Rare and irreplaceable: David Higgs talks about the heart and art of cooking

Inspired by the unique story of Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare Glenury Royal, the third release of a special whisky blend made using limited editions of rare whiskies, we ask four bright local stars to share the rare, unique moments that have shaped their careers. 

Chef and restaurateur David Higgs spent the first 10 years of his life in the coastal town of Walvis Bay, Namibia, living off the sea and land. “My dad was a fisherman and we would go catch fish before and after school and work. We would go hunting during school holidays and I have fond memories of making koeksisters with my grandmother in Cape Town and helping my mom make her famous fishcakes.”

The fishcake recipe is included in Mile 8, a culinary adventure documented in a cookbook, dedicated to his father and featuring more than 150 recipes influenced by Higgs’ career journey.

Growing up this way gave chef Higgs a special understanding and appreciation of provenance, shaping his unique approach to turning fresh produce into beautifully crafted meals served at the top SA restaurants he has both worked at and owns. Renowned for his stint as executive chef at the Saxon Hotel’s Five Hundred, Higgs has earned further critical acclaim as partner and chef of Marble, Johannesburg’s signature live-fire restaurant based in Rosebank, and Saint, a non-traditional Italian concept eatery that has been a novel addition to Sandton’s food circuit.

The restaurants, both glaringly absent from the top 20 of this year’s Eat Out Awards, throw a spotlight onto the obvious differences between the fine-dining offering of Cape Town eateries and the vibey atmosphere and honest food that Johannesburg’s patrons demand from their dining experience. Higgs says there’s no doubt that the top 20 deserve their accolades but unless the judging criteria changes, the type of dining that is unique to Johannesburg won’t be recognised. “When it comes to the experience of dining, Joburg does it better,” he says.

The successes of Saint and Marble can probably be attributed to the distinctive and equal partnership with Higgs’ friend Gary Kyriacou. “We have different strengths and we each respect those strengths,” says Higgs. Kyriacou’s entrepreneurial background and business mind enhance Higgs’ multi-award-winning skills in the kitchen. “It’s just the two of us and it’s not complicated. 

We also get along really well and I think that’s also important.”

“There is very little room for error in this industry and, in the age of social media and cooking shows on TV, people are a lot more knowledgeable about food. You really have to be on top of your game and be as close to perfect as possible. But I’m also a realist; I try my best to limit the number of mistakes.

“Cooking is not about practising and is not a direct science; you cook from the gut. If you don’t have heart, and you don’t enjoy cooking, you’re not going to produce good food,” says Higgs.

The art of cooking, he says, is understanding a product, seasonality, how a product can change, and knowing how to fix or adapt that for the palate.

Not only focused on presenting the perfect plate, Higgs is also founder of Food Cycle, a feeder kitchen based in Diepsloot which provides hands-on education about food, nutrition and cycling — Higgs is passionate about the sport — to the community. The young people receive training and work experience and the talent that stands out gets absorbed into Marble and Saint.

In a career as commendable as Higgs’ has been, it’s not easy to pinpoint one single moment as a highlight. “In our industry, you can’t say you’ve made it because the next minute you could be gone.”

Opening his first business, a successful cookery school called The Higgs School of Good Cooking, and its adjacent catering company Extreem Kwizeen, winning the title of Young Junior Chef of SA from Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, and representing SA in Switzerland and Germany as part of the SA National Culinary Team, are testament to a career that has been exceptional from the start.

Having spent five formative chef years at Rust en Vrede restaurant, Higgs says winning chef of the year, best restaurant and best service in 2011 (among many others) were obviously high points, but he also marks Marble as a milestone because of how difficult it was to open. “The first few months were not easy. Those moments make you appreciate what you’ve got and how hard you’ve worked to get it. The rewards have been massive.” 

• This article was paid for by Johnnie Walker.