About Karoux Restaurant
André Middleton-Le Roux
In the le Roux family, food was part of the daily rhythm. Cows were milked at 6 in the morning and at 6 at night, eggs collected fresh, and fruit and veg harvested from the small farm garden. Chickens were slaughtered on Sunday and a lamb was always on hand on this Overberg farm near Caledon.
From an early age the tactile symmetry between earth and food was everpresent in the mind of Chef André le Roux. Growing up in a rural area set the stage for Andre’s influences in the kitchen. Fresh food and wholesome cuisine with family value is the philosophy of the working hands behind the concept of Karoux Restaurant.
André spent much of his adolescent life working and travelling through North America, taking in all that America had to offer, from Louisiana in the Deep South with their Creole influences to cosmopolitan New York and rural Alaska. However, André’s true culinary talents were honed here in South Africa at the “Warwicks Chef School” in Hermanus . Never one for the bright lights of the city, André started his professional career at various game reserves associated with the Relais Chatteaux group and eventually become Head Chef for Kingswood College and lecturer to students during their “gap year”.
Disillusioned by the corporate slant his career was taking, André longed for the simple life and ventured back to the Cape to settle in the sleepy town of McGregor. André got a job at a retreat centre’s coffee shop and lunch bistro. After 4 months, this little McGregor bistro was sporting a new night and day venue, and a new chef (Kurt Middleton) joined the small county brigade and a formidable partnership was borne. The humble bistro flourished into one of the area’s top eateries gaining revues in “Eat Out Magazine”, “Country Life” and “Food and Home”. After that, the rest was a piece of cake ...
Kurt Middleton-Le Roux
The suburban home life in the Middleton family was one of cross culture. An English mother and Afrikaans father led to an array of cooking styles at meal times. From boerewors Anglaise (boiled sausage) to Ouma Middleton’s “secret Chicken Braai sauce” or Nana’s griddled flapjacks to Dad’s Perlemoen (Abalone) Fritters and Kreef Braai would be enough to make any gastronome’s mind reel.
Food was always prepared at the source on holidays. Fish caught off the sandy beaches around the Cape peninsula, crayfish and abalone was dived out of the cold ocean, sour figs picked off the sand dunes and made in to jam and all this served up with a staple of fresh white bread with hot cups of tea.
By the time Kurt was 10, making breakfast for the family on Sunday was not a new sight in the household, where the order of the day was soufflé, omelettes and crispy bacon. Breakfast turned into dinner and an indelible love affair started with food.
After matriculating, Kurt went on to do an Interior Decorating diploma at the CTT and worked in various establishments travelling around South Africa. Wanting to try something new, Kurt took a certificate in Hotel management with H.R.A.I. but found the Hotel environment too stifling and took a job as a head barman at the blah bar until it was bombed in 1999. Wanting to get away, he packed his bags and was bound for England for 6 months of travelling and working.
Now knowing that it was food that inspired him, Kurt enrolled into the Institute of Culinary Arts (ICA) for three years, learning all styles of cooking and baking, wine appreciation and how a restaurant works.
After working at some of the top restaurants around Cape Town - Terior in Stellenbosch and The Mount Nelson in the CBD - he went on to do private functions with the Head chef of the Mount Nelson, pairing wine and food and hosting private parties for the likes of Mark Lottering, Dion Chang and other celebrities in South Africa. After a short trip through the Robertson Wine valley, Kurt saw the potential for the growth in the area and took a job as souschef at a small restaurant at a retreat centre in McGregor and with André le Roux turned it into a thriving business and a popular destination. After 2 years, the next logical step was self-employment and Karoux was born.