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Meet the Mossel Bay Pizza Champs!

Mossel Bay may be famous for the Post Office Tree and the life-size replica of the Bartolomeu Dias Caravel, amongst other things, but it also has another, more recent, claim to fame – it is the home of two pizza champions!

Collin du Plessis, in 2014, and Matt Bronkhorst, in 2019, won the South African leg of the Global Pizza Challenge, with Du Plessis going through to the international final of the challenge in 2015, which was held in Australia, and winning that too.

They’ve also entered, and done well, in a host of other competitions, from Ultimate Braai Master and Pap Idols, to winning the Laat die Potte Prut TV show ‘Champion of Champions Potjiekos Competition’. To top it all, Du Plessis won the National Burger Challenge held in Johannesburg earlier this year.

They are now hoping to continue their winning streak in the annual Porcupine Ridge Pizza Challenge which is currently taking place countrywide.

Du Plessis explains how they started their pizza journey: “We had a guest house in McGregor and our customers started asking for pizzas. I thought: ‘What does a boer know about pizza?’ but I researched recipes, started practising and our pizzas soon became really popular.”

To take the world title in Australia, Du Plessis was given the ingredients for a dessert pizza, including Ferrero Rocher chocolates, Nutella, strawberries and Crunchie-type honeycomb pieces. He’s planning on introducing it over the coming festive season to the restaurant he and Bronkhorst opened in Mossel Bay last year – the increasingly popular Matt & Collin’s Pizzaria and FoodBar.

Their signature pizzas include the meaty New Yorker and the vegetarian Mary, Queen of Scots.

This is the first time they’ve entered the Porcupine Ridge Pizzeria Challenge and did so to continue to “raise the bar and be the best in what one does”, Bronkhorst explains.

They answered some questions for us and provided a recipe for a delicious pizza topping.

