We have just returned from a wonderful holiday and one of the major contributing factors was the superb cooking and management of the kitchen by Gabi. We had house guests, the youngest being 12, with 10 people in the house and with visitors there were often 14 or 16 for dinner.
Gabi handled everything in a relaxed and competent manner.
We had planned the meals for 3-5 days in advance and each one was delicious, using local ingredients. Gabi cooked us a variety of dishes - Asian, Mediterranean and some of her favourite recipes. Baking is her strong point and we treated ourselves to one of her desserts a day. Gabi made us lots of different salads and grills too in addition to arranging a picnic for a boat trip and filling a bag of treats and snacks for long days on the beach.
In addition to all the cooking Gabi was responsible for all the shopping in the house and keeping account of expenditure . She was careful with money and there was never wastage of food.
Gabi's wonderful nature and helpfulness to cater for a wide variety of guests made our stay in South Africa easy. I could rely on her to handle the table being set and delegating jobs to the staff in the kitchen.
I would highly recommend her for any position like this again and to cater for an occasion at home. We hope to see Gabi again in the near future and see her flourish at what she does.
Yours sincerely
It is Gabi's quiet, skilled and determined presence in the kitchen which has her local and international clients continually putting her name at the top of their list of preferred private cheffing resources.
Regardless of whether she is placed into a humble bush kitchen with rudimentary facilities, 200 miles from the nearest shop and a moving target of guest numbers, or a state of the art set up, Gabi gets down to the business of providing a fabulous array of dishes for an intimate family setting or a dazzling dinner party.
Gabi's skill is superb, and her integrity is paramount, it makes for a wonderful mixture.
Gabriella accompanied my family to my farm in the Vaalwater Province, South Africa for 10 days to cook for us and friends. There were up to 16 people to cater for. She liaised with us exactly what we would like on the menus and arranged with great diligence sourcing ingredients and extra equipment.
She is very organised and cooks to the highest standards. Her attention to detail is extemporary. Most importantly her food is always delicious. I would highly recommend Gabriella to anyone and look forward to her returning to the farm to work for us and guests.
Yours sincerely
We employed Gabi Veale to cook and manage the kitchen for us in December 2010 in Plettenberg Bay . Her responsibilities were for keeping the kitchen stocked and keeping control of costs , cooking and presenting three meals every day and on the odd occasion to prepare a hamper for the beach.
She was consistent in producing excellent food that was well presented and enticing to eat. She was open to discussion about our requirements and always had great suggestions to make meal planning. She had to at the same time make provision for special dietary requirements in the house and still managed to juggle both meals. We had guests a few times for dinner where she managed to cook for 14 alone. Her speciality is her baking which was superb and she made a variety of deserts for us as well as pancakes and scones for breakfast.
Gabi fitted into our household with ease. We found her delightful to have living with us. She is even tempered, responsible, discreet, kind to all the children in the house and a sense of humour that makes it very comfortable to have her in one’s home.
I would highly recommend Gabi for any such job and also for hiring her as a chef for a function at home. We will miss her and hope that should we need her services again she will be happy to fill the vacancy again.