Episode 16 of MasterChef South Africa aired last week and of course I have to share my views. Having been part of the fourth season of MasterChef, I can’t help but compare while watching the show. Read my episode summary below.

Fun fact - my lighting company LLSA supplied all the lights in the pantry and around the studio, and we are mentioned as a sponsor in the credits. 

Spoiler Alert

If you are behind, I recommend you stop reading now!
Click here read up more about the MasterChef season 5 contestants, or read the summaries from the previous MasterChef episodes if you’re trying to catch up.

Want to Watch MasterChef South Africa?

MasterChef South Africa Season premiered on Saturday July 13 at on S3, and new episodes are aired every Saturday. From November, episodes will air at 8:30 pm every Saturday, with the rebroadcasts on Sundays on S2 at 6:30 pm and on Wednesdays on S3 at 6:00 pm.

Looking back - What happened on the previous MasterChef episodes?

Click here to jump straight to episode 16 and skip the summaries of the previous episodes.

In the first episode, contestants had to make a chicken dish with a sauce or a broth, but for it to be at MasterChef-worthy standard. They were given 90 minutes and their dish needed to include a mirepoix (a mixture of diced vegetables cooked on a low heat in oil or butter) and it needed to include a Bouquet Garni, which is a bundle of herbs. In traditional French cuisine this includes parsley, bay leaves and thyme but other herbs can be added too. 

What was most shocking about this first episode, is that the contestants went down from 20 to 15 in one go. The contestants who were eliminated in the first episode were Lucas, Lesego, Robyn, Andrew and Ella. 

In the second episode, contestants had to use the single humble ingredient of an apple, and think of the apple of their eye in their life when cooking. The contestants were allowed to make something sweet or savoury. No contestants were eliminated and Naledi won the mystery box challenge.

In the third episode, Naledi was up in the gantry as a reward for winning the mystery box challenge in the previous episode. The remaining contestants were challenged by guest judge Chef Nokx Majozi in a pressure test to recreate her signature Pepper Steak Pie. Tina, Bridget and Amo had made the best pepper steak pies, and Tina won the elimination challenge. Nash, Lona and Melanie found themselves in the bottom three and Melanie was eliminated. 

In the fourth episode, the contestants were asked to pay tribute to and draw inspiration from the judges’ star signs when creating their dishes in this challenge. They couldn’t choose which judge’s star sign they were going to base their dish on, but it was an elimination based on chance as they had to choose a card in order to determine which protein they would be cooking. Chanel, Shreya and Zak found themselves in the bottom three. Zakariyya Ibrahim (Zak) went home as his curry failed to deliver. According to Judge Katlego, the lack of seasoning was his downfall and both the rice and carrots were overcooked, and the dish was not balanced.

In the fifth episode, guest judge Jackie Burger challenged the contestants to use fashion models and their incredible outfits to make their own creative interpretation of the outfits. Nabela, Ketsia and Tebogo were in the top 3 and Amogelang Maluleke (Amo), Tzu Ting Long (Tina) and Penny in the bottom, with Tina from Home Bao going home in the end.

In the sixth episode, MasterChef contestants competed in their first team challenge. The episode took place at Durbanville Hills wine estate. Contestants were welcomed to the award-winning Tangram restaurant by cellar master Pieter-Niel Rossouw and Head Chef Tamzyn Ehlers. Tebogo was Team Captain for the Blue Team (made up of Naledi, Chanel, Amo, Shreya and Nabila) and Nash headed up the Red Team which also included Penny, Ketsia, Nash, Bridget, Lona and Refe. Contestants needed to create a ‘Buffet of New Beginnings’ which was basically an interactive buffet table re-inventing old-style buffet combinations and pairing creations with wine from the Durbanville Hills Collectors Reserve range. Ultimately, the blue team took home the victory.

The seventh episode saw Penny, Ketsia, Nash, Bridget, Lona, Refe and Nash battling it out against each other in a elimination challenge. They were given an hour to showcase their creativity by whipping up a gourmet meal from the judges’ typical month-end leftovers and were only allowed to use 20 classic frugal South African staples. Ultimately Ketsia’s flatbread and tuna salad dish did not meet the mark and she was eliminated from the competition.

In the eight episode contestants were asked to embrace the air fryer revolution and use it as their main cooking method to reinvent a classic potato dish to a modern bistro-worthy delight. Nash, Chanel and Lona cooked the top 3 dishes and Bridget, Tebogo and Naledi found themselves in the bottom three. Chanel won the challenge with her potato dauphinoise with chorizo caramelised crisp and a little bit of lemon and she was given the opportunity to win an Immunity Pin. She did need to beat Herman Lensing at his game - Herman has published several cookbooks and three with air fryer recipes specifically so he is South Africa’s leading expert on cooking with air fryers. This is when mysterious guest rode in on a Pick ‘n Pay asap! scooter… me!

