Welcome, Executive Chef Gary Opperman!

Simbithi Country Club would like to officially welcome our new Executive Chef, Gary Opperman. Chef Opperman takes over�the reins at an exciting time in the Simbithi story: with our kitchen having recently undergone an extensive renovation and�our beloved Fig Tree Restaurant re-opening earlier this year.�

About Chef Gary Opperman�

Chef Opperman took an interest in cooking at an early age. “My grandmother used to bake all the time, and that’s where my�passion was first developed. She would bake cookies, and let me help her make the dough. Getting my hands messed with�dough, feeling the texture and tasting the different cookies: these are my most special, earliest memories of the kitchen.�After matriculating from Stanger High School, Durban-born Chef Opperman graduated from INTEC College with an Advanced�Gourmet Cooking Diploma and completed his in-service training at Wits Hotel School.

His culinary expertise has taken him�around Africa: he has headed up the kitchens at the Hilton Curio Legend Hotel Lagos Airport and Radisson Blu Anchorage�Hotel in Nigeria, Rani Resorts in Indigo Bay, Mozambique and the Tsogo Sun Garden Court Kitwe and Edgar Chagwa Lungu�Convention Centre in Zambia – his most recent. Locally, Chef Opperman gained recognition for his outstanding work at the�Tsogo Sun Drakensberg Sun Lifestyle Resort, the Tsogo Sun Garden Court Umhlanga and Fairmont Zimbali Lodge.�

A member of the South African Chefs’ Association, Chef Opperman is proficient in an array of cooking styles, including�German, French, Italian, Danish, Sushi, Indonesian, Mexican, Mauritian, Central African and Cape Dutch. His favourite,�however, is anything Asian. “I love cooking with Asian flavours; Chinese, Japanese…anywhere I get to play with a�combination of sweet, salty and sour!” As a Chef who started out in pastry, he also enjoys the art of creating a masterful�dish.�

While he has cooked in some of the most beautiful parts of Africa, and catered for weddings of up to 3500 people, one of Chef�Opperman’s best memories in the kitchen is witnessing the development of a unique, deaf-friendly kitchen at Garden Court�Umhlanga, in 2010. “Four deaf chefs were brought into the kitchen. We used different coloured lights and chalkboards to�communicate, and trained the staff in basic sign language. So many people thought it would be impossible to have a deaf�chef in a noisy kitchen, but watching that unfold was truly special and something I won’t easily forget.”�

Now, returning to South Africa to take up his new position at Simbithi, Chef Opperman is enthusiastic. “I’ve been out of the�country for a while, and I cannot wait to come down to the North Coast! I have learnt, and grown, so much in my travels and�it is going to be fantastic to bring this experience to Simbithi. I want to bring a wow factor to the kitchen, and really be the�talk of the town. One is never too old to learn, though, so I look forward to meeting the team at Simbithi and working with�them.”�

Simbithi Eco-Estate and Country Club General Manager Malcolm Samuel is excited to officially welcome Chef Opperman to�Team Simbithi on 1 August, 2019. “I am sure Chef Opperman will find our community to be warm and welcoming, and we�look forward to having him on board.”