Pop-up kitchen partnerships are all the rage right now. At the Cape Grace, one such collab means there’s an opportunity to taste a stellar creation by chef Nokuthula ‘Nokx’ Majozi
You can call it a pie, but it is – more accurately – a work of art. A crisp crust that’s as delicious as the meaty, flavoursome interior, its outer shell refined over years spent turning pastry into an object of obsession. It’s being served, for a limited time, at the Cape Grace’s Heirloom restaurant, its creator the South African-born, London-based chef, Nokx Majozi.
Having spent years making hundreds of pies a day, Majozi is London cooking royalty, having gone from humble beginnings in Richards Bay, where she developed a love of cooking while spending time in the kitchen with her parents. From her mother she garnered her love of traditional South African cooking. And, from her father, who worked at the harbour and brought home foreign recipes and ingredients from visiting sailors, she learned to translate more exotic dishes into home-cooked meals. This childhood fascination with food’s endless variety evolved into an unexpected career. From cooking at Durban’s Riverside Hotel, she spread her wings – first to Orlando, Florida at a Disney resort, and then to the UK, where she has lived since 2003, and where she found her groove among London’s pastry-making elite.
In 2014, she joined the team at Rosewood London’s Holborn Dining Room, and in 2018 helped launch The Pie Room, where she worked as head pie-maker and became known for pies stuffed with everything from pepper steak and blue cheese to truffle and Tunworth dauphinoise – she regularly created more than 300 refined pies in a day. Accolades streamed in; in the UK, she’s appeared on such celebrity cooking shows as Sunday Brunch and Saturday Kitchen, and last year she was a judge on MasterChef South Africa.
Having left Holborn late last year, she was recruited as chef-in-residence at Fallow, a Michelin-recommended restaurant in St James’s, where there’s a focus on sustainability and a farm-to-table, nose-to-tail cooking ethos.
Last month, she cooked at the Cape Grace hotel, alongside Heirloom’s Wesli Jacobs, as part of her tour of the country to launch her first recipe book. Celebrating the country’s culinary diversity, The South African Cook Book (Bloomsbury) features simple-yet-delicious dishes many of which are overlooked. It includes recipes passed down over generations as well as common-sense everyday meals and braai staples that Majozi believes every South African should know. There’s a section dedicated to pies and pastry, including a recipe for Majozi’s famed burger pie, which she developed while working at The Pie Room.
The burger pie was one of those viral dishes that sent social media into a frenzy. Now, Majozi has brought that same sense of theatre to Heirloom, where her new pie is proving to be every bit the scene-stealer.
The beef Wellington pie (which is available at Heirloom until 23 September) is prepared with a chargrilled wagyu fillet that’s rolled in biltong and mustard, encased in a duxelles of mixed mushrooms, porcini powder and garlic, and wrapped in bresaola before being enclosed in Majozi’s perfectly executed pastry crust, which is then baked to a perfectly golden consistency.
Accompanied by chargrilled squash and morogo (imifino) braised in garlic, onion and cultured butter, the wagyu Wellington is part of a generous menu that starts with scumptious ujeqe (Zulu steamed bread) and corn bread. The bread course is followed by Saldanha Bay oysters with smoked snoek mayonnaise, chakalaka purée and citrus foam. A starter of rooibos-cured trout follows, served with braised leeks, finger lime, curry leaf and beurre blanc.
Dessert is milk tart, remodelled as a light and creamy mille-feuille – not too sweet, it’s a satisfying culmination to an exquisite meal and practically melts in the mouth.
The cooperation between Majozi and Jacobs is part of a series of ‘Four-Hands Collaborations’ at Heirloom; the next will see Jacobs cooking alongside chef Shaun Scrooby from VUUR in Stellenbosch over the Heritage Day weekend (25 and 26 September). Whichever experience you opt for, it’s worth making an evening of it – arrive early to enjoy the restaurant’s working harbour setting, with time enough to finish the night with drinks in the Cape Grace’s Bascule bar (open until midnight).
For more information or to book visit capegrace.com or call 021/410-7100.
