SA chef Ash Heeger is streaming ahead with Netflix cooking show nod

As a child, Ash Heeger used to fantasise about being a chef and owning a restaurant. While her peers were interested in cartoons, she was immersed in cooking shows.

Now aged 29, this trendy, tattooed chef's dream has come true. She owns an upmarket restaurant in Cape Town's CBD with her sister, and stars in an international cooking show.

Her rise to fame started with a call from Netflix to be part of the streaming network's cooking show, The Final Table, which was filmed in Los Angeles and premiered in November. She is the only chef from Africa on the show.

Heeger, who used to work alongside Luke Dale Roberts at his acclaimed Test Kitchen, described the show as "a lifetime opportunity and one of the most wonderful experiences that I've had".

The show has allowed her to be in the same kitchen as culinary legends Enrique Olvera from Mexico, "who I consider my hero", Grant Achatz from the US and Andoni Aduriz from Spain.

"Working with some of the most talented chefs, who I know professionally and believe are beginning to take over the world, was intimidating but inspiring," said Heeger.

"It was a different kind of pressure... cooking on camera in one of the biggest studios in LA with 180 cameras was a different ball game altogether. It was mind-blowing."

WATCH | The trailer for The Final Table

Competing against 11 pairs of international chefs from the US, UK, Singapore, India, Mexico and Australia meant preparing dishes from different cuisines - ones Heeger had not been exposed to before.

One of her favourite dishes was a Mexican-inspired smoked fish dish, which she prepared for Olvera. She had to pair smoked tuna with unfamiliar ingredients such as prickly pear and cactus.

One of the trickiest was a Brazilian dish called fejoada - a bean stew-like dish that uses a lot of off-cut ingredients such as tails, ham hock and pork knuckles, as well as sausages and black beans.

Preparing everything on-camera, for more than 12 hours a day, not knowing how the final product would turn out - and having to keep everything secret about the show for a year until it aired this week - was daunting for this Transkei-born chef.

Since the show aired this week to Netflix's 100-million-plus subscribers around the world, Heeger said, she had received tons of support, not only from her family and friends, but from international fans.

"I got messages from as far as Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Korea, and Mexico. It's pretty cool to have someone contacting you on Instagram saying, 'Hey, I've seen you on TV and I'm a fan'."

Now Heeger is focusing on her restaurant, which has been revamped and renamed Riverine Rabbit. The name reflects the sustainability focus the family business has adopted.

Her participation in the show is already paying off. Included on the new restaurant menu is the smoked fish dish that she prepared on The Final Table, and it is gaining popularity.

"People love our new menu. We will see what comes out of the Netflix experience. For now I'm focusing on growing the business and developing our menu," said Heeger.