H&Poppie

The perfect chef to take care of you and your family while you are on holiday, and want to relax. Chef H, started working part-time for a catering company at the age of 13 to fuel his love for sneakers, but in doing so, he discovered his one true love. Cooking good food. After years of experience, and of course finishing school, he had saved up enough money and enrolled at the Zevenwacht Culinary

school to get his culinary qualification. With his qualification in hand, he set out to travel the world, and had the privilege of cooking a lunch for William Dafoe as part of his interview at Aldo Zilli’s London restaurant, Zilli Fish. William enjoyed his lunch, because H got the job. He then worked for Jamie Oliver and trained the kitchen staff for his Jamie’s Italian Franchise. But his heart lies in Cape Town, and so he returned to become the Executive Chef for the Madame Zingara group. The ultimate dream was to have a place; he could call his own. So in 2016, Chef H and his wife found a parking lot for 5 cars on Loop Street, Cape Town CBD, that they converted into a 101-seater restaurant, House of H. A steakhouse on steroids with a self-service system. As a customer, you interacted directly with Chef H, picked out your cut of aged meat, and placed your order. You could even watch it being cooked as it was an open kitchen in full view of all customers. For three years running, they were voted as part of EatOut top 500 in the country, and in 2017, the Steak Boyz awarded the restaurant the Best Steakhouse award. Due to exorbitant rentals, and luckily just before the pandemic, they made the difficult decision to close their doors. Time with his family is important, especially with three teens, so for now, he is a private chef. He has been doing this for 5 years, and enjoys meeting new clients and welcoming back returning clients. Otherwise, he loves to tend to his garden in quiet Rawsonville, and on Saturday mornings, you will find him on the sidelines of hockey fields, cheering his kids on, if he is not working. Poppie, his wife, happily assists him whenever she can. Otherwise, she wrangles the household and 3 kids, writes, and conceptualise and designs restaurants and kitchens.