Executive chef Rudi Liebenberg, currently at the Saxton Hotel in Johannesburg and a judge in both 2006 and 2007, was impressed to see how well the Nando’s sauces did again in 2007. “We had a completely different set of judges this year and this situation normally has an impact on the final judged result but Nando’s surprised all of us! Furthermore, the judging panel found the tasting a lot more complex this year as we had a lot more sauces to taste than in 2006 – a fact that rigorously tried our judging capacity, not to mention our taste buds!” he said.
“But, when making our final decisions, we relied heavily on the taste, followed by the look and texture of the sauce itself and finally, the packaging – what caught the eye in terms of presentation and branding. All the Nando’s sauces exhibited variety in profile as well as in the product category on offer and they were certainly eye-catching. The quality of the products entered was consistent and all the sauces offered a beautifully pronounced flavour profile and an intriguing burning sensation that certainly gave them an edge.”
The first place gold awards went to:
The Evergreens Chilli Carnival MC Pedro Camara, from 7de Laan, bravely ventured into sampling one or two sauces but left the judging to the experts while he and Jacaranda FM DJ Kieno Kammis entertained the thousands of chilli addicts who attend the show each year.
