Chef elevating SA patisserie to top-class standards

“Desserts are an afterthought for people in South Africa. Overseas, they’re not. They’re front and centre.” 

For chef Jared Melamed, that contrast is everything. The King David High School Linksfield alumnus noticed the difference after years spent abroad. Now, armed with international recognition, award-winning work, and a reputation that is rapidly positioning him as a leading figure in modern French pastry, he is set to close this gap. 

Melamed is self-taught and says he has built a name defined by precision, innovation, and uncompromising standards. In 2024, he was awarded Best Pastry Chef in the Country at the Luxe Awards. In 2025, he received Best Patisserie in South Africa, followed by Best Patisserie in Johannesburg in 2026 at the People’s Choice Luxe Awards. 

But for Melamed, 38, the accolades are secondary. “The awards don’t mean much to me,” he says. Elevating the South African pastry scene is his goal. 

His journey into high-end patisserie didn’t begin in a classroom. “School was never for me,” he says. At 19, he left South Africa, inspired in part by the world he saw through the late American celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. “I thought travel was a better form of education than school.” What followed was nearly two decades of movement across close to 50 countries. He worked in kitchens, restaurants, and hotels, initially funding his travels as a professional scuba diver. 

Those experiences, he says, shaped his palate and his perspective in ways no formal education could. “When you live in many countries, your mind opens quite a bit more than just living in one space,” he says. “You come back with a different palate. You can appreciate good things, but you also realise what’s lacking.” From street food in Thailand to Michelin-starred dining in France, each experience refined his understanding of flavour, technique, and standards. 

It was in France that everything sharpened for him. “That is what really got my eye tuned in, my palate tuned in, and the method and knowledge to produce this kind of stuff on such a fine level.” The discipline and precision of French pastry became the foundation of his work. 

Returning to South Africa, however, was an eye-opener. “I don’t think the food here is where it should be on the global map, especially desserts,” he says. Where pastry overseas is treated as an art form, he found it was often overlooked locally. “Most of it is frozen, produced in a warehouse in Germany six months ago, and sold now for premium prices. It’s disgusting.” 

Melamed chose to redefine that standard. Over the past two and a half years he has focused on setting a new benchmark for pastry in South Africa, rooted in classical French technique and meticulous execution. “If you do things right in French patisserie, you’re not going to lose,” he says. “That’s how you beat everyone else, by being consistent.” 

His approach extends to ingredients. “If you want to race an F1 car, you’ve got to pay the price of that fuel,” he says. “You can’t be F1 racing and putting diesel into your car. It’s not going to work.” For Melamed, that means sourcing the correct butter, cream, and flour, often French, to achieve the quality he demands. “I’m not slamming our local produce. We have excellent produce, but high-end patisserie needs a certain standard.” 

Despite his global recognition, including appearances as a MasterChef guest judge and collaborations within elite culinary circles, Melamed’s focus remains firmly on building something local and lasting. His kitchen reflects that philosophy. Many of his team members began with no formal training. “The one was a waiter. The one was a domestic worker, and now they’re putting out high-end desserts,” he says. 

He believes in hands-on learning, repetition, and exposure to high standards. 

Melamed is committed to educating and mentoring the next generation of chefs. “We need more up-and-coming pastry chefs,” he says. “I don’t know what the stigma is. Being a chef is just as technical as being a lawyer or an architect.” 

He hopes to address what he sees as a critical gap in skills and education within South Africa’s pastry industry with his plans for a physical store, offering internships, and doing workshops. “I want students in my kitchen, showing them proper French methods.” 

Melamed’s work sits at the intersection of luxury and craftsmanship, and his influence is already being felt. “A lot of places have started upping their game because I’ve set such a high bar,” he says. 

His goal isn’t recognition, but to reshape how pastry is understood, valued, and executed in South Africa, and to ensure that the next generation is equipped to take it even further.