Q&A with Reuben Riffel

On stealing recipes
I don’t want to steal recipes, but when I see things done in a way that I like, I say to myself “Ooh, I’d like to try that”. I visit a website called epicurious.com, where diners review restaurants and post pictures of the food. I tried one of them on my menu, a dish of passion fruit sorbet with coconut tapioca pearls and caramel syrup and people loved it.

On menus
80 percent of the dishes on the menu change constantly, but the remaining 20 percent will never change. For example, we have a squid dish that people come especially to Reuben’s for – they sit at home and crave it. The dish is fried and when trends started moving towards healthier food, I tried grilling it, but no one wanted the grilled squid, they wanted the fried one! I had to change the way I thought about the menu and not change everything all the time.

On using local produce
There’s definitely more awareness and focus on using organic and local produce on menus. The conversion process is slow because demand currently outstrips supply, but from all of us chefs, there’s a longing to secure supplies of local produce! On the other hand, even though we’re all pushing for locally grown, some products from overseas are amazing, like scallops: we don’t get them here, but I love using them, so I don’t pretend that my menu is 100 percent local. I’ll also try to stick to local fish that are on the green SASSI list, but sometimes you run into trouble when you need fish and green list species aren’t available. It’s not good, because I would prefer to stick to my principles, but between the choice of no fish or cob, I go for cob. What is inspiring is that we’re getting wider options of green list fish, like John Dory, sole, skate and monkfish.

On the economic recession
Franschhoek has been affected by the downturn - there were fewer tourists from Johannesburg over December. I can’t predict what’s going to happen, but I know that we’re all mindful and trying to figure out what to do. This is the time to prepare ourselves – no one seems to be employing new staff and if someone resigns, don’t fill that position. Reuben’s has also started doing more outside catering, which we’ve never done before. I think this is going to be a tough year.

On cheaper cuts of meat
We’ve got a problem in this country in that our ‘cheaper cuts of meat’ like oxtail aren’t actually that cheap. I watch Gordon Ramsay talking about how he’s now using lamb shank or oxtail and that they’re cheaper cuts of meat – but look at what lamb shank actually costs! We hardly ever use rack of lamb because it’s quite expensive, so instead use lamb shoulder which has a lot of flavour and I can negotiate on the price. I’m happy to take all of the cuts that people won’t use, but I want a good price – I know the unglamorous cuts don’t sell that well. Ingredients like offal and calf’s liver are still comparatively cheap and can be made into delicious dishes. We do a great starter with black pudding (I just make sure to call it that rather than blood sausage), scallops and cauliflower purée and it’s a good seller.

On ingredient trends
I’ve got to like the flavours first before I’ll put them on my menu. There was a time when sun-dried tomatoes were every where and they are not there anymore – it was hype and now has died down. There was also verjuice, where everyone was using it in reductions. It is still used but now without the fuss. That’s how these things work – at the moment we’re in the middle of a pomegranate craze. There are certain dishes that I think all menus should have because they’re tricky to make at home and you can’t easily find the ingredients at shops, like mussels.

On spending time in the restaurant
Being in the restaurant grounds me. If I don’t spend enough time in the kitchen I change and become slightly uncomfortable. I would like to get out there and do more things, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to leave the restaurant fully. I get complete joy from seeing the operation from the inside and then from the outside, noticing what can be improved upon. I get approached quite often to act as a restaurant consultant, but it makes me a bit uneasy as it assumes that my restaurant is perfect – which it isn’t. No restaurant is. I firmly believe that if your staff want to deliver the best product, then that goes a long way to making your restaurant a success – everyone in the restaurant needs to be focused. We’re not in an easy industry and it’s difficult to ensure that people come back and still find it fresh and new. But it’s fun! For me, it’s important to always be involved in the restaurant so I still have my finger on the pulse.

On Molecular Gastronomy
I do play around with molecular gastronomy, but only to really see how it works. Foams we do in the restaurant and are part of our repertoire, but it’s not our main thing. My food is not something that people eat to have a new discovery, although we do sometimes use a combination of traditional and molecular techniques on our menu. I’ve eaten at Richard Carsten’s restaurant (Nova), and his stuff is great, it’s amazing – no one can beat his focus and his passion. We’ve got to be careful of just taking what some one like Ferran Adria does and creating a carbon copy in our restaurants. In Richard’s case, he really understands the techniques and doesn’t go overboard. Everything that is way out is nicely so. I don’t believe that this is the future of food -we’re never going to eat like that. I think we have to be as close to the natural form of food as possible – that’s what inspires us and keeps us going.

On the Best Thing about being a chef in South Africa
It’s an exciting time here because so many people are into food, cooking and growing fruit and vegetables. There’s interest in and a demand for what chefs we do. Our customer’s don’t expect one type of food. They’re open to experimenting and tasting different things.

On Nobu and Maze coming to Cape Town
Big names like these draw more people to the country and put you on the map. The more restaurants that open here, the better – I think it’s great. People won’t eat at those restaurants every day and they’ll want to come into the winelands and explore the country, so it’s good for all of us.

Cover photograph and picture of Reuben Riffel taken from the book 'Reuben Cooks',
Published by Quivertree Publications.
www.Quivertree.co.za
Photographer: Craig Fraser.