Summerfields' senior sous chef, Charles Meyer, has worked alongside industry greats including The Roundhouse's PJ Vadas and Vanessa Quellec, and has cooked for luminaries such as the Bush family and Warren Buffet's son. But, as the bright young talent will readily tell you, he'll always be a simple boerseun at heart. Annette Klinger spoke to him.

How did you end up becoming a chef?
My love of food definitely started at a young age, and was influenced by both sides of my family. My paternal grandmother was the type of woman who'd show me how to make traditional marmalade, proper slow-baked rusks and tripe. My maternal grandfather was a great fan of braising and slow-roasting leg of lamb or springbok in the outside stove overnight. From there, things snowballed, and I ended up studying at the Prue Leith Chef's Academy in Pretoria. After stints in Mozambique and Pretoria, Summerfields came along, and I've been here ever since.

Do you have any particular fond food memories that stand out in your mind?
Going hunting with my dad in Limpopo is definitely near the top of the list, we’d prepare feasts with nothing but an open veld, a fire and a pot. Food like pheasant with red wine or impala kidney and liver stroganoff. You can't get any better than that.

Tell us a bit more about the menu at Summerfields.
I enjoy emphasising South African ingredients such as springbok, kudu and crocodile. On Wednesdays we focus on seafood, which we get from Mozambique – it's only a couple of hours from Hazyview and is the source of the best, freshest seafood imaginable. On Fridays we do curries.

Any signature dishes?
For starters it'd definitely be the filo-baked brie with green figs and home-made tomato chutney. For mains, something like pork fillets wrapped in marjoram and bacon with honey and mustard glaze, and for dessert the Summerfields pavlova with seasonal berries or fruit.

What is one of your favourite dishes to eat?
Being a boerseun, meat is definitely king. I enjoy a good beef fillet with a wild mushroom risotto and a nice port or red-wine jus. Perfection on a plate.

Where do you like to eat out on your days off?
I love going to Orange in Nelspruit, which has now changed its name to Zest, or to 10 on Russell.

What's one of the most unusual local dishes you've eaten recently?
Samp with peanuts and pieces of mopane worm, served with chicken feet and cockerel. One of my staff members made it. I'm up for trying anything once!

By Annette Klinger