Luke Lawrence Barry is the new executive chef at the Belmond Mount Nelson

Luke Lawrence Barry is seemingly having a full circle moment as he now steps into the role of executive chef at the grand pink dame of Cape Town, the Belmond Mount Nelson.

It is technically not his first turn on the lawns of the Nellie in his chef’s whites as Barry graduated on the lawns outside Oasis when completing his studies at the South African Chef’s Academy. What a wonderful return for the chef. 

Stories and storytelling are what Barry’s food journey and concepts are about. He relayed the story of how he and his wife left as two people and returned to South Africa as six with their four kids in tow, having spent 12 years in Asia and the Middle East honing his craft and building experience in the boldness of flavours and varied cooking techniques and concept development in food and beverage.

Barry decided, with his wife, to return to the country a year ago. He wanted to bring his skills and share his experience at home and ensure their children grow up on home soil surrounded by family.

In preparation he reached out to chef Liam Tomlin, who he only knew through social media having never met in person. He asked if Tomlin knew of any opportunities in South Africa. He didn’t hear back from Tomlin immediately, but soon received an email from the Belmond Mount Nelson HR asking him to interview.

The rest is history as Barry’s revival of the hotel’s renowned Chef’s Table is under way. The Chef’s Table is set in the heart of the hotel, the kitchen.

Barry calls it, “a really raw unrehearsed experience” where you can watch every corner of the kitchen and every chef doing what they do best. He said the Chef’s Table is a space to showcase the cookery skills of a young generation of chefs and share their life stories on plates with guests.

The Chef’s Table seats up to 10 guests who get to enjoy the chefs’ plated stories and watch the theatre of cooking as it happens.

It’s also the setting for a concept called Four Hands dinner, where guest chefs from around the country are invited bi-monthly to prepare a dinner alongside the hotel chefs for guests to experience a different dining flavour in the hotel’s main fine dining restaurant, the Verandah. The Verandah is where Barry wants to showcase the food stories of South African flavours and cooking techniques, with the ingredients leading the menu development.

Barry said “a lot of the food at Verandah will be kissed by smoke”.

The executive chef’s favourite dish on the menu is their take on beef tartare. It’s an explosion of flavour and a clever take on texture. The beef is topped with an egg yolk purée, where the whole egg is steamed at 64°C for two hours. When you peel away the shell and egg white you are left with a gelatinous yolk blended into a purée that is super creamy with a bright yellow smooth dot atop the tartare. There is a smoked emulsion in the dish which involves burning charcoal, “and submerging the charcoal into the oil” used to make the mayonnaise that will combine with egg and other ingredients. This process adds “a lovely braai note” to the tartare. The team has also forgone the usual mustard condiment for the tartare and went with pickled yellow mustard seeds for a wonderful pop in the mouth . This dish is gluten-free and served with sago chips instead of the usual thin slices of toast.

Barry mentors the chefs and ensures the menus align with the concept of storytelling.

The chef de partie has a dessert called “I wasn’t allowed to eat this”. The dish, a delectable chocolate roulade mixed with wild berries, is an ode to his childhood when chocolate was a treat non grata.

When asked what was the first thing he ate when he returned to South Africa, Barry said it was droewors and a Castle draught. The Belmond Mount Nelson kitchen now makes its own droewors and biltong.

As an extension to his storied premise, Barry wants to ensure every one of the food and beverage outlets at the Belmond Mount Nelson tells its own unique story.

He said the ultimate luxury in his work is being able to make use of fresh local ingredients. While bringing lessons on functionality and organisation from his overseas experience, nothing beats the joy of being on the farm in Stellenbosch where they source their eggs and chickens.

The Mount Nelson, nestled at the foot of Table Mountain, is a visual feast. Its beautiful pink walls make one imagine many sumptuous sunsets while sipping something at the Planet Bar. Barry and his team have created a wonderfully sumptuous menu that caters to all tastes.