chef on safari

Chef on Safari

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Chef on Safari - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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• South Africa
• Kruger National Park

Chef on safari

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About Company!

combining professional chef and safari experiences to satisfy your unique culinary desires in the wilderness.explore our website and ignite your taste for adventure.

with 21 years in the hospitality industry, chef on safari can provide you with a wide range of customised culinary experiences.you may want to try our destination dining or bush braais in the wilderness.perhaps you want a personal chef to cater for you on holiday.maybe you are organising a special event and you want to treat your guests to a buffet or maybe family-style plating is your preferred type of dining.we also do wine or gin tastings and food pairings.we even do cakes! enjoy the feast for your eyes in our gallery and on our [sensitive content] page.

chef on safari is based in south africa in a small town called hoedspruit on the doorstep of the kruger national park and the blyde river canyon.this magical region is rich in biodiversity and home to the big 5.we mainly guide in this region, but we are always looking to expand our expertise by exploring new areas.we also guide trips to more remote and exclusive locations a few times a year.

from unforgettable sights, sunsets and african wildlife to unique experiences and customised culinary delights in gorgeous settings, there is just so much to see, taste, explore and enjoy in the lowveld.choose a private tour, a photography tour or opt for a guided group tour.

whether you’re looking for a romantic escape, an adventure or a group getaway, we provide all of these professional and personalised services.no matter what type of travel plan you’re looking for, we’re here to guide you every step of the way.

please visit the photo gallery and our [sensitive content] page to discover what we have done and what we could do for you.

we want all our valued clients to have an incredible experience.each positive review and returning client is a true reward. 

the kruger region is rich in diversity and home to several endangered species.the vision of chef on safari extends to conservation and education efforts in this area.

we believe that uplifting our local community is an important aspect of conservation.one of the ways we do this is by using locally sourced produce.another is the imparting of chef on safari skills through the development of a volunteer training programme.

we are currently looking to partner with local businesses and non-profit organisations in our area.if you would like to collaborate with chef on safari, please get in touch.

we also cover your special dietary requirements:veganvegetariangluten-freelactosekocheribs diethealthy eating

TourHQ ID: ZA94500

Private Tours Operator in: Kruger National Park

Languages spoken by our guides: English

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• Description
• 3-Night stay for 2 people,
• A private chef,
• Game drive, and
• Daily meals
• Look over the fine print for information on how you can redeem your voucher
• Two communal kitchens
• Two ablution blocks
• Boma which is a communal braai area in camp
• No shop or restaurant available
• No ATM facility availablSafari-tented accommodation only
• No reception office at camp
• Panorama Route - Day trip - R1600
• Private Game Reserve - Big 5 game drive - R1200 sunset or sunrise 3-hours
• Massage Treatment - from R2500
• The voucher is valid for 3 months from the date of purchase
• Bookings are essential & subject to availability: call 081 057 9290
• Email your Hyperli voucher to [email protected]
• No refunds will be provided to vouchers already purchased
• Please note: conservation fees & drinks are not included in this offer and should be paid directly to Chef On Safari
• This offer excludes transfers/shuttle from OR Tambo International Airport, bush walks & night drives
• Tour days: Thursday 2pm to Sunday at 9am (upon check out)
• Click HERE to view the general terms of sale of a Hyperli voucher

Limpopo: 3-Night stay for two including a private chef, game drive and meals with Chef On Safari

Limpopo: 3-Night stay for two including a private chef, game drive and meals with Chef On Safari - 3-Night stay for two including a private chef, game drive and meals is backordered and will ship as soon as it is back in stock.

The voucher is valid for 3 months from the date of purchase. R36 JG Strijdom Tunnel Road, Valley of Olifants, Hoedspruit, 1380. https://chefonsafari.co.za/

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Chef on Safari

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Chef on Safari - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024) - Tripadvisor

New weekly chef specials

Genuine African Food

At Chef Safari’s African Cuisine, Chef Safari creates American food in African fusion. He loves adding an African twist to traditional favorites and creating well-loved specialties.

