Silwood School of Cookery

Silwood School of Cookery is South Africa’s oldest and most acclaimed cookery school, offering a unique and innovative chefs training course, which has been developed to the highest level over 58 years, earning Silwood an international reputation of excellence. The school has remained a family run business since 1964, being passed down through 3 generations of chefs.

Silwood School of Cookery has been the first step of the culinary journey of many well-known chefs, food producers and food writers around the world.
Situated in leafy Rondebosch, Cape Town’s top educational suburb, the school is an original 17th century Cape farm. The stables have been converted into state of the art kitchens, giving a feeling of rich heritage and tradition combined with the new and cutting edge facility.

At Silwood, we believe that the best chefs have a deep understanding of the ingredients they cook with, so students learn how to grow and harvest their own produce in our organic vegetable and herb gardens.

The school was founded in 1964 by Lesley Faull, Commanderie des Cordons Bleus de France. Over the past 54 years Silwood has earned itself a world class reputation and has remained a family run business. Lesley’s daughter, Alicia Wilkinson, Commanderie des Cordons Bleus de France, is the present principal of the school, assisted by her daughter Carianne Wilkinson, International restaurant judge and director of SA Chefs Association.