We are stoked to welcome Chef Franck Dangereux, to the Stance Family.
Franck was born in France (Cannes) and born in food. Every holiday involved a family feast and not only was his mother a phenomenal cook but so were his grandmothers. They taught Franck about going to the market and smelling the produce and choosing the finest ingredients. Franck says his earliest memories were strongly connected to food… “ My gran who lived in Nice cooked delicious food for us – rabbit with red wine, cep mushrooms and prunes. Asparagus with a vinegary, creamy sauce, strawberries with homemade custard."
By his early teens he knew that he wanted to work with food and at At 15 he started at the Nice Hotel School which was incredibly tough at the time. He trained at the Hotel School for 3 years and then trained with Roger Verge of Moulin de Mougins. By the age of 18 he started working at Michelin 3-star restaurants Southern France in , and has been working ever since. As a young chef Franck was fascinated with experimenting with ingredients and the adventure was about trying different combinations, by his own admission some dishes “were disgusting!”
Franck travelled to St Bart in the Caribbean where he started a laid back restaurant at the top of a hill. Whilst working in the Caribbean he came to South Africa on a surfing holiday in 1987 to see an uncle he barely knew and was blown away by the country. It was his first visit to South Africa and the people, the ocean, the mountain, the climate and the light delighted and enthralled Franck so much that he stayed for an entire month.
Franck returned to the Caribbean, and also worked in Northern Africa but South Africa and Cape Town in particular stayed prominently in his mind. After Nelson Mandela’s release, he felt that there were exciting times and opportunities in South Africa and he made his way back to his uncle. Franck started working with Frank Swainston at Constantia Uitsig. For Franck, it was a new phase of his adventures as a chef. There was a gastronomical revolution happening in South Africa and Franck’s enjoyment of being in the kitchen and working with about 10 other chefs as part of the movement was a quest. Franck had grown up and his pursuit in the world of food was to achieve wholesomeness and to cook with sensibility, simplifying his dishes to the perfect combinations. In 1996, he created La Colombe restaurant on Constantia Uitsig farm. It is no surprise that during his 10 years there La Colombe was voted restaurant of the year 6 times. He was placed 28th on the list of the world’s 50 best restaurants in 2006. Franck is humble though and despite his achievements, numerous awards and an elevated status with a huge fan base and following, for Franck the pleasure revolved around the enjoyment of cooking and having happy patrons.
Franck’s next adventure was starting the Foodbarn (with now deceased former business partner Pete de Bruin) at Noordhoek Farm Village. Linked to a stage in his personal life, Franck had met his wife and with 2 boys (now grown up) and a lifestyle that Franck had always dreamed of, the move to Noordhoek was and still is an exciting challenge. The Foodbarn was partly motivated by spending time with his family; partly motivated by surfing the deep south and partly based on a new phase of his career.
Having left the world of Fine Dining, Franck wanted to bring his experience and food savvy and introduce better food to a broader audience of people. As Franck says, “I want fine dining brought to the streets – the more people know about the ingredients of a dish and the more exposure people have to better food, the more people will want to eat well.” Franck’s latest quest is to share his knowledge with other people and create a culture of unpretentious but fine dining. Franck has shared this knowledge with his passionate team and staff and now is sharing that with the public. Sharing is caring but have no fear, he will still be waking up in the middle of the night with new ideas for an exciting combination for a new dish so keep visiting as the menu is continuously changing with the seasons and the “midnight dishes” from Franck’s head. The Foodbarn is very conscious about local support and all ingredients are sourced locally where possible (with a maximum 100km radius of Cape Town). Franck believes in supporting the people who work around us for the long-term sustainability of our people and our land.
Franck Dangereux – chef is loving life in Noordhoek and at the Noordhoek Farm Village. He spends time with his wife Sam and 2 boys, he surfs as often as possible, he rides and trains his horses, he lives 2 minutes from work and he loves what he does and loves sharing that. Perhaps Franck’s greatest challenge is one that we all face in our day to day living and that is time – the currency of time is more valuable than money in so many ways to Franck and like all of us real people doing real things, creating time to enjoy the things we love and not rush is what life is all about.
A quick-fire five with Chef Franck
Your life in 3 words:
EAT, SURF, LOVE
What's coming up for Chef Franck?
My 4th cookbook is in the pipeline…due 2023. Also, constant collabs with mates and winemakers for pairing events.
A meal that would describe your life:
Big pasture reared chicken, thin slices of truffle inserted between the flesh and the skin, roasted over baby potatoes, chili & porcini mushrooms, served with a big leafy green salad & garlic vinaigrette.
Goofy or natural :
Natural
Beach break or point break:
Point break please.
Pop in at The Foodbarn, Noordhoek Village, to sample Chef Franck's culinary masterpieces.
