ROUND TRIP

CHEF RYAN COLE likes things how he likes them. There’s a way of doing things. Whether it’s cutting an onion, packing the fridge, even washing the plates his food is served on – it’s all become part of a shorthand he’s spent the past three-and-a-half years refining as head chef of the number one restaurant in Africa*, spoken in a dialect wholly unique to his brigade at The Test Kitchen.

“The challenges of setting up a new kitchen team are immeasurable,” he says during a short break on the day before the official media launch of Salsify at the Roundhouse – his first restaurant – headed up in business partnership with Luke Dale Roberts and Luke’s wife Sandalene. “I’m OCD to the moon and all the way back. At The Test Kitchen, I could say, ‘Make me this, do that for me,’ and there were 15 people who could do exactly what I wanted because is what I want from you. Eight times over. It’s hectic pressure, but I mean, that’s what keeps you alive.”