Dieuveil Malonga worked in several German restaurants, including the triple-Michelin-star Aqua in Wolfsburg, then in France.
Kigali (AFP).– Dieuveil Malonga love grandmothers. His people, who gave him a passion for cooking in the Congo, and those he met throughout the continent, to learn from them the secrets of African gastronomy.
This Congolese chef, who traveled through Germany and France, draws on his traditional knowledge to create his “Afro-fusion” cuisine, noticed in his later years.
“I travel to different countries, I learn from my grandmothers and then I take these old recipes and bring them to my laboratory here and try, with my cooks, to bring a touch of modernity there,” he explained to AFP a few minutes before the opening of his restaurant in Kigali, Rwanda.
From his travels through 38 African countries, the 30-year-old chef brings back techniques like smoking and fermentation, but also spices and condiments. Small peppers from the Ivory Coast, pèbè walnuts from Cameroon and other mbinzo caterpillars from the Congo occupy an entire wall of his restaurant.
If Afro-fusion has been around for “a long time”, the quiet and discreet Malonga admits to having contributed, along with other chefs like Senegalese Pierre Thiam, to putting Africa on the map of the food lovers of the world.
“Something is happening now in Africa, and lpeople are interested in knowing more about African cuisine “, says who co-founded the platform “Chefs in Africa”, lamenting that this gastronomy is often reduced “to rice, mafé,” (chicken Yassa “.
“There is an immense diversity. Let’s take the example of Nigeria (…) in one day you can eat more than 20 ″ types of food.
Business class
Dieuveil Malonga was born near Brazzaville, in the Republic of Congo, where, despite the death of his parents, he lived “a very happy childhood within a very close community,” his website highlights.
At age 13, he was received in Germany into the family of a pastor and joined a renowned cooking school in Münster.
“I like to eat, I eat all the time,” he explains with a laugh. “I come from a family that loved and celebrated food.”
Graduated and featured prominently during competitions, he worked in several German restaurants, including the triple-Michelin-star Aqua in Wolfsburg, then in France, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Marseille. But something is “missing”, so Malonga is going to travel to Africa for two years. “The key to what is happening to me today,” he explains.
She fell in love with Rwanda, a mountainous and fertile country with a very mild climate, where Meza Malonga opens in 2020. The “Malonga table”, in Kiswahili, attracts a clientele of wealthy locals, expats and tourists, for a total bill of around of 130 euros.
That day, the 10-course menu includes sweet potato marinated tuna, powdered yucca shrimp and coffee foam with peanut crumble.
Passionate about produce, the chef likes to wander the alleys of the Nyamata farm, an hour from Kigali, where he stock up on aromatic herbs and edible flowers. An “opportunity” that he would not have in Europe, he admits, testing some leaves here and there and asking owner Laura Tomini a thousand questions.
Very proud to see “stars in their eyes” when collecting their products, Laura marvels at the quality of the restaurant, where she had the opportunity to dine.
“It gives the feeling of being in business class,” he smiles, referring to the dishes, but also to the service.
Tweezers
By 2023, Dieuveil Malonga wants to go “higher, create something great” by opening a new restaurant in the very rural region of Musanze (north), at the foot of the Virunga volcanoes and their famous gorillas.
More exclusive, more expensive, the second Meza Malonga will be both “an experience” and a “village of culinary innovation”, where most of the food will be produced on site, but also a training center.
In Kigali, Malonga works with ten young chefs, mainly Rwandans but also Burundians, Ugandans, Tanzanians, who while preparing the room or meticulously placing the dishes – with tongs – praise their ability to withdraw and “let create”.
In Musanze, the main trainee wishes to train many more, recruited from across the continent, to continue the broadcast.
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