Made With Love

Meet Chef Safari — an internationally acclaimed chef who loves infusing culture and new perspectives into Southern Colorado.

Our Gift To You

Check out our African-inspired menu! With dishes such as Curry Mac and Cheese, Tagine flat breads-pizza, African Fish and chips/masala fries, and Chicken Tikka, you’re sure to find a new favorite.

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ZAWADI MEANS GIFT. This flavorful African cuisine has come at the most difficult time as a gift to the locals as well as tourists visiting Durango. The great news Is that…

THIS GIFT IS FOR YOU.

Come and tour our culinary journey of flavors with me, Chef Safari. Chef Safari’s African Cuisine is committed to using only fresh and quality locally-sourced ingredients to create our exceptional and unique African dishes.

– Chef Safari

11:00 am – 8:00 pm

Monday: Open

Tuesday: Open

Wednesday: Closed

Thursday: Open

Friday:  Open

Saturday: Open

Sunday: Closed

Come visit us!

Our food truck is located at 999 East College Dr. in Durango, Colorado 81301.

Stay Connected

970-317-9074 [email protected]

999 East College Dr. Durango, Colorado 81301

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From Kenya to Colorado: Chef Arnold Safari on Starting a Restaurant During COVID-19

Learn how Chef Safari made Colorado his new home, and how he knew he was ready to start a restaurant during the coronavirus pandemic.

Take the Culinary Career Survey

We’ve compiled a checklist of all of the essential questions into one handy tool: career options, culinary interest surveys, educational opportunities, and more.

Clicking the "Get the Survey Now" button constitutes your express request, and your express written consent, to be contacted by and to receive automated or pre-recorded call, texts, messages and/or emails from via phone, text, and/or emails by Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts at the number(s)/email you provided, regarding furthering your education and enrolling. You understand that these calls , texts, messages and/or emails may be generated using an automated or pre-recorded technology. You are not required to agree to receive automated or pre-recorded calls, texts, messages or emails as a condition of enrolling at Escoffier. You can unsubscribe at any time or request removal of street address, phone number, email address via Escoffier website .

Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts has shared culinary education with students from all across the world. Some study online , earning their degrees and diplomas while working and living at home. Some travel to the U.S. to attend school at our Austin or Boulder campuses, and then bring what they learned back to their home countries with them.

And some come to the U.S. to bring their rich culinary knowledge to us — and take the opportunity to learn while they’re here.

That was the case with Chef Arnold Safari, who was already an established chef in Kenya before traveling to the United States to share what he knew with a hotelier in southwest Colorado. Now running his own restaurant, Chef Safari is sharing African cooking with the greater Durango, Colorado, community.

From Kenya to Colorado

Arnold Ngumbao, aka Chef Safari, has cooking in his genes. His father is a well-known Kenyan chef who started to teach him how to cook at the age of 9.

As an adult, Chef Safari joined World Chefs Without Borders , a humanitarian group that travels the world and provides food and culinary training in disaster areas and relief camps. During his time with the group, he traveled and cooked in every country in Africa, building on his foundation of Kenyan cooking, and both teaching and learning everywhere he went.

Chef Safari’s colorful cooking

After settling down to work as the chef in a 5-star resort in Tanzania, Chef Safari met the owner of Durango’s Strater Hotel, who was staying at the resort. He invited Chef Safari to come to Durango to work as a guest chef, and share his knowledge of African cuisine with his hotel staff. They worked out the details, and to Colorado he came!

Making an Important Career Decision

While working in the U.S., Chef Safari was sending his earnings home to his wife and children back in Kenya. But he grew concerned for their safety, as a violent terrorist group began targeting people with relatives in America. The Durango community rallied around him at this time, helping to raise funds to cover the costs of relocating his family.

In 2014, Chef Safari was successful in bringing his wife and younger children to the U.S. to join him. Soon, he was the executive chef at the Strater Hotel. With his family around him, and his career looking good, Chef Safari enrolled in Escoffier’s online culinary arts program . He was already a chef, but he knew that there was always more to learn!

By early 2020, Chef Safari was working at the DoubleTree Hotel in Durango, but was laid off after COVID-19 broke out. Instead of resting, he decided it was the perfect time to start his own restaurant.

