Lisa joined the Cape Fusion Tours team in 2022 after we encouraged her to do the guiding course and to join our team. Lisa is a local Capetonian who spent many years working as a chef in the UK, Thailand and  Vietnam.  Touring with Lisa is fun. She is younger than the rest of the team. She is energetic, passionate and has a naughty twinkle in her eye. She will show you the “inside track” to Cape Town and learn where we like to play!

Her Story:

I discovered my love of food at a young age. Our home was always the gathering place for friends and family for long lunches and dinners. As such cooking and entertaining became part of the fabric of my life. My father owned bakeries and my parents shared a love of great food. When I left school I studied to be a Chef at the prestigious Elsa Van Der Nest Chef Academy. I gained my initial experience in the kitchen at the Winchester Mansions hotel in Sea Point. I then returned to study photography & jewellery making before heading off to USA to travel. Having Irish roots meant that I had the opportunity to work in the UK. The UK provided me with some great Cheffing opportunities.  I worked at Fishworks, Micheals & Butlers (worked on changing them from pub grup to gastro bars), was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sous Chef for his 9 theatres and did a short stint in one of Gordon Ramsey’s kitchens. My travels then took me to Koh Samui in Thailand and an opportunity came up to work on the island.  When I left Koh Samui was I was Executive Chef of the Regent Hotel Group on Koh Samui. A job offer led me to Vietnam and just before the pandemic I headed home to Cape Town for a few months to spend time with my parents. I was en route to a new job opportunity that was supposed to start on 1 May 2020. Naturally the job offer was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. During the pandemic I started a home dinner delivery business called Your Local Food Cellar (YLFC). This led to an opportunity to open a deli in Sea Point. Pam, the owner of Cape Fusion Tours, fought hard to support all the side kick food businesses that were established during the tough covid times. She created a group on Facebook called The Cape Town Eats Group. Our paths crossed during this time and this led to an opportunity to join her company as a local Cape Town food & history guide. The rest as they say is history. I truly enjoy introducing visitors to the Cape to our beautiful city and the surrounding areas. I love to show people what we love as locals and to introduce them to our culinary gems.