Diamonds and excellent cuisine are a girl’s best friend. Last week I set off to enjoy dinner at the exclusive Les Creatifs restaurant by Wandile Mabaso in Bryanston for the launch of the Gina White Collection.
The collection is the work of African-American diamond procurer, jewellery designer and entrepreneur Gina White. White owns a jewellery manufacturing and diamond polishing business that is situated in the Diamond District of Johannesburg.
White, from Oakland, California in the US, has founded her collection to “empower communities of the diaspora”. A visibly emotional White stood up to thank those in attendance and spoke about how Africa has been so welcoming to her.
“I come from humble beginnings and a lot of my life has had a lot of conflict and friction, a lot of back and forth. But when I got to this continent things started rolling, opportunities could not stop, doors would not stop opening and people would not stop pouring into me.
That’s been the biggest blessing ever, so when you know you’re on the Right track, opportunities start opening and I am overwhelmed with joy. I am overwhelmed with love from everyone in here and everyone I have come across. I could not wish for a better place, so thank you. There is so much more coming.”
The jewellery collection includes pieces like the Palesa bracelet, Yonela earring set and the Nyoka Tanzanite necklace. The jewellery is named using the names from the different countries on the continent that the gemstones come from. White works with women, who are at the top of the diamond- cutting and gemstone business in Africa.
At the night of the launch, White and her friend Atlanta were wearing earrings from her jewellery collection. White was sporting a Tanzanite set which looked elegant and striking, Atlanta was in a delicate pair of chandelier earrings that sparkled and dazzled every time she turned her head.
As I mentioned earlier, we were being hosted at Mabaso’s fine dining establishment. The intimate venue has subbed décor with African art pieces adorning the walls, the most prominent being of Mama Winnie Mandela toting an AK47.
Mabaso, owner and chef of the establishment, took us through every item on the menu. Mabaso let us know with his introductory speech that we were about to experience bliss on a plate. He thanked us for being there and White too, and lightly mentioned how these two industries were similar.
“I think we’re in the same industry of luxury and all nice things,” Mabaso quipped.
The dinner menu was a beautiful collaboration between dishes named and sourced on the continent, mostly SA, Namibia and Mozambique and some creative sugar-free cocktails, one of them was a gin and gemere (ginger beer) cocktail, which was a delightful surprise to the palate.
“I think we’re the only place that offers sugar-free cocktails, it’s completely sugar-free, what we do is we take seasonal fruits, reduce them then we add spices and then boil them or reduce. As they reduce they get sweeter and sweeter,” Mabaso explains.
Some of the dishes on the menu were Nguni beef tongue, which was slow-cooked for eight hours so that it was tender and flavourful, and the Mamelodi baby chicken, which is sourced from a small-scale poultry farmer in Mamelodi, Tshwane. There was also langoustine from Mozambique and lamb from Namibia.
The dessert was a colourful Paris-breast that was the perfect balance of not too sweet and just sweet enough. Mabaso, a Soweto-born and bred fellow, started cooking at the age of 10.
“I already liked doing this before it was a career, growing up in Soweto all we saw was Jamie Oliver on TV, so our parents really didn’t see this as a profession.”
Fortunately, he did go to hotel school, then worked as a part-time cook at Nando's. He then travelled about the Baltic region, Russia and Sweden. He went to a culinary school in America and spent a year working in Miami. He also worked in Europe, mainly France, for three years. He is trained in classic French cuisine.
“I came back in 2018 and in 2019 I launched my restaurant,” he finished.
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