I took two paper bags out my Pick ‘n Pay asap! scooter, one with a “Land” and one with a “Sky” sticker on them. With that, the judges left to the back and I was left to be the referee for the challenge. Chanel chose “Sky” and needed to cook with duck, whilst Herman Lensing was given lamb.

With the ninth episode we reached the halfway mark of the competition. The top 10 walked in in white aprons and were challenged with making a plant-based dish using the humble cabbage as the hero ingredient. Amo, Nabila and Shreya found themselves in the bottom three, but were safe from elimination due to it being a non-elimination challenge. Refe, Chanel and Lona were in the Top 3 and Lona won 50,000 rand to the best dish.

In the tenth episode, Shreya announced that she would be leaving the MasterChef kitchen without participating in the next challenge. She had been struggling with anxiety throughout the competition, and after receiving “some unfortunate news” from her family, she left, calling it “an act of self-love and an act of self-care.”

After Shreya walked out, the the MasterChef contestants welcomed celebrity chef Alessandro Khojane, “Sotho Italian” (owner of Gemelli in Bryanston). Contestants are given two hours to create an Italian-South African dish. Naledi won the challenge with her chicken roulade and Refe goes home.

In the eleventh episode, Naledi spent the challenge on the gantry after winning the challenge in the previous episode. As the contestants soon found out, it was a A Mystery Box Team Challenge. They were divided up in teams of two, with Chanel alone in the yellow team after Shreya had pulled out of the competition in the last episode. To even things out, the judges brought back Refe, who was only just eliminated one episode prior. Each team is provided a different meat parcel and they are each tasked to making 1.5 kgs of wors, cooking it on the hibachi, and serving their with modern side dish of a heritage starch and a tasty sauce or gravy. Last but not least, they are required to make a true South African delicacy: skilpadjies. All of this, needed to be done within the 2.5 hour time frame. The wors needs to be made the old fashioned way: using a manual meat grinder found in their mystery boxes. In the end, the Green Team made up of Nabila and Lona took home the victory. This means that they will be safe from the next challenge, spending it on the gantry, and can’t be eliminated from the competition during the next episode.

In the twelfth episode, Penny, Chanel, Refe, Amo, Bridget, Nash and Naledi had to pass a blind taste challenge. After being blindfolded, they were each given a variety of ingredients which had been cut into identically sized cubes. Penny, Chanel, Bridget, Amo and Refe make a mistake whereas all of Naledi’s guesses are correct. As a result, Naledi gets to join Nabila and Lona on the gantry and also can’t be eliminated from the competition during the next challenge. They have to create two tiny dishes: an amuse bouche, usually served at the beginning of the meal as a gift from the chef to awaken the pallet, and a bonbon (or a friandise, or mignardise), usually served at the end of a meal. Their sweet dish had to contain chocolate and they needed to make six of each.

Amo’s savoury tart with caramelised onion purée and quail breast was criticised for the crumbly and overcooked pastry, and he was eliminated from the competition.

In the thirteenth episode, Chanel watched from the gantry whilst the remaining seven contestants (Nabila, Lona, Penny, Refe, Bridget, Nash and Naledi) had to replicate Chef Moses Moloi’s “Enchanted Forest Elegance” in two and a half hours. There are quite a few techniques in the intricate dish and the contestants visibly struggled with the race against time. The episode is action-packed: Bridget cuts her finger, Lona struggles to switch on his Taurus Kitchen Machine and Nash doesn’t start plating until the countdown begins. This as it turns out is his downfall. Managing to put just one or two elements on the plate was not enough and Nash was eliminated from MasterChef season 5.

In the fourteenth episode, the top 7 contestants welcome a guest judge: head chef of The Pot Luck Club in Johannesburg, Ebie Du Toit (@chefebiii). Chef Ebie challenges the MasterChef contestants to make a bougie brunch spread consisting of three dishes: a brunch classic with a twist, a reinvented classic cocktail presented as a dish, and a fresh take on avocado toast. Their dishes must appeal to the demanding millennial brunch aficionado and so contestants are reminded to apply both their technical and plating skills. They are given two hours and an open pantry with all ingredients from Pick ‘n Pay available to use. Refe makes the dishes of the day and Bridget, Naledi and Nabila end up in the bottom three. Naledi is eliminated from the competition.

In the fifteenth episode, the top six contestants cooked in a non-elimination challenge, diving into the world of molecular gastronomy. They had to craft dishes that not only taste incredible but also surprise and deceive the judges, using elements of illusion and secrecy. Penny and Refe had the bottom two dishes, and Bridget had the top dish of the day.

