Bertus Hendrik Basson (born 12 April 1979)
[Basson is 34 in December 2013 if his birthday was in April: ] is a South African chef,
restaurateur
A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...
,
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
and
TV personality
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in spor ...
best known for his work as
head chef
A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads and manages the kitchen and chefs of a restaurant or hotel. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef i ...
of Overture in
,
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...
.
Early life
After being born in
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...
in 1979, Bertus was brought up in
,
Nelspruit
Mbombela (also known as Nelspruit) is a city in northeastern South Africa. It is the capital of the Mpumalanga province. Located on the Crocodile River, Mbombela lies about by road west of the Mozambique border, east of Johannesburg and north ...
and
Witbank
Witbank (), officially Emalahleni, is a city situated on the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, within the Emalahleni Local Municipality. The name Witbank is Afrikaans for "white ridge", and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where w ...
. He began to help his mother with cooking in the kitchen at a young age. Growing up, Basson also worked as a waiter at
Spur Steak Ranches, as well as at a liquor store and a toy store.
Career
Bertus Basson began working in the culinary career when he was 17 years old. He moved to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
at the age of 19 to work at the
Michelin star
The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The ac ...
red restaurant
Chez Bruce
Chez Bruce is a restaurant located at 2 Bellevue Road in Wandsworth, London, England.
History
The restaurant was opened in February 1995 by Bruce Poole and his business partner Nigel Platts-Martin, a proprietor of several other Michelin-star ...
.
Basson began his first catering business, All Things Culinary, in 2005. In 2007, Bertus was named ''
Unilever
Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy ...
Chef of the Year'', before establishing his first restaurant, Overture in November.
Overture has been awarded distinguished accolades from both the Eat Out Guide and Rossouws Restaurant Guide while under his leadership.
Basson appeared as a judge on Season 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the national cooking show ''
The Ultimate Braai Master
''The Ultimate Braai Master'' is a South African reality cooking competition television series created and hosted by Justin Bonello. The first season premiered on 13 September 2012. The first three seasons aired on SABC 3 before switching to e.t ...
'' on
SABC 3
SABC 3 (stylised as S3) is a South African free-to-air public television network owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). It carries programming in English and, few in other South African languages. It has a number of its own ...
. He also appears as a guest on the lifestyle TV show
Top Billing as well as the daily talk show ''Expresso''.
Basson was crowned with "Chef of the Year" at the 2019 South African
EatOut
EatOut is a Kenyan technology company that provides information and reviews on restaurants in East Africa. They also operate ''Yummy Magazine'', a lifestyle publication with a focus on food and drinks, as well as various food events in Nairobi.
H ...
Awards for his work at Eike and Overture.
Restaurants
Books
Bertus Basson has two books to his name:
* ''Homegrown'' (2017, Jacana Media; )
* ''Being Bertus Basson'' (2018, Jacana Media; )
Awards and nominations
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basson, Bertus
1979 births
Living people
South African chefs
South African cookbook writers
South African television personalities
People from the Western Cape
South African writers
People from Cape Town