Vivid Sydney chef series to feature food by Zulu chef Mmabatho Molefe at Bar Morris

She describes what she does at Emazulwini as “simple flavours and simple cooking, done well.”

Clearly, she is doing it well enough for the world to take notice. Her little restaurant won the African Restaurant of the Year award at the fourth annual Luxe Restaurant Awards in Johannesburg in 2021, and in 2022 Molefe was named Hospitality Pioneer on The World’s 50 Best Next List.

She thinks the time is right for a greater understanding and appreciation of previously overlooked and undervalued cuisines. “Watching the interest grow in ethnic foods makes me hopeful it can claim its spot in gastronomy,” she says, citing fellow African chefs such as Michael Elégbèdé of Nigeria, Dieuveil Malonga from Congo-Brazzaville, Selassie Atadika from Senegal and Ghana-based Fatmata Binta. “The way they continuously put African food on the map fuels my own ambition.”

Wanting to represent her country at the United Nations, Molefe studied politics, philosophy and law at university. “Unfortunately, my love for cooking took centre stage, and I ended up not finishing my degree,” she says. “It is amazing to me that I am now in a place where I am representing my country through cuisine and culture.”

She put herself through culinary college, graduating in 2018, and credits her time at the Cape Town restaurant Salsify at the Roundhouse as being a great learning curve. But it wasn’t enough.

A self-starter and a natural cook and feeder of people, she was soon organising a series of pop-up dinners in her spare time called The Long Table. “I wanted to host a dinner party but had no money to do it, so I sold tickets to friends, and we hosted it at an Airbnb. To this day, I am not allowed to book an Airbnb!”

She opened Emazulwini in a cheerful contemporary dining space at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town last year, opting for a multi-course tasting menu that can be paired with wine.

She also champions black women in her all-female kitchen, in a reaction against the perceived “boys’ club”. “Women tend to reinvest more in their homes, their families and their communities,” she says.

For the Sydney dinners, she will be concentrating on offal, ancient grains such as sorghum and millet and, of course, maize. That could mean umbila (sweetcorn) custard with roasted corn; ulwimi (ox tongue) with ushatini (tomato salsa); lamb with creamy samp (hominy-like maize meal) and butternut puree; and maize cake with whey jelly and caramel reminiscent of Mexican tres leches cake.

As always, it’s not just about food, it’s about people. “As a proud South African woman, I want to share who I am through our food, and have it recognised and respected as its own cuisine,” she says. “In Australia, I want people to have a genuine and unpretentious experience, so we can get to know each other better.”

For that to happen, we need to learn the meaning of the South African slang word ‘jol’ (pronounced jo-rrl), which refers to a good time or a party. “I am going to jam-pack my week in Sydney exploring the Vivid festival, and I really want to meet the local chefs and foodies,” says Molefe. “Where there’s a trendy wine bar, I will be there. I’m a bit shy to begin with, but once a great conversation starts, I’m definitely a jol!”