In episode 16, the top six remaining MasterChef contestants (Chanel, Nabila, Lona, Penny, Refe, and Bridget) go to Bertus Basson’s restaurant Clara’s Barn.

Who is Bertus Basson?

Bertus Basson is a well-known South African chef. He culinary career started when he moved to London in his teens, and worked at Michelin star restaurant Chez Bruce. He started his first catering business, All Things Culinary, in 2005. After being named Unilever Chef of the Year in 2007, Bertus Basson started his first restaurant, Overture in Stellenbosch, where he took the helm as the head chef. Overture has received many awards and Bertus has subsequently opened a few other restaurants in Stellenbosch, from Spek & Bone, The Deck at Hidden Valley, Die Vrije Burger and Eike. He was crowned with Chef of the Year" at the 2019 South African EatOut Awards for his work at Eike and Overture.

Bertus has also published two books: Homegrown (2017) and Being Bertus Basson (2018).

Other than an entrepreneur and restaurateur, Bertus Basson is also known for his many TV appearances. He has been a judge in reality cooking shows like The Ultimate Braai Master, In die Sop: Restaurant Evolusie and MasterChef (season 4 and 5). He has also appeared as a guest on the lifestyle TV show Top Billing and on the breakast show Expresso.

Bertus Basson on MasterChef South Africa

In MasterChef South Africa season 4, Bertus Basson also featured. It was the first team challenge of the season and we had to make 24 lunch boxes with two fast fine-dining dishes. The first dish had to use sustainably sourced fish, while the second dish had to be a fine-dining take on an iconic South African workers' lunch. The lunch boxes were served to health care workers of the nearby Somerset Hospital.

Clara’s Barn

Bertus’ restaurant Clara’s Barn is beautifully placed in the oldest barn in the Western Cape at Vergenoegd Löw, a working wine farm.

The kitchen is headed up by Drikus Brink and Chef Ryan, who both featured in this MasterChef episode.

The challenge

The contestants are pushed to their culinary limits as they needed to take over Bertus Basson’s fine-dining restaurant Clara’s Barn. They are divided into two teams: the red and blue team. The Red Team consists of Penny and Refe and is supported by Chef Ryan, with Bridget as Team Captain. The three remaining constestants Lona, Nabila and Chanel (Team Captain) are on the Blue Team, and guided by Clara’s Barn Head Chef Drikus Brink (@drikus_brink).

Each team needs to prepare two courses as part of the four-course elevated South African dining experience. The judges Katlego Mlambo, Zola Nene and Justine Drake are joined by 35 restaurant patrons, who are not your ordinary guests: Chef Callan Austin and Darren Badenhorst, (remember our pop-up restaurant at Makerslanding?) have been invited to taste this MasterChef menu, and when it’s time to vote, they will swipe their unique MasterChef credit cards on a Yoco Card Machine to determine the winning team. It is clear that the episode is sponsored by Yoco - and the winning contestants are to benefit of that: Yoco has made R50 000 available to each member of the winning team, so the stakes are high!

The MasterChef Dishes

The Dishes prepared by Blue Team

The Blue Team started off strong with their Red Roman Sashimi, which they served with fennel, radishes, trout roe, coconut bokkom sauce with chive oil & grated bokkom. According to the judges, it was not just picture perfect, but it also tasted incredible. The dessert prepared by the Blue Team is a Poached Guava with sorrel, mint, crème pâtissière (that’s French for pastry cream), a soufflé cookie and vanilla ice cream. Judge Justine calld the sorrel “a triumph” and Zola agreed that it was “the perfect dessert to end off a four course menu.” The Poached Guava dessert was a real “celebration of guava,” serving the fruit in different ways (puréed and poached). Katlego pointed out that whilst it looks like a simple dessert, “it’s so complex” and he was happy to see that everything on the plate serves a purpose. Last but not least, Chef Katlego complimented the ice cream for being so creamy.

The Dishes prepared by the Red Team

The starter prepared by the Red Team is Roasted Jerusalem artichoke soup with chive oil, which the judges referred to as “spring on a plate”. Their main course was a Roasted leg of lamb & ribs, served with cauliflower purée, chimichurri and jus. They also served Madumbe (a South African type of potato), a dish with Macadamia nuts.

The Judges view on the Contestants’ Dishes

Zola says she is so proud of the contestants as “they did us justice, themselves justice and I think Bertus probably had a great time with them in the kitchen”. Justine agrees that “it was superb” and an ”extraordinary effort.” At this point, it seems like the vote can go either way.