“Escoffier has helped me to achieve my goals. By the time I graduated, I was [confident enough] to start my own restaurant during COVID.” Chef Arnold Safari, Escoffier Online Graduate & Owner, Eat Zawadi

Chef Safari’s Gift to Colorado

Chef Safari’s goal was to introduce African food to more people in Durango. He started with a booth at The Smiley Cafe, serving “grab-and-go” lunches at the Internet cafe for people to bring home. It was a huge success, selling out in just 30 minutes!

Encouraged by the success of the grab-and-go meals, he decided to open his own delivery and take out operation, Eat Zawadi . “Zawadi” is Swahili for “gift,” and it’s Chef Safari’s gift to Durango!

“The menu is a tour of Africa in food. So you will find all the flavors of dishes in my restaurant, the whole of Africa.” Chef Arnold Safari, Escoffier Online Graduate & Owner, Eat Zawadi

This tour of Africa includes falafel from Morocco, injera bread from Ethiopia, West African jollof rice, and Leblebi from North Africa. Other dishes are from his home in Kenya, like dirt rice — basmati rice, new potatoes, and peas, topped with tamarind and cardamom curry and caramelized onions. Chapati (unleavened bread) and samosas from Kenya are also on the menu.

Chef Safari’s samosas, falafel, and plantains

If you’re thinking basmati rice, curry, chapati, and samosas sound Indian rather than African, you’re partially right! Kenya is in East Africa, not too far from India. Some traditional Indian dishes and ingredients migrated to East Africa over the past few centuries, where they’ve evolved and became beloved parts of Kenyan cuisine.

“It means a lot to me sharing African cuisine in Colorado because it’s an awesome community.” Chef Arnold Safari, Escoffier Online Graduate & Owner, Eat Zawadi

Education is Never Finished!

Why did Chef Safari have the confidence to start his own restaurant during a pandemic? He credits it to his culinary education at Escoffier.

Even though he was an expert in many types of African cuisine, he knew there was still more to learn. “[Escoffier is] very personal,” he said. “They really join hands with you one-on-one. They talk to you, they walk you through every step of the program. I could reach out to every chef whenever I needed. And it’s never ending. I keep on learning each and every time I’m in need of knowledge from Escoffier.”

Chef Safari completed his online culinary arts program in May, 2020, and jumped right into his plans for The Smiley Cafe and Eat Zawadi. With his many years of cooking and management experience, and Escoffier’s business-focused curriculum to rely on, he was ready to strike out on his own.

Chef Safari’s Goals for the Future

Chef Safari has modest expectations for himself.

“One of my career goals is to become the top chef in the world [or] in Africa,” he said. “At the same time, I want to pursue my top level of understanding as a chef and help my village. I’ve inspired a lot of village teenagers in my career, and that’s very important to me.”

Chef Safari is thrilled with the reception that his food has received. He plans to open a full-service location soon, and hopes to eventually have multiple locations of Eat Zawadi throughout Durango.

“I would recommend the [Escoffier] program to any person that I come across in my career because I enjoyed it myself, and it has helped me a lot to become who I am today as a chef.” Chef Arnold Safari, Escoffier Online Graduate & Owner, Eat Zawadi

When he’s not at the restaurant, he’s teaching his young daughter to cook, just like his father taught him. Maybe there will be three generations of professional chefs in this talented family!

Eat Zawadi tikka fries

“The Happiest Moment of My Career”

Chef Safari’s enthusiasm and love for African cuisine is a joy to experience. And he’s a testament to the value of culinary education. Even a seasoned traveler and professional chef reaped benefits from his coursework at Escoffier.

“The moment I started Escoffier’s culinary program, that was the happiest moment of my career.” We’re looking forward to seeing many more happy moments in Chef Safari’s future!

To learn more about starting a restaurant, try these articles next:

• Escoffier Alumna Tiffany Moore Gets Her Restaurant Funded
• How Culinary School Can Help You Write and Implement a Business Plan
• What to Know When Opening a Vegetarian or Vegan Restaurant

Latest Articles

“see as much as you can”: chef instructor gregory bonath’s lifelong embrace of curiosity.

With the support of family and mentors, Chef Gregory left his small town behind and embarked on a unique culinary career that has culminated at Escoffier.

Fiesta Flavors: Spicing Up Cinco de Mayo Celebrations

At Escoffier, we love a good party, and Cinco de Mayo probably ranks as one of the best! In the United States, we celebrate the day with dance, song, and, of course.... food!

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Escoffier is running for the roses with five delicious derby-themed recipes. Chef Instructor Luke Shaffer has compiled a time-tested classic menu from the starting gate to the finish line.

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Clicking the "Get the Workbook Now" button constitutes your express request, and your express written consent, to be contacted by and to receive automated or pre-recorded call, texts, messages and/or emails from via phone, text, and/or emails by Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts at the number(s)/email you provided, regarding furthering your education and enrolling. You understand that these calls , texts, messages and/or emails may be generated using an automated or pre-recorded technology. You are not required to agree to receive automated or pre-recorded calls, texts, messages or emails as a condition of enrolling at Escoffier. You can unsubscribe at any time or request removal of street address, phone number, email address via Escoffier website .

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‘Top Chef’ Calls Upon Two More Chicago Chefs

Adalina’s Soo Ahn will compete and El Ideas’ Phillip Foss will guest chef

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Warning: Small spoilers for Top Chef: Wisconsin, episode 6.

As the latest season of Top Chef motors on to its sixth episode — premiering tonight (Wednesday, April 24) on Bravo — there are two developments that Chicagoans should know about.

Soo Ahn, the chef at Gold Coast Italian restaurant Adalina , gets the call to the big show after fighting his way through the Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen , the web-only series that offers competitors a chance to appear on the original show. Ahn made a name for himself at Band of Bohemia , where the Ravenswood restaurant was, at the time, the only Michelin-star brewpub in the world. The restaurant closed after his departure. Since then, he’s brought electricity to the Gold Coast with Adalina with a unique Italian American menu.

The other Chicago item shouldn’t be that big of a surprise as chef Phillip Foss of El Ideas, the funky experimental tasting menu restaurant in Douglass Park, is appearing on tonight’s show. Foss, a Milwaukee native, says he’ll be a guest chef on the episode which will feature Chaos Cooking, a type of style — a phrase coined in 2022 by Eater’s Jaya Saxena — as a new type of cooking that’s an “aggressive, weird, troll-y fusion that’s also thoughtful, being incredibly well received, and actually good.”

Foss says he’d never heard of the term until he was approached to appear on the show. But he feels it’s a philosophy he’s embraced through the years at EL Ideas where the menu can include chicken liver Twix and a Chicago-style lobster dog. He also mentions how chaos cooking involves an element of shock. His restaurant has served foie gras and black truffle milk from a baby bottle, for example. But the biggest example might be a “cocaine” course which involves a line of coconut and lime powder served on a mirror with a razor blade and straw.

“Though it is easily the most cost-effective item we’ve ever offered as a course, it provides exponential dividends in shock value for our guests,” Foss writes.

Still, Foss stresses that chefs need to crawl before they walk — they can’t immediately jump into the “cesspool of chaos.” They need to learn the fundamentals first.

Ahn joins Chicago Athletic Association chef Kaleena Bliss as the two locals left. Former MFK and Bambola chef Alisha Elenz has been eliminated.

Watch Foss and Ahn on Top Chef: Wisconsin , debuting at 8 p.m. tonight.

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A History of Moscow in 13 Dishes

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9 Moscow restaurants that won over the Michelin experts

White Rabbit restaurant.

