Bertus Hendrik Basson (born 12 April 1979)Basson is 34 in December 2013 if his birthday was in April: is a South African chef,

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

and

TV personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

best known for his work as

head chef A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads and manages the kitchen and chefs of a restaurant or hotel. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef is ...

of Overture in

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

Early life

After being born in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in 1979, Bertus was brought up in

Polokwane Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Province ...

Nelspruit Mbombela (also known as Nelspruit) is a city in northeastern South Africa. It is the capital of the Mpumalanga province. Located on the Crocodile River (Mpumalanga), Crocodile River, Mbombela lies about by road west of the Mozambique border, ea ...

and

Witbank Witbank (), officially Emalahleni, is a city situated on the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, within the Emalahleni Local Municipality. The name Witbank is Afrikaans for "white ridge", and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where wago ...

. He began to help his mother with cooking in the kitchen at a young age. Growing up, Basson also worked as a waiter at

Spur Steak Ranches Spur Corporation (doing business as Spur Steak Ranches) () is a steakhouse franchise restaurant chain originating from South Africa with a focus on family dining. The head office of Spur Corporation is situated in Century City, Cape Town. Althoug ...

, as well as at a liquor store and a toy store.

Career

Bertus Basson began working in the culinary career when he was 17 years old. He moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

at the age of 19 to work at the

Michelin star The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...

red restaurant

Chez Bruce Chez Bruce is a restaurant located at 2 Bellevue Road in Wandsworth, London, England. History The restaurant was opened in February 1995 by Bruce Poole and his business partner Nigel Platts-Martin, a proprietor of several other Michelin Guid ...

. Basson began his first catering business, All Things Culinary, in 2005. In 2007, Bertus was named ''

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

Chef of the Year'', before establishing his first restaurant, Overture in November. Overture has been awarded distinguished accolades from both the Eat Out Guide and Rossouws Restaurant Guide while under his leadership. Basson appeared as a judge on Season 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the national cooking show ''

The Ultimate Braai Master ''The Ultimate Braai Master'' is a South African reality cooking competition television series created and hosted by Justin Bonello. The first season premiered on 13 September 2012. The first three seasons aired on SABC 3 before switching to e.tv ...

'' on

SABC 3 SABC 3 (stylised as S3) is a South African free-to-air public television network owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). It carries programming in English and, few in other South African languages. It has a number of its own re ...

. He also appears as a guest on the lifestyle TV show

Top Billing Billing is a performing arts term used in referring to the order and other aspects of how credits are presented for plays, films, television, or other creative works. Information given in billing usually consists of the companies, actors, direct ...

as well as the daily talk show ''Expresso''. Basson was crowned with "Chef of the Year" at the 2019 South African EatOut Awards for his work at Eike and Overture.

Restaurants

Books

Bertus Basson has two books to his name: * ''Homegrown'' (2017, Jacana Media; ) * ''Being Bertus Basson'' (2018, Jacana Media; )

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basson, Bertus 1979 births Living people South African chefs South African cookbook writers South African television personalities People from the Western Cape South African writers People from Cape Town