Sue-Ann became a household name in 2012 as the runner-up in the 1st season of Masterchef South Africa. For three months Masterchef episodes introduced her love for food and ‘never give up’ attitude to people around the country.

Sue-Ann has firmly put her stamp on the South African food map by working with celebrity chef, Reuben Riffel, where she successfully ran his Robertson branch for a period of time. She has also trained under the hand of Grand Chef, Peter Templehoff at the award winning GreenHouse restaurant at the Cellars Hohenhort. Other successful projects with which she has been involved is Dash at the Queen Victoria Hotel, and successful Cape Town eatery, Giulios Cafe’, where she has assisted with the launch of the new evening menu.

She has made appearances on TV shows such as Top Billing, Expresso and Pasella. She is currently a regular on the Afternoon Express show, and is also the co-author of Gourmet Sisters, the cookbook which won the Gourmand Best First Cookbook SA 2014 award.

Sue-Ann also runs a Private Chef service in Cape Town, under her Sue-Ann Allen Culinary Management brand, where she cooks for locals and internationals alike. She has cooked for esteemed guests from the USA, UK, France, Australia, Indonesia and Africa. She is also the Private Chef Of songstress and X-Factor judge, Nicole Scherzinger when she visits Cape Town.

She also freelance consults for restaurants to devise new menu’s and train kitchen staff. Sue-Ann is regularly asked to MCee and judge food, and other events around the country. Her passion for life is evident when doing this. It too is evident when her menu’s are plated and created.

When asked where her food journey all began she’ll tell you that her grandmother was an incredibly accomplished cook and it was first in her grans’ kitchen that Sue-Ann discovered her love for cooking. Her passion grew into a hobby that she then worked at until she was confident enough to cook for seasoned professionals and hence the decision to enter the Masterchef competition. The rest, she says, is history.

Sue-Ann says the creating of dishes and working with food is an intimate experience, in her words “you need to smell, touch and taste but most of all have respect for the ingredients with which you work” Things she says she can’t live without in the kitchen “butter, garlic, lemon zest, my microplane and laughter” She chooses to live by the words of one of the world’s most loved and adored cooks “Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it” – Julia Child

Sue-Ann lives in Cape Town, South Africa