I am Chef Dylan Mtshali Mellet and I am contactable on email: [email protected]

I have worked in the hospitality industry for over 18 years working my way up from Bus Boy/Waiter to Senior Sous Chef.

My first name Dylan means ‘Son of the Ocean’ and I was named after protest singer/songwriter Bob Dylan and poet Dylan Thomas. My second name Mtshali means ‘Son of the Soil’ and I was named after South African poet Oswald Mtshali.

My earliest cooking mentor was my dad who really cooks innovatively and who brought a mix of Cape African, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and South East Asian fusion cooking into our lives. He encouraged me to be a chef when I left school. My original mentor and trainer in the industry, a Chinese Executive Chef - Jeffery, in my early days as a trainee chef, noticing constant burns on my arms would always say – “You Burn – You Learn”. It stuck in my head and I have applied this motto to many aspects of my work and life. Learning is a life-long experience and opportunity to get burnt hovers around every corner. Over time I believe that I have seized more opportunity for learning than burning.

EDUCATION & TRAINING

• Completed matriculation Grade 12 at Trafalgar High School, District Six, Cape Town in 1996
• Original Chef’s in-house training programme at Table Bay Hotel V&A Waterfront and the Villa Via (Radisson) Hotel in Granger Bay.
• NQF Chefs Certificate Level 2 (Food preparation and cooking)
• NQF Chefs Certificate Level 3 (Food preparation and cooking)
• Sea Cooking Certificate
• EMTA - First Aid at Sea Certificate
• Diploma for Radisson Hotels Hospitality Program levels 1; 2 & 3
• Business Education Design – Team Business Certificate

TRACK RECORD

• Cape Grace Hotel V&A Waterfront Cape Town: Sous Chef/Senior Sous Chef ( 2010 – present)
• Town House Hotel Cape Town: Sous Chef (2009)
• MS Seven Seas Voyager (Cruise Ship): Chef de Partie (2008)
• Radisson Hotel – Granger Bay, Cape Town: Sous Chef (2007)
• One & Only Ocean Club (Bahamas): Executive Sous Chef (2006)
• Villa Via / Radisson Hotel Granger Bay, Cape Town: Demi Chef de Partie/Senior Chef de Partie / Sous Chef (2001 – 2006)
• Table Bay Hotel, V