The man who cooked for Nelson Mandela, and now runs one of the best restaurants in the world

·15 Jul 2025

Peter Tempelhoff once got to cook for Nelson Mandela and other high-profile dignitaries as a young chef starting out.

Now he is the co-founder and patron chef of FYN – one of only three South African restaurants to rank among the top 100 in the world.

FYN was recently ranked alongside La Colombe and Salsify in the Conde Nast Traveller’s World’s Best Restaurant Awards for 2025.

On top of its global accolades, FYN has also been ranked as one of the best restaurants in South Africa, taking the top prize in 2023, and featuring high on the list almost every year since its opening.

The restaurant was co-founded by chef Peter Tempelhoff in 2018, before he left an executive chef position and joining full time as the patron chef.

He drives the eatery with his bold vision for fusing Japanese styling with sometimes ancient South African ingredients.

Tempelhoff founded Fyn with the aim of blending Japanese and South African cuisine in a bold fusion – one that has resulted in the accolades it celebrates today.

“Japanese cooking has always appealed to me because of its cleanliness: the clean lines and the simple techniques,” he said.

“And I’ve always warmed towards their culture, the culture of looking after each other, and always striving to be the best you can be.”

On the South African side of the culinary world, he describes it as a journey that involves discovering flavours, ingredients, and cultures.

“We have amazing regions where people have been foraging for thousands of years and living off the land. If we can bring some of that and put it on the plate, that’s our vision.”

This combination of clean, simple design, mixed with local flavour and history, is one of the foundational elements of Tempelhoff’s FYN, which is now recognised locally and internationally as one of the top restaurants in the country.

South Africa’s ancient ingredients via Japan

*FYN Patron Chef Peter Tempelhoff, service and beverage director Jennifer Hugé, and culinary director Ashley Moss*

Tempelhoff’s style comes from his formal culinary schooling mixed with a sizeable dose of culture shock. He has a storied history serving in some of the top restaurants in South African and abroad.

From his early days working under Michelin star Chef Curtis Stone in Marco Pierre White’s Quo Vadis in London, to an 11-year stint at the award-winning Greenhouse in Paarl.

An alumnus of the ICA Chef School, his first chef’s demonstration was on English Michelin star chef and restaurateur Marco Pierre White.

Three years later, Tempelhoff found himself working in one of the famous chefs’ kitchens in London.

By his own telling, he also had the remarkable opportunity to cook for the late former president Nelson Mandela in 1996, catering for a high-profile meeting of delegates including Hillary Clinton and Kofi Annan.

He worked under another Michelin-star chef, Aaron Patterson, soon after, before heading his own brasserie (brewery) in the UK.

But Tempelhoff was not rooted in Western cuisine. He spent years away from South Africa exploring all sorts of cultures and chasing culinary experiences.

However, it was the culture shock of Japan that sealed his love for that particular brand of gastronomy that would inform his style and fusion ambitions going forward.

Making his way back to South Africa, he served as executive chef at the Grande Provenance Heritage Wine Estate in Franschhoek for a year before finding a long-term position as executive chef at The Greenhouse in Paarl.

In 2019, Tempelhoff bid farewell to The Greenhouse to put his full focus into FYN, which he had opened a year prior at Speakers’ corner on Parliament street.

The restaurant was founded on the vision of fusing South African paleoscience with Japanese techniques in a sustainable and environmentally forward way.

This not only informed the incredible culinary experiences for patrons, but everything from the restaurant’s stylings, decor and impact.

This brings the “wild freedom” it offers, which has resonated so well with critics, locally and abroad.

Notably, FYN was not a solo project. The world-class restaurant was also co-founded by chief executive officer and restaurateur Paul Bruce-Brand, who believed in Templehoff’s vision.

Today, Templehoff continues as the “Chef Patron” at FYN, with culinary director Ashley Moss and service and beverage director Jennifer Hugé running the show, with an incredibly talented team behind him.

He said that he firmly believes in mentorship as the foundation of the industry, saying that “when a chef gets to a certain point, they have to give back”.

Templehoff has also expanded his chops as a restaurateur in his own right, opening other kitchens, including Beyond, in Constantia in 2020, Ramenhead in 2022, and Sushiya in 2024.