Competitions not withstanding, Bertus Basson’s heart is where his home is. He lists his biggest achievement of the past year as the inclusion of his restaurant, Overture, in the Prudential Eat Out Top Ten Restaurant Awards. Overture, a joint venture Basson shares with fellow chef Craig Cormack (of Ellerman House and Table Bay Hotel fame) and owner of Hidden Valley Wines (where the restaurant is situated) Dave Hidden, now also has a younger sibling, a restaurant in Franschhoek called Genot.

A natural synergy perhaps aptly describes the partnership of Cormack and Basson. “We met in 2005”, says Basson, “I had dinner at the hotel were he was executive Chef. We started chatting and it turned out we wanted to achieve the same goals in business and off we went”. The easy compatibility that still characterises their interaction extends into their working relationship: “We both work hard and share the same vision for our future” and along the way the two have become firm friends.

There is little in Basson’s life that does not involve food: thinking about it, coking it, using its preparation as a means of competition or devising ways to make money from it, so we have to ask: What is it that draws him back into the kitchen and has kept him enthusiastically there for the past ten years? The answer is less personally driven than you might think. It seems that altruistic Basson is as much a teacher as he is a cook. He gets his kicks from learning with and from his staff, a process that is ongoing. He derives satisfaction from training people, then watching them take what they have learned to develop on their own. Unsurprising I suppose for a man, who, had the kitchen not grasped him ever more firmly in her relentlessly demanding but rewarding hands, would have opted to become a teacher.

His career as a competition chef may have something to do with this. If there is one great Basson truism, it is that “Teamwork is what makes restaurants successful.” He learned a great deal about that in his time with Team South Africa and this he takes away with him to put to work in his restaurant.

His competitiveness also emerges in other, more subtle ways. Without actually having said it, I deduce that Bertus Basson is a man who loves a challenge. Neither short of passion nor ideas, he also posses the capacity to rise to the occasion. These two elements, which fuel his drive and creativity, capacitate the philosophy that shapes his restaurant. At Overture, the menu changes daily. Having to brainstorm new ideas every day is a hard work option that Bertus and Craig deliberately chose for themselves. Primarily, the menu is based on ingredients available that day. Other fonts of inspiration include books, the greatest resource any chef has for gaining new ideas, supplemented with input from internet searches, eating out and seeing what other people are doing. Their resulting style of food, in Basson’s words, is “ingredient driven”. Here is a chef who takes that fashion of ‘fresh, seasonal produce’ seriously.

“Why use something that has spent 3 days in transit to get here from the other side of the globe when we have fantastic produce around the corner? Just start looking. On the other hand, much of our best produce is exported, so how about local producers supporting local chefs and showing their best products to us?” Basson’s current favourite ingredients include foie gras, tilapia, artichokes, pork (lots of pork) and offal - heart, liver, brains - you name it.

In fact, access to excellent ingredients is why Basson feels the Cape hosts more top restaurants than other provinces and is known for its good food. This is augmented by the produce being more diverse in the Cape than elsewhere in the country.

When Basson gets into his own kitchen, the techniques he gravitates towards and that bring him the most satisfaction are braising and the process of producing a confit, both of which rely on the slow work of time for desired results. What appeals to him is the depth of flavour that both methods produce. They are also the expansionist-thinker’s delight, creating a vehicle in which unusual ‘lesser’ cuts of meat, packed richly with gristle and bone, can be used to delicious affect.

Each chef must have a goal, some kind of personal ideal of what his food should look and taste like, and that is stamped on dishes making them resolutely his. But because this is an evolutionary process, one rarely ever gets there. What asked what he is striving for, if perfection were possible, Basson reverts to flavour. “Flavor is the most important component of any plate. In my mind no dish will ever be perfect and we will always look for ways of improving what we do. Once you sit back and say to yourself “my food is perfect”, you might as well hang up your apron and become a dentist.”