Building a reputation

At that time, the Bay Hotel was the place to be. Tina Turner, Denzel Washington and other celebrities stayed there and dined on the dishes that Margot prepared.

Just as in Johannesburg, Margot stood out for her enthusiasm, drive and talent. She was named junior sous-chef within two years — hardly any time at all by restaurant standards, certainly for someone with no training at all.

But she wanted more. The Bay was a fantastic restaurant, but it was also very big. Margot wanted something more intimate, but also somethingeven better; something that was less fusion and more French haute cuisine.

She left for Le Quartier Français, which has been considered one of the country's best restaurants for as long as anyone can remember. Le Quartier is housed in a lovely old white building in the middle of a former French Huguenot settlement encircled by mountains; Cape Town is a 45-minute drive away.

"I thought: pretty village, wine tasting, horseback riding — great!"

Out of the frying pan...

The reality turned out to be different. Margot,whose divorce from David had only just come through, landed in the middle of another marital drama. The restaurant's owners, Susan and John Huxter, were in the midst of their own divorce.

He was the head chef, she ran the hotel, and the future of the whole business lay in the balance.

"After three months I was ready to throw in the towel. Not only because of the relationship crisis, but Franschhoek felt so very small after all those years in the big city. They had given me an orange VW Golf, so if I went anywhere everyone knew about it the next day. I was lonely, so whenever I could I visited friends in Cape Town."

When John the owner decided to pack his bags, his ex-wife Susan asked Margot to step into his shoes as the new head chef. She was only 27.

"It was a huge gamble," Margot admits. "All the regular guests were wondering, 'Who is this young blonde chick from the Netherlands?' and, 'Can she cook?' I had yet to develop my own style."

Margot put on her chef's hat in January, and agreed with Susan to have an entirely new menu ready in April.

"So I would come up with a dish of lamb dressed in mint and pumpkin seed pesto served alongside mashed potatoes with watercress, and then I'd think, Will this be enough? It was a question that kept me awake at night."

But when the reviews came they were positive, the regular guests kept coming, and the "young blonde chick" grew to become a famous name who is now in her 13th year behind the stove of Le Quartier Français.

So what is the secret to her success — what got her to where she is today? Margot emphasises that it was mainly through "a lot of hardwork" and, when faced with setbacks, "not giving up, but coming up with a plan instead".

In hindsight, she says that her first year in Franschhoek was the most difficult of her career.

"The other cooks in the kitchen would test me. They wouldn't do what I asked them to because they had been working there longer than me and thought their way was better — John's way, that is. I really had to fight hard.

"A woman really has to have balls in a situation like that. If you're sweet and nice they'll just waltz right over you."

Local ingredients

Since taking over the kitchen, Margot has chosen to use a lot of local South African produce.

"For years, homegrown products were considered inferior. Partly that had to do with the legacy of apartheid," she explains. "But now everyone says, 'Wow, what a beautiful county, with such friendly people and such amazing vegetables and fruit.' I'm building on that new sense of pride."

In 2001, the British-based Restaurant magazine published its first list of the 50 best restaurants in the world. The jury consisted primarily of eminent critics and connoisseurs who tended to favour restaurants in North America and Europe. Le Quartier Français is the only restaurant from the Africa and Middle East region to have made it onto the prestigious list.

"When we were nominated for a second time," Margot recalls, "we were invited to come to London for the awards ceremony. On the stage I stood between my two great role models, chefs Thomas Keller and Charlie Trotter, who are both at the absolute top. Paul Bocuse kissed me on the cheek and I thought, Pinch me, I must be dreaming."

Dish reinterpretation

It's Wednesday, July 2, and it's lunchtime at Le Ciel Bleu. There are 40 journalists here, as well as Margot's mother, Tineke, sister, Liesbeth, and brother, Herbert, whose table I join.

"This tastes so much better than a Dutch bitterbal," Tineke says approvingly as Margot's reinterpretation of the Dutch deep-fried croquettes — dubbed a bobotie bitterbal — are served.

Next to arrive is the biltong tea. "This is a taste explosion in your mouth," Herbert enthuses. We move on to the next course: lobster three ways — with koeksisters, with oysters and vanilla ice-cream, and mixed with garlic crumbs in a canneloni.

"This is a dish she serves in her own restaurant," Herbert tells us, having already visited the restaurant in Franschhoek three times.

After seven courses (which include slow-cooked pork belly with a wheat beer glaze, springbok fillet with mielie meal, and puff pastries filled with ginger cream and a compote of pumpkin and coconut-vanilla ice-cream), we leave the table, overwhelmed.

Tineke muses on where her daughter will end up. "Will she stay in South Africa or will there be another big step in her future?" Leave South Africa? That's not something Margot plans to do anytime soon. A couple of years ago she bought an old house in Franschhoek, just a kilometre up the road from the restaurant. Her son, Thomas, attends daycare and her husband Duncan has meanwhile opened his own restaurant, Vrede en Lust, at a vineyard nearby.

"Of course I am concerned about corruption in the ANC," Margot says. "And about the unsteady economy and the hardships in Zimbabwe. But I'm staying positive.

"South Africa has given me tremendous opportunities. I got to where I am today without training, without a degree — that's something I never could have done in the Netherlands."

This article is from Reader's Digest