A gastronomic journey with Chef Alex Mwaura

The taste of the pudding, they say, is in the eating! Until you try out ‘Chicken Atete’ among other Afro-continental delicacies borne out of extensive research, you will not realise how creative indigenous hands can be in the kitchen. Well, the ‘Chicken Atete’ is a ‘Signature Dish’ and top among the specialties and creations of Alex Mwaura, the executive chef at Southern Sun Ikoyi Hotel.

A stay in the 195-room hotel will never be complete without visit to the expansive restaurant, where Chef Mwaura showcases his culinary skills. At the world-class restaurant, which also hosts the very popular Sunday Brunch (another creation of the Kenyan-born chef), every guest undertakes a gastronomic journey initiated by Chef Mwaura and his team.

With over 27 years experience and as executive chef for 15 years now in over five countries, he does his job with strict attention to details, professionalism, and the right inputs that it requires. Of course, dishing out menu that appeals to every palate across different cultures is never easy. But the graduate of Kenya Utalii College, one of the oldest hospitality schools in Africa, is good at meeting and surpassing guests’ expectations.

The irony is that at every meal, the unsuspecting foreign guests keep commending the expatriate hands that cooked their home-country food, not knowing that Chef Mwaura who is proudly African and his team of indigenous but competent cooks made their day.

Thanks to the management of Southern Sun that insists on consistency on quality offerings and engaging competent hands like Chef Mwaura to execute it. The executive chef says consistency in delivering the best quality culinary offerings is chief among the reasons he was hired.

“When we started Southern Sun Ikoyi Hotel in 2009, we had a straight forecast of what we want to do in Lagos. We had seen what was on offer and we had decided that we are going to offer the best that we are capable of doing because we had already evaluated what other people were offering. We went ahead with that goal, and this is what we are doing even up till date, we have one of the best culinary offers in Lagos or rather the best,” he says.

One obvious consistency is the Sunday Brunch, which brings people to the hotel here every Sunday. “For four years now, we have been averaging about 280 guests every Sunday. Our strongest part of it is that we are very consistent with our meals and what we do,” he explains.

Chef Mwaura is deeply rooted in the kitchen and the art of professional culinary. For him, kitchen is not all about cooking, it involves a whole lot of planning, calculations, ingredients, and the right personnel to execute it all. His typical day starts with writing recipe, planning menu and doing kitchen management. It is not an easy one because it is part of the daily routine to make every meal, according to him, count. “But it is only the guests that will confirm how great a meal is. But we make sure they do so in our favour, by putting our best on the dining table,” he says.

For him, 27 years in the kitchen is not a joke. A taste of these creatively made specialties served by those passionate about service will convince you that the 27 years he has spent so far in the kitchen is more than a number.

But while Southern Sun Ikoyi Hotel restaurant is a must-visit for lunch and dinner, especially Sunday Brunch, it took a great deal of research, feedback from guests and creativity to make it diners’ choice today. “When we arrived here, we had a serious cultural shock because everything was 100 percent new out of the Nigerian food. Whatever we were seeing were completely new and we made sure we first of all understand the culture and food. The best way to do that was to do a proper research on Nigerian food,” he explains.

“We ended up looking for elderly people who understand the meals from different perspectives because we realised that the younger generation we had was so much into buying ready-made food than doing the actual cooking. So, we decided to go to people who understand the real cooking and that is why we ended up having original recipes. These recipes have helped us to be consistent and we are developing them as time goes on, and adding new traits to it,” the executive chef explains further

Another success the chef recorded was changing presentation of food in the hotel. For instance, meat which before then was chunky now comes in smaller and easy-to-eat chunks.

All these changes have contributed in making food count in the hotel, especially the buffets becoming the most appealing from the hotel’s perspective and the basic culture of eating.

Another boost to the swelling patrons of the hotel’s restaurant is a simple practice of sending chefs of the hotel to go one-on-one with the guest into the restaurants. “This has really helped us. My way of running the kitchen is making it interactive with the clients and you are able to get direct feedback from the clients. And by doing this, you are also able to introduce new dishes to the clients and to give them a trial,” the experimental chef says.

Yet, Chef Mwaura and his team are never tired of experiment as long as it will positively impact the kitchen. “One of the things we are doing is that when we have a buffet, we make a few dishes out of our continental food and pass around for tasting. This has also paid dividends because people come back to say there is one dish I tasted on one Sunday and I will like to have it for a meal. This has also boosted our clientele a lot,” he says.

The executive chef hopes for a few more years on the job. He earnestly awaits your visit in order to savour his ‘Chicken Atete’ or the popular Sunday Brunch.

 

OBINNA EMELIKE