Justine Lindsay, Chef De Partie, Rocket Food Design, London

Who do you work for and what does your job involve?

I am a Chef De Par­tie at Rocket Food Design that caters for exclu­sive func­tions in and around Lon­don. I work with a team of chefs spe­cial­is­ing in design and exe­cu­tion of Canapes, French Cui­sine. A Chef de Par­tie is a chef com­mis­sioned to run one par­tic­u­lar area of a restaurant’s kitchen.

Where do you live? Any Flatmates?

I live in Raynes Park, a fairly quiet res­i­den­tial area on the out­skirts of South West Lon­don. Our house is a dou­ble story trel­lised and has four dou­ble bed­rooms with a lovely gar­den. My house mates? Well, that is a story on its own.
Kim is an exec­u­tive search con­sul­tant spe­cial­is­ing in head-hunting and places physi­cians in the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­try. We go way back to school days at St Johns, Pieter­mar­itzburg, and so have many mem­o­ries together from school, var­sity and now Lon­don.
Sam, who is a leg­end, is a mar­ket­ing exec­u­tive for Namib­ian tourism, and was born and raised in Kwa-Zulu Natal.
Tanya is a teacher, and also grew up in the good old bor­ough. So as you can imag­ine, with a mix­ture of per­son­al­i­ties that suit their occu­pa­tions, Kingston Road has seen some inter­est­ing times.

What do you love most about London?

The cul­ture and his­tory never ceases to amaze me. I also love the fact that in an inter­na­tional city like this, I can inter­act with peo­ple on a daily basis from four cor­ners of the world, but still return home and have a braai with a bunch of friends I have grown up with. The night life and shop­ping is some­thing that also mer­its mentioning.

What do you hate the most about it?

Prob­a­bly the most frus­trat­ing thing about liv­ing in Lon­don is its very nec­es­sary evil — pub­lic trans­port — par­tic­u­larly in sum­mer when cer­tain folk avoid bathing!

What is your favourite restau­rant, pub etc?

I have been to many fine din­ing restau­rants and I have been truly impressed and inspired by the tal­ent in this city, but I must say, my heart is at the pub. We have recently fre­quented a very unique and novel estab­lish­ment in SW19. The pub, duly named “Down South”, is a bar and out­door ter­race area with a “Saffa” shop attached to it. This inge­nious idea allows us to watch the rugby on the big screen while braaing some ‘wors’, sip­ping a cane and cream soda (John Deere) and soak­ing up the sum­mer rays. If it weren’t for the sur­round­ing grey coun­cil flats we would be at ABSA stadium’s Cas­tle Cor­ner — which they have repli­cated very well with the inclu­sion of their secret recipe Melk Tert shots to wel­come us. It is a joy­ous expe­ri­ence and I would rec­om­mend it to any­one, no one can party like a Saffa. It never ceases to amaze me that all a South African needs is a bit of cane, a braai, and good com­pany to be com­pletely content.

What’s hot in London?

At the moment that “hottest” thing in Lon­don is the music fes­ti­val sea­son. This past week­end Glas­ton­bury fes­ti­val kicked off with the likes of Paul Young and many other music greats. In a very short two months I will be rock­ing it up at V Fest in wellies, lumo pink visor and the beats of The Killers, Oasis, Lady Gaga, Lilly Allen, Pet Shop Boys, Dizzy Rascal.…the list goes on. I have no doubt that this week­end will change my life forever.

What’s not…?

What’s not hot in Lon­don at the moment is the fact that British men, at the slight­est slither of sun­shine, think it is appro­pri­ate to whip off their shirts, no mat­ter how flabby, pasty and crudely tat­tooed they are. It really is not hot to be sub­jected to this hor­ri­ble sight on a daily basis.

What do you miss most about home?

What do I miss most about home? That’s the eas­i­est ques­tion I have ever had to answer — my gor­geous fam­ily. The com­fort, secu­rity and con­stant source of love and atten­tion can­not be matched no mat­ter where in the world I go. Although at this stage in my life I need to explore the career oppor­tu­ni­ties that Lon­don has for me — my heart will always be on the farm with my mom, dad, sis­ter and brother.

Has the reces­sion hit?

For sure. Many friends and house mates have faced recent redun­dan­cies, but because of the hard-working and deter­mined nature that seems to be instilled in most South Africans they have man­aged to rise above it, put in some hard slog and prove their worth in their rel­e­vant indus­tries. It is obvi­ous though when walk­ing through some of London’s shop­ping high streets that the reces­sion has caused some shut downs and cut backs.

What does a typ­i­cal day con­sist of?

My typ­i­cal day involves wak­ing up at 5.30am (Spar­rows Fart), bus­ing it to the sta­tion, train­ing it to another sta­tion, chang­ing trains, train­ing it to ANOTHER sta­tion and a short walk to my unit where the action begins. I then pre­pare, with about four cups of cof­fee before 10 am, for a 10 to 15 hour shift.