So over a three-month period Justin will be spending three or four days in the kitchens of 13 of South Africa’s premier restaurants. Here some of South Africa’s best loved chefs and their assistants guide him through the intricacies and rigours of preparing an array of traditional, exotic and very original dishes.

The hours are extremely long and the work exacting but the people he meets have the same passion for food that he does and in no time he’s right back in his element. They get him to do his fair share of kneading dough and chopping onions but he can see right off that there is a vast difference between cooking for mates on a beach and preparing food for paying guests.

It’s obvious why everything has to be prepared well in advance and that each unit needs to operate like a well-oiled machine. As he gains in confidence, the chefs allow him to prepare some of their signature dishes and he even gets to work on the pass. Justin quickly begins to appreciate the real attraction of this profession. How when the pressure’s on and the place starts rocking there’s a tremendous adrenaline rush and a huge satisfaction in being part of the team that makes it all come together.

During Cooked Out Of The Frying Pan Justin goes from rough bush cook to smooth operator as his skill set improves. Whenever possible he reciprocates by taking his mentors out into his open air kitchen and giving back some of what he’s learned. While picking up the finer points of haute cuisine Justin also makes life-long friends and spends time at some spectacular locations.

Cooked Out Of The Frying Pan will begin airing on SABC3 on Saturday, 1 October, at 16:30.

Cook, traveller and lover of life, Justin Bonello has done the very thing we all dream of – taking the things he cares most deeply about and making his world revolve around them.

As a seasoned documentary-maker of eleven television series, Justin has also presented five seasons of Cooked (aired on the BBC); and produced 13 episodes of Getaway to Africa (aired locally on M-Net and internationally on various broadcasters, including Discovery), as well as 13 episodes of Exploring the Vine (aired locally on M-Net HD and internationally on National Geographic). Justin has an additional eight TV properties in various stages of production via his film production company, Cooked in Africa, which includes Riaan Manser’s current Around Iceland on Inspiration expedition, which sees the famous extreme adventurer kayaking around Iceland with cerebral palsy sufferer, Dan Skinstad.

Recently, Justin also started enjoying success in the literary world, and has published three books. The first, Cooked in Africa, which was a best seller, won Exclusive Books’ ‘Book of the Year’ 2009 award and a ‘Loerie’ for its design in 2010. The pocket book Weekends Away is receiving rave reviews, and his third book Out of the Frying Pan, which was published in 2010, is enjoying a similar reception from South African readers and home-cooking fans. He is currently writing his fourth book with Penguin, which will be available in South African bookstores later this year.

Visit www.cookedinafrica.com for more!