The Judging

Justine addresses the Red Team about their Roasted Jerusalem artichoke soup: “Your first course: your beautiful  Jerusalem artichoke soup was pretty as a picture, perfectly roasted Jerusalem artichokes, stunning chive oil, beautiful little crisps, it was spring on a plate. And it was a fine dining plate indeed.”

Up next, Zola speaks to the Blue Team’s starter, the Red Roman Sashimi: “The fish course was more of the same. Absolutely stunning. We actually gasped when it was put in front of us, we loved the combination of the coconut and the chive oil. It was fresh, it was beautifully cut. It was once again, picture perfect and tasted incredible. Well done.”

Katlego was very impressed with the Red Team’s Roasted Leg of Lamb: “This was nothing but a Sunday roast. Perfection, perfection, perfection. The play on the lamb leg and the lamb leg? Sublime. The jus. Moreish with the cauliflower and the madumbe, the crunch, it was a hug, and you know I love a hug well done guys.”

The Blue Team’s Poached Guava Dish also received a raving review from Zola: “If the dessert was a hug then the dessert was the perfect squeeze because it was sensational. The texture on that ice cream, it was silky smooth. The scuffle biscuit, wow what a crumb what a buttery goodness, the colour was perfect. Every single bite we oohed and ahed. That was incredible, well done.”

The Winning Team

Whilst it’s a neck-and-neck race to the finish line, the Blue Team wins in the end. Yoco co-founder Carla Wazen is welcomed too and he hands the winning team their prize: Lona, Nabila and Chanel each win R50,000 courtesy of Yoco.

MasterChef South Africa episode 17

Looking ahead, the preview of the seventeenth episode of MasterChef South Africa gave us a hint of what the next episode will be about: Chef Vusi Ndlovu is introduced and it looks like it will be a spicy challenge, and a soundbite plays of someone saying “This is literally Africa on a plate,” so that promises to be a great episode!

Who will win MasterChef South Africa season 5? Time will tell…

MasterChef Season 5 Episode Summaries

Click here read up more about the MasterChef season 5 contestants, or read the summary from the previous MasterChef episodes if you’re trying to catch up:

• Episode 1 - Twenty MasterChef contestants cook a chicken dish, but only 15 remain

• Episode 2 - The MasterChef contestants cook for the the Apple of their Eye in a mystery box challenge

• Episode 3 - Chef Nokx Majozi Signature Pepper Steak Pie

• Episode 4 - Paying tribute to the Judges’ Star Signs

• Episode 5 - Translating Fashion into Food with guest judge Jackie Burger

• Episode 6 - Buffet of New Beginnings at Durbanville Hills wine estate

• Episode 7 - Leftovers and South African staples

• Episode 8 - Potatoes, Air Fryers, an Immunity Pin and two Special Guests

• Episode 9 - Cabbage, cabbage, cabbage!

• Episode 10 - A fusion of South African and Italian

• Episode 11 - Heritage Trinity: Wors, Skilpaadjies on the Hibachi and a Starch

• Episode 12 - Life’s Tiny Pleasures - a Taste Challenge and Micro Fine Dining

• Episode 13 - A Pressure Test cooking Chef Moses Moloi’s “Enchanted Forest Elegance”

• Episode 14 - A Bougie Brunch

• Episode 15 - Savoury and Sweet Surprises using Molecular Gastronomy

• Episode 16 - A Restaurant Takeover - Bertus Basson’s Clara’s Barn (this page)

More MasterChef Episode Summaries:

Want to Watch MasterChef South Africa?

MasterChef South Africa Season premiered on Saturday July 13 at on S3, and new episodes are aired every Saturday. From November, episodes will air at 8:30 pm every Saturday, with the rebroadcasts on Sundays on S2 at 6:30 pm and on Wednesdays on S3 at 6:00 pm.

Or click here read up more about the MasterChef season 5 contestants.

About Shawn Godfrey

Shawn Godfrey is an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw his business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep him sane. To keep track of his recipes, and encourage friends and families to join him, he starts his instagram account The Roasted Dad.

Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim Shawn (encouraged by his wife Lianne) enters MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when Shawn gets selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, he decides to go all in. Leaving his 7-month-pregnant wife to look after their then three and one-year-old children, he battles it out and comes back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in his pocket.

It all started with an Instagram account, but The Roasted Dad is so much more now. Shawn has stayed his entrepreneurial self and whilst he hosts Private Dinner Parties and Cook-with-Me Demos, does Restaurant Take-Overs, he still runs the lighting company and several other businesses.

On his blog, Shawn shares Restaurant Reviews and Accommodation Reviews, and gives an insight into the wild and wonderful life he leads together with his wife Lianne, and their three children Aiden (6), Olivia (4) and Harvey (2).

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