Chef Phil Khoza, a new chef in town, is making big strides in his career with his unique culinary style that combines traditional African cuisine with modern convenience, ensuring high-quality food.
Chef Le Phill, as he is affectionately called, reveals that he started his journey during the pandemic in a garage; his audacious move cemented his reputation as a formidable force, drawing the interest of major merchants with his creative business model.
He also leads Unorthodox Chef Catering, established three years ago as a restaurant and catering service that has evolved into a renowned food manufacturer specialising in authentic African cuisine.
The Unorthodox Chef Catering has taken over Mogodu Mondays, Tlhakwana Tuesdays, Maotwana Wednesdays and Oxtail Sundays with 12-minute ready-made, hearty meals.
“Identifying a gap in the market, I have curated and modernised recipes from yesteryear while preserving their authentic African flavours. This innovative approach caught the attention of major retailers,” said Chef Phil.
Besides his exquisite frozen dinners, his menu items include beef stew, hard-bodied chicken, chicken feed, oxtail, ox trotters/liver, mala, mogodu, and three-bean stews.
Rooted in cherished family recipes and expressing love and warmth through food, the frozen meals are now available in 84 Pick n Pay stores in Gauteng.
Chef Phil has visits scheduled to the following Pick n Pay locations today and tomorrow: Wonderboom Junction, Hyper Faerie Glen, Sinoville, Boulevard, and The Grove.
His meals are reportedly hitting Checkers’ shelves soon too.
Speaking about how his journey started, he said, “I started this journey in the midst of the pandemic in 2021 from a humble garage. After six months, I upgraded to a small restaurant in the Boulders area of Midrand. The shift from working at a quarantine site for 11 months to pursuing this business was a risk and a bold move that bore its own challenges.”
He further said the dream did not go away despite the setbacks; rather, it was redesigned for success.
“After some time, I decided to close the restaurant and started preparing for the transition into a production kitchen. This new set-up was designed for producing cooked and frozen traditional meals—a unique concept, convenience of home-cooked traditional meals to those who might not have the time to prepare them,” he said.
Saturday Star
anita.nkonki@inl.co.za