Being Executive Chef of The Maslow, a four-star business hotel in Sandton, is no easy feat, but Chef Omar Menhouk relishes the opportunity to curate world-class culinary delights.
Tourism Update sat down with him to get a sense of how a chef of his stature delivers high-quality meals on a daily basis for one of Sandton’s top business and leisure hotels.
Family and experience
Born in Algeria in 1970, Menhouk comes from a family that has been synonymous with the hospitality industry throughout the generations.
His grandfather and father were both chefs – his father created dishes at the Michelin-starred Le Jules Verne restaurant on the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Menhouk has three daughters, two of whom are twins. One of the twins is also a chef, representing her family’s legacy at the Cheetah Plains Private Reserve in the northwest corner of the Sabi Sands.
Menhouk obtained a Diploma in Cooking from Algeria and speaks five languages – French, Arabic, Swahili, Italian and English.
He arrived in South Africa in 1994 to open a well-known French restaurant in Pretoria – Brasserie De Paris. Now, with almost 30 years’ experience in the culinary industry, he has worked in some of the continent’s most exclusive properties.
After Pretoria, from 1998 until 2001 he was Chef de Partie at The Palace of The Lost City, the luxury five-star hotel in Sun City.
After a brief spell in the Kruger National Park and returning to Sun City for a second time, he moved to Kenya where he lived for 14 years. There he worked in the Hemingways Collection’s Indian Ocean, Nairobi and Maasai Mara properties.
Before moving to The Maslow in December 2021, Menhouk cooked his way up as Resort Executive Chef at the Royal Swazi Spa in Eswatini.
He has also cooked for celebrities, Sir Richard Branson, Zambia’s first lady and the Saudi Arabian royal family.
“Branson was a true businessman and a gentleman. He would ask me to dish up for him from the buffet what I thought he should eat,” Menhouk said.
His mentors include Graham Wood, Sun International’s Chief Operating Officer of hospitality, and Australian Chef Peter Washbourne, who he credits with having “built my name and my career when I worked at The Palace at Sun City”.
New menu at The Maslow
Chef Menhouk was tasked by The Maslow to create a new menu for the hotel, as the COVID pandemic menu “was too small”.
It took him and his team a year to perfect, as there were not enough guests in the beginning to test his creations. Now he has curated a new menu that suits the whole family.
“We have something for every member of the family. We have a new children’s menu, as well as vegan and vegetarian options, a full steak house offering, seafood and tapas.”
The new dishes are crammed with fresh vegetables and herbs, with an emphasis on healthier eating.
Think herbed quinoa and chickpea salad with a lemon-tahini dressing, marinated Algerian-style king prawns served with steamed rice, tomato relish and a garlic, herb, and mint sauce, or a Mediterranean vegetable stew with chickpeas, eggplant, yellow and green bell peppers, onions, butternut, courgettes, tomatoes, beans, and herbs.
A selection of six cuts of meat are cooked on a specially imported Josper oven that gives a unique flavour by cooking over charcoal embers. “We have introduced four new sauces – béarnaise, harissa, chimichurri and Café du Paris, which are a refreshing modern take for those tired of the standard mushroom, pepper and red wine jus.”
The stars of the new menu are the Moroccan lamb shank tagine and the crispy Lebanese chicken, with the latter marinated in seven herbs and cooked in the Josper, served with slaw and new potatoes, or a pasta dish such as creamy fricassée of gnocchi and penne or fettuccine with a choice of sauces from Pomodoro, creamy garlic, ragu bolognese and parmesan Reggiano.
Menhouk’s legacy and passions
“Today I am recognised for my training skills. Nurturing young aspiring chefs to reach standards of excellence is a passion for me,” Menhouk said.
“I like to make sure my guests are happy and don’t leave disappointed. Your meal must be quality and delicious. But you are only as good as your team. You all pull the wagon together. Remember, I cannot cook every dish myself. When my team do wrong, I point it out, and the same when they do a good job.”
He enjoys creating innovative dishes and likes cooking with lots of herbs and spices. These include turmeric, ginger and Himalyan salt. “I stay away from canned ingredients.”
In his own fridge, Menhouk said he always had fresh vegetables, lettuce and all types of fruit, as well as lamb, fish or calamari. He is also extremely passionate about coffee, drinking four to six espressos a day.
