing wide with excitement. But Petrus has had multiple opportunities to return to South Africa and do just that. Every so often he gets a call from a new hotel or business needing a chef to run the restaurant, but he politely declines. “I think you’ve gotta feel it,” he says. “The time will come.”

Petrus is firm in his belief that he doesn’t want to be given positions because of the colour of his skin. “When my business partners [at The Poet in Matfield] asked me to stay it was not about my colour, it was about what I can do, not anything else. And that’s the beauty of it. If we can work together we can make it work, and that’s lovely.”

One day, when Petrus is running a top restaurant in South Africa, he believes he will have a positive impact on the people from his community. “When everything is done, I want to go back and home and then people can say, ‘Yes, he’s worked for it,’ and  people can say, ‘Yes we know him’.”

While Petrus dreams of being an inspiration to kids in the townships back home, he is too humble to see that he already is one.

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