Chef
Cooking On The Blue Train
Esther Ndlovu, executive chef on South Africa’s luxury Blue Train, spills the beans on the challenges of cooking on the move. Kevin Keating of Ethos Marketing reports
OBH: Hi Esther, how long have been working on The Blue Train? EN: At present I’ve been on The Blue Train for 14 years
That’s a long time, what did you do before that? I graduated from Garankuwa Hotel School in 1991 and then worked for Sun International and various other restaurants before joining The Blue Train.
So are the meals really prepared from scratch on the train or are they pre-cooked and brought onto the train before departure? All meals are freshly prepared on board with fresh raw ingredients.
As someone who can’t manage to drink a cup of tea on a train without spilling it, how do you you manage to produce such amazing meals in such cramped conditions? The space constraints are testing – the space to prepare the meals is so limited, it is 13m x 3m. Another challenge is when The Blue Train runs extremely late – due to unforeseen circumstances which are beyond The Blue Train’s control, such as, signal failure, break- down of other trains in front of the train and washed out railway lines (due to weather). Sometimes I may need to produce extra meals at short notice and a spontaneous new menu has to be formulated and printed for all guests within a short space of time.
What about the movement of the train, it must get wobbly, I think I’d be dropping things all the time? The movements of the train were a challenge at first, but you get used to it. Having experienced waiters and butlers – some of whom have been with The Blue Train for over two decades, also helps.
If you spend your working day creating this amazing cuisine I wonder what sort of meals
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www.onboardhospitality.com
The Blue Train is one of South Africa’s iconic attractions but raises a whole host of challenges for the onboard chefs
do you like to cook at home? The traditional South African Pap and vleis and gravy. A combination of milled maize flour cooked in boiling water and topped with braised red meat of beef or mutton.
Please describe your typical day on The Blue Train? My day starts at 5am at The Blue Train lounge kitchen. I start baking and preparing pre-departure snacks. I then move on board. At 08h50 on departure, I start preparing for brunch which is served from 10h30 until 14h30. We then start preparing high tea which is served at 15h30. I take an hour break and refresh myself to
start preparing for dinner from 16h35. Dinner is served from 19h30 and finishes at 23h15 (should there be more than 42 guests on board).
Wow that’s a long day, what do you do to relax? Watching TV (Master Chef), sports or
reading a good cooking / recipe book. Thanks Esther it sounds like food is more
than just a job for you and I hope I get the chance to taste some of your dishes one of these days.
Esther would you mind sharing one of your favourite recipes with us? Sure, how about this one for Butternut Cheesecake: Ingredients: Puff pastry, Eggs,Cream, Pepperdew, Cream and Feta cheese, Butternut Method: Bake puff pastry sheet in oven until golden brown, Mix cream and feta cheese and chopped pepperdews in a bowl. Boil butternut till well cooked and strain it Pour butternut on top of baked puff pastry. Put a layer of cream and feta cheese and pepperdew on top of butternut. Beat eggs and cream together and pour over. Bake in oven until golden brown. Cut in squares and enjoy with fried baby spinach. Good luck!
www.bluetrain.co.za
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