…Now makes waves in UK, across the globe, plans restaurant brand in Milan
By Christy Anyanwu
Raphael Duntoye is a prominent and outstanding chef of international repute. At the yearly GTCO Food and Drink festival he is one A-list chef that people wouldn’t miss his master class for anything. His demonstrations, food taste and art of cooking, alongside his Italian colleague Chef Filippo are amazing.
The award-winning chef is based in London and has been a regular face at the GTCO Food and Drink Festival since inception.
Duntoye changed career in 1995, from engineering to cooking and since then has been featuring on numerous cooking shows. He loves taking his food lovers through the Epicurean realm of cooking.
He spoke with Sunday Sun after his Master Class on the last day of the GTCO Food and Drink Festival held in Lagos between April 29 and May 1.
The last time you came to Nigeria for the same Master Class, you spoke a little about how you became a chef at 30 years and helping out in the kitchen, could you talk more on that?
In UK, I was in the boarding school, I used to do a summer job. The first job I had was as a chambermaid, but I was not good at that. I needed a job because my dad would not let me come home. So, what I did was try to work in the kitchen because it’s much easy to find a job there. So, I started washing pans and pots and everything and I had weekend jobs. I was helping the chefs to cut vegetables and all that stuff. Over the time, I learnt to cook as well. There was a day, it was a Saturday, the chef had gone out, I think he had too much and he never showed up. It was like a challenge to roast chicken, roast turkey, beef and ham. I told the managers, I can do this. I did everything nicely and the customer said, did you change your chef? The food tastes were better today. The rest is history.
What is the name of your restaurant again?
Unfortunately, we do not have a restaurant right now because we have sold out. So, basically right now, me and Filippo are building new restaurants together and the first one by God’s grace will be in Milan.
If you weren’t a chef what will you have been?
I wanted to be a pilot. I really wanted to be a pilot. I wasn’t meant to be a chef. In fact, when I talk about myself, I’m an accidental chef. What I really wanted to do was a pilot. Life throws things to you sometimes. I am truly blessed because in life you can only do so much you leave the rest to God. When I was growing up in Nigeria, the idea of becoming a chef was absurd. They refer to them as Alase. My mother prayed for quite a while when I told her I was going to be a chef. She said, ‘something is wrong with my son’. Think about it. I didn’t come to Nigeria for 30 years and what brought me back to Nigeria was my cooking. Isn’t that a great testimony? So, I am blessed.
What was your experience working in the kitchen?
It was tough. Remember, I was 30, I did engineering before and I had this temporary insanity to start cooking. It was like being in military. I remember I was lucky to work with probably the best chef in the world. A lot of top chefs that you’ve heard their names and it was like being in the military. And when I described my first six months, it is like having fever. You know when you have fever, you’re hot and cold. I was afraid to be sacked and every day I wanted to run away. But you know in life, when you stick to it you succeed. Luckily, I have some Nigerian blood for tenacity and I think I was lucky enough.
We didn’t see things knorr and maggie in your Master Class. Tell us what’s the synergy between health and food?
Food and health are something we pay a lot of attention to and that’s why what we do is mostly natural. And we try to take away from all the stuffs that’s more heavy, like the cream, the butter, to make food light. Everything in life is about moderation. But when it comes to things like, you know, Maggie, you know, they contain a lot of MSG and we don’t like that. I personally have a problem with MSG. I get a terrible headache, I get muscle plasm and I swell. And so, what we try to do is simple stuff. It’s more difficult to do simple stuff, but it’s very 
important to get the right produce. I think moderation is everything not having too much of one thing. It’s important that you eat well in order to be healthy and stay away from things, you know, I mean you have a guilty pleasures. Once in a while we can dip into it, but mostly it’s about moderation.
How do you feel with your status as a celebrity Chef?
I don’t see myself as a celebrity (laughs). In life, it doesn’t matter where you come from, or where you go, life is a lottery. To start with, it’s a lottery, so for me, I thank God for his blessings. I know he’s got a lot more to give to me and I hope he gives me the humility to always been able to handle it and for me I rarely take myself seriously and I think we are all equal. Life is just a lottery.
What’s your advice for the youths that are coming up as Chef?
Never give up, you know in life people want to go from A to Z just like that, it’s good to have a good foundation, it’s all about foundation and always put your next step forward, it’s so easy to be kind and good. It takes a lot of energy to be cruel. In life you must always think about you next neighbour. I carry this with me all the time (touched his wristband) Ubuntu, Ubuntu means I cannot exit without you. And for me that’s the way I hope, believe our life is in everything and actually the reason you know I have to finish my business and sell the business and all that, I am starting all over again because my final destination is to reach my maximum potential which is to be a philanthropist and that’s a lot of charity work. The reason I come to Nigeria to do this show is for charity and I hope I will be able to build on that, that’s where I will end up being. Did I grow up in Nigeria? I was in Nigeria till I was like about 14. So, I go back and forth now.
Can you make any of our dishes?
That would be a challenge though, but I would like to challenge you on that, you know I think I make one of the best stew there is, I also know how to make jollof rice.
You are so fond of Filippo, tell us about him?
Oh absolutely! In life you’re only as good as people around you and you cannot climb by yourself. In life it says that if you want to go fast, you go alone. If you want to go far, you go together. And I value people more than money, more than anything. When people ask me, Ralph, what do you do right now? I say, I’m a collector of good souls. Not only Filippo. I have other people along the way. And I won’t say it’s all me. I’ve had people. Sometimes, when you want to dance, it takes two to dance. I’ve been so lucky to have people like Filippo around me.
What do you think about GTCO Food and Drink?
What do I think? I think it’s amazing, I think it is awesome, I think you know other organizations should do things like this. You cannot imagine what they have actually put in this for these three days. It’s a lot and you know we had COVID, they would have given up, saying they won’t do this anymore, but they are stuck to it. Every time they always try to make it bigger and better. We can never be perfect, we should never stop striving.