Two Michelin stars: Chef’s Table (1st floor); recommendation: Fireplace Hall (2nd floor)

Artest is located in a two-story 19th-century mansion in central Moscow. On the ground floor is the Chef’s Table (where guests sit at the same table and are personally served dishes from the chef); on the second is a hall with a fireplace. The restaurant, opened only at the beginning of this year by experienced Russian restaurateur Arkady Novikov, takes its name from the first three letters of the given and last names of Artem Estafiev, a young chef from St. Petersburg. Estafiev already has experience of several large restaurants in Russia’s two capitals under his belt, plus internships in Spain and France. Artem uses farm products and creates his own innovations in the restaurant’s “laboratory”, where he makes vinegars from vegetables and berries (carrots, chokeberries, etc.), experiments with Japanese  koji  mushrooms, and keeps products at high temperatures. The exquisite cuisine is complemented by wines (more than 400 on the wine list) and unusual cocktails based on  kombucha  and fermented products.

"Vremya" set: potato, tomato.

What to order: “Vremya” set, blackened vegetables and fruits. Average check: 15,000 – 20,000 rubles (Chef's Table) / 2,800 – 9,000 rubles (Fireplace Hall) Address: 15/2, Trubnikovskiy Pereulok street Website:   artest.rest

2. Twins Garden

Two Michelin Stars, Green Michelin Star, Best Service Award

Since 2017, brothers Ivan and Sergey Berezutsky have been serving creative and hi-tech dishes to guests at their Twins Garden restaurant. In their own laboratory, the chefs combine gastronomy with science: they ferment products, print food with a 3D printer and use freeze drying. Also installed here is a “kinetic farm” with products hanging in the air – symbolizing the 100-hectare farm in the Yaroslavl region from where most of the products are supplied. Part of the farm is located in the forest, so the restaurant always has seasonal berries, herbs and mushrooms at its disposal. The farm also rears goats, cows and poultry, and produces cheeses.

Far Eastern shrimp dumplings with strawberries, asparagus and trout caviar.

In addition to the main menu, you can order the “Rediscover Russia” set with local products from different regions of the country. The second set meal with the telling name “Vegetables” gives you a taste from the tops to roots. The picture is completed by 14 varieties of wines made from vegetables, mushrooms and herbs (how do you like wine made from tomatoes or boletus?!). The restaurant is famed for its extensive wine list, which is more like a book, featuring over 1,000 labels from all over the world.

What to order: “Rediscover Russia” set; Far Eastern shrimp dumplings with strawberries, asparagus and trout caviar.

Average check: 2,500 – 15,000 rubles

Address: 7th/8th floor, 8A, Na Strastnom Shopping Center, Strastnoy Bulvar street

Website:   twinsgarden.ru/en/

3. White Rabbit

One Michelin star

The restaurant is located under a glass dome on the 16th floor of the Smolensky Passage mall and offers a stunning panoramic view of Moscow. The restaurant’s brand chef, Vladimir Mukhin, is ranked the ninth best in the world, according to the Best Chef Awards. He experiments with alternative sources of protein and new technologies, including sensory food design (where color, shape and sound affect how the dish is perceived). Each signature set that Vladimir presents at the chef’s table is an audacious gastronomic performance.

Okroshka with brine and white milk mushrooms in an ice dish.

What to order: “Black Swan” set;  okroshka  soup with brine and white milk mushrooms in an ice dish; Borodino bread with coconut lard; apricot with black caviar.

Average check: 2,500 – 12,500 rubles.

Address: 16th floor, 3 Smolensky Passage Shopping Center, Smolenskaya Ploschad square

Website:   whiterabbitmoscow.ru/en/

Another establishment from the White Rabbit Family alliance offering modern, original fare. Here, chef Anatoly Kazakov riffs on Russian themes, using French techniques. The dishes speak for themselves: Sakhalin scallop with morels and cauliflower; turnip, rutabaga and turnips with honey and feijoa; Pozharsky cutlet with cucumber ketchup and mashed potato with black truffle.

Pigeon with Jerusalem artichoke and soaked cowberries.

What to order:  Pigeon with Jerusalem artichoke and soaked cowberries; crab, millet, Poshekhonsky cheese and sweet Abkhaz lemon jelly in celery root.

Average check: 2,500 – 7,000 rubles.

Address: 2nd floor, 31 VEB.RF Retail and Business Center, Novinsky Bulvar street

Website:   selfiemoscow.ru/en/  

5. Sakhalin

Sakhalin serves a mix of Mediterranean and Asian cuisine, built around fish, shells and other seafood from the Russian Far East. As desired, guests can select them from the icebox or aquarium in the center of the restaurant, which, inter alia, amazes diners with its 360-degree panoramic views of Moscow from the 22nd and 23rd floors. The head chef is Aleksei Kogai, who has worked in the pan-Asian style for the White Rabbit Family alliance since 2011.

“Goldfish” rolls; Tiramisu in the form of a can of black caviar.

What to order: “Goldfish” rolls; Sakhalin salad; Tiramisu in the form of a can of black caviar.

Average check: 3,000 – 11,000 rubles

Address: 22nd floor, Azimut Hotel, 8 Smolenskaya Ulitsa street

Website:   sakhalin-moscow.ru/en/  

This restaurant is located on the second floor of the luxurious National Hotel overlooking the Kremlin. Beluga is described as a restaurant of Russian delicacies: its menu boasts more than 20 types of caviar and one of the world’s longest vodka lists. The head of the kitchen is Evgeny Vikentiev, an avant-garde chef from St Petersburg, who effortlessly combines pike-and-foie gras  pelmeni  with hay-and-mushroom broth, cheesecake with crispy reindeer lichen, and grape snails with buckwheat.

Octopus with coconut kefir and eggplant; Grape snails with buckwheat.

What to order: “Theory of New Delicacies” set.

Average check: 2,500 – 12,000 rubles.

Address: 2nd floor, National Hotel, 15/1 Mokhovaya Ulitsa street

Website:  belugamoscow.ru/en

Located in the historic building of the Metropol Hotel, a stone’s throw from the Bolshoi Theater and the Kremlin. The menu contains four main “stories” from chef Andrei Shmakov: “Healthy Lifestyle”, “Dacha”, “Farm” and “Russia”, each consisting of four dishes. For example, the “Russia” set tempts diners with duck-and-cherry borsch and muksun with warm potatoes. There is a separate menu section with six types of caviar (served with buckwheat fritters, potatoes, pickled cucumbers or smetana), plus more traditional offerings, including desserts. Andrei Shmakov, who created the menu, joined the Metropol kitchen in 2013, after previous stints in Estonia and St Petersburg, having trained at the legendary Noma in Copenhagen and Chez Dominique in Helsinki.

Beef jerky and smoked beetroot with parmesan and mustard ice cream.

What to order:  Beef jerky and smoked beetroot with parmesan and mustard ice cream; salmon, cod and halibut pie with asparagus and herb and caviar sauce; pie with pine nuts, chocolate, chanterelles and pine-flavored ice cream.

Average check: 2,500 – 6,000 rubles

Address: Metropol Hotel, 2 Teatralny Proezd street

Website:   savvarest.ru/en/  

8. Grand Cru

This wine restaurant in a prestigious area of ​​Moscow near Patriarch’s Ponds is run by French chef David Hemmerle, who has experience of working at exclusive restaurants in France and the UAE under his belt. Hemmerle’s menu at Grand Cru is rich in seasonal, local produce combined with expertly prepared sauces.  Très français .

Stuffed farm chicken breast with chanterelles.

What to order:  Stuffed farm chicken breast with chanterelles; young carrots and ginger sauce; tart with Kamchatka crab mousse and pike caviar.

Average check: 3,000 – 7,000 rubles

Address: 22/2 Malaya Bronnaya street.

Website:   grandcru.ru/en/

9. Biologie

One Michelin star, Green Michelin star

Opened about a year ago, the Biologie gastrobar with its laconic menu is located in a wooden building in a Moscow suburb; the dining area is decorated in a chalet style. Chef Ekaterina Alekhina adheres to the tenets of conscious consumption, respect for nature and minimal food waste in the kitchen.

Grilled scallop with beurre noisette and cream based on spent coffee grounds and pears.

What to order:  Grilled scallop with  beurre   noisette  and cream based on spent coffee grounds and pears.

Average check: 2,100 – 4,000 rubles

Address: 30/2 Lenin street, Ilyinskoe village

Website:   biologie.ru/en/ Average-check information comes from the Michelin Guide.

READ MORE: How French cuisine conquered Russia (unlike the French army)

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Bad News for San Francisco’s ‘Top Chef’ Fans

Spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned.

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Share All sharing options for: Bad News for San Francisco’s ‘Top Chef’ Fans

The sixth episode of season 21 of Top Chef saw 50 percent of the remaining Bay Area firepower pack up their knives. Rasika Venkatesa, known for her time as chef de cuisine at one-Michelin-starred Mourad in downtown San Francisco, was the judge’s least favorite for the episode and was sent home on Wednesday night. The exit comes as a surprise after Venkatesa won several challenges already, establishing herself as a frontrunner amongst the group. Laura Ozyilmaz, chef-owner of the Presidio’s Dalida , is now the final hope for a Northern Californian to win it all.

Things started innocuously enough for the Bay Area cooks. Milk Bar’s Christina Tosi joined as a judge for the quickfire challenge, asking the cooks to whip up a dairy-based dessert. Venkatesa made a play on a saffron frozen custard, resulting in a shrikhand centered on koofi; Ozyilmaz opted for a muhallebi with espresso whipped cream, relying on dark chocolate and a butter sauce drizzled atop at the judge’s table. That chocolate’s only relevant as she had another semi-spicy run-in with Dan Jacobs who was looking for it before finally seeing it at her station. “I’ve been fucking asking for it,” he muttered before breaking into a rendition of You’re My Best Friend by Queen . “Laura’s a competitor,” he later remarked to the camera.

A second big-time celebrity, Matty Matheson, led the elimination challenge. The Bear producer and actor gave an inspiring soapbox speech of chaos cooking — breaking the molds and going crazy. Ozyilmaz then went for a seafood-forward tadig, a California-inspired dish on the menu at Dalida. On first hearing the idea, Venkatesa went for eggplant, then to crab. As she prepared her dish, Colicchio and Mattheson walked by her station and riffed on her idea, saying steamed creme fraiche “falls flat.” While Venkatesa pivoted after the prep stage, deciding not to sear the eggplant and sous vide instead, Ozyilmaz stuck to her tadig. Upon presentation, the Dalida owner added a quail egg, salmon roe, and seaweed salad. Apartment Miso chef Sophia Roe wanted more flavor from Ozyilmaz’s dish, and another guest chef added that the Persian flavors were “side by side” rather than harmonious. Mattheson noted that it was more contemporary plating rather than chaotic. Still, Ozyilmaz mostly flew under the radar.

On the other hand, Venkatesa’s presentation of crab and eggplant with mushroom conserva, dukkah, and garlic tahini was poorly received from the jump. Unlike Jacobs’s okonomiyaki funnel cake, which was met with huge excitement, Kish was the first to point out a lack of flavor in Venkatesa’s dish. Steaming the eggplant was a mistake, Simmons added, resulting in a “slug-like” texture. “It’s not here,” Colicchio said. “The eggplant was as bland as bland can be.”

It was so poorly received that Venkatesa wound up in the bottom two, alongside Michelle Wallace and her Vietnamese-inspired pork areya. Colicchio wondered why Venkatesa didn’t stick to the original plan to sear the dish, and Venkatesa explained that she feared the filling would leak. All the judges agreed it was too flat, too one-note. “It was a risky move,” Venkatesa said of her handiwork. Backstage, she told her colleagues she didn’t go “super hard on the spices like I usually do.”

It’s a sad end for the chef, but Venkatesa was one of the main characters for this season and should have no trouble trouncing her opponents in the show’s companion series Last Chance Kitchen. If she does well there, bringing some of that spark that made her a big winner on the show so far, she could wind up on the primary show once again; contestant Kaleena Bliss re-appeared during this episode alongside newcomer Soo Ahn. As the credits roll, Venkatesa said she’s learned she takes bigger risks than she should sometimes, and that the highs and the lows of the show are that contestants live and die by each challenge. “Sorry chefs,” she said with a confident smile. “You haven’t seen the last of Rasika.”

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