Jonathan Duiker’s entry into the culinary world is intriguing: When asked why, at age 16 he opted to  study catering, he reveals that it was a progression of what he had been exposed to as child, trailing behind his mother in the kitchen. Nothing unusual there, except that his mama worked for an Iranian gentleman, a vendor of carpets. He was a bachelor, and in the 40 years that Mrs. Duiker attended him, he taught her how to cook a thing of two to relieve his own homesickness. And so it was that Jonathan grew up to the smell of cumin, garlic, fresh tomatoes and cardamom.

Ever practical, Jonathan couldn’t wait to get out of school. While studying, he also worked as a bartender, waiter and trainee sommelier at Cape Town restaurants La Perla, De Gouverneur and Turkish restaurant, Anatoli (back to those beloved Middle Eastern vegetables and spices again). Here, in addition to learning the craft of cookery, he found himself finishing off the package acquiring knowledge of service and wines, crucially important to his way forward, both at March (the find dining restaurant of the Melrose Arch Hotel), and the position he is about to take up: Executive chef of W. Maldives Retreat and Spa. Jonathan takes seriously the joyous unison of pairing food with wine. He is even a little evangelical about it, saying “It’s important! People are missing out on how great the two are together. It also takes your appreciation of food to a higher level”. It’s a love that provides his imagination with release, when upon request he is required to stage wine&dine evenings and dégustation menus for specific events for hotel guests.

This love is what brings him to the Maldives. The resort, owned by the American Starwood Hotel and Resorts Group, is part of their luxury boutique hotel brand, W. Hotels. Its conception is very modern, elegant and out-doors, aimed at the young, well-heeled and moneyed. The resorts fine dining restaurant, Fish, has an extensive wine list, some 100 red wines, 60 white wines and about 35 bubblies from around the world, for which they require a chef with a knowledge of wines and capable of incorporating them into extraordinary dégustation menus. Jonathan is their man, and he begins his glamorous new life in early November. Looking at images of his new turquoise ocean home, he laughs; “It was an opportunity I simply couldn’t miss!”

The kind of food that issued from his kitchen at March is in keeping with this kind of modern glamour: very fresh and alive with colour and cleverly using deconstructive techniques. Jonathan is grateful for a stint at the Cape Grace, under Chef Bruce Robertson, who recognized that his heavy-handed technique needed a little finesse. Robertson put him in the starter section where the work was intricate and painstaking. This instance of inspired management, says Jonathan, moulded not only his style of cooking but also his character, encouraging him to develop an appreciation of detail that had hitherto gone undeveloped.

At 27 one might say Duiker has already hit the pinnacle of his career, but not its zenith. Future plans are not modest: He dreams of opening his own multi-faceted food consultancy focused on the marketing of foodstuffs and beverages. The future of food he feels, is at once more simple and wholesome and; more technical. In the next 10 years, changes he anticipates are an increasing demand for organic food coupled with a growing market for wholesome ready-made meals delivered to your door. On the other hand, the textural and flavour boundaries of food will be tested further within the context of molecular gastronomy.

In the meantime, experimentation was eclipsed by the hard work of getting ready for the Soccer World Cup, now only months away. For the occasion, March has a new General Manager, Joseph Seegers. Their establishment already so streamlined, I ask how they further intend to embellish their hotel package? The answer: “Guest service, personalised and wow!” This involves ‘profiling’ guests to emulate a ‘home away from home’ experience. For example, if it is known that a particular guest likes a certain brand of soap or only purple towels in the bathroom, then these items will be waiting in their room upon arrival. To capacitate this gilded level of service, staff undergo extensive training. From Jonathan’s perspective, it also means that guests should at least have the opportunity to eat whatever they desire. Name a dish and Jonathan will endeavor to make it - a skill necessary to his new honeymoon destination resort. It helps that his greatest motivator is “Seeing a guest happy after one of my meals - I like to see the sparkle in their eyes”. My essential question to him, from the start, is what gets someone into a position like this in the first place? And the answer, delineating some of his personality perhaps, slips through: “What I don’t like are people who don’t take their work seriously.” And a little bit seriousness where food is concerned is what he would like to see all round: “A change I would like to see in the South African food scene is the public raising their standards and simultaneously being more open-minded and fussier”. For himself though, he has two wishes: to travel to Italy and cook and eat there, for food that he feels has great depth and flair and; to put in a stint alongside Thomas Keller at the French Laundry, to further refine food and wine pairing that he so loves.