Lanser Fourie, the culinary force behind the beautiful self-named bistro in Bryanston, shares his kitchen secrets with us.
How did you get into cheffing?
It’s a funny story. I was attending a family dinner at a very respectable restaurant in Johannesburg when my sister threw the challenge at me. I made the decision there and then, and so it was that my cooking career was launched. It was only once I got to cooking school that I realised how great my passion was for cooking actually was – and that I had a real palate for food.
What’s your food philosophy?
Keep it simple.
If you could eat at any restaurant in the world, what would it be and why?
Eleven Madison Park in New York City. I would eat the turbot, their foie gras, obviously the prawn roulade and I almost forgot – the Sea Urchin Cappuccino.
What’s your favourite wine? And what do you like to eat with it?
I don’t have a favourite wine; there are so many to appreciate that it feels wrong to single out just one. I can, however, say that my favourite cultivar would be Pinot Noir, which is best paired with steak tartare.
What would you have as your last meal?
A wagyu beef sandwich, also known as the Ozaki steak sandwich. It’s made with five ounces of wagyu beef, served on thick pieces of pain de mie (soft white bread), with a house-made Japanese steak sauce that includes onions, ginger and garlic cooked with sake, mirin (a type of Japanese rice wine), tamari (a variety of soy sauce) and black vinegar.
I can’t imagine anything much tastier than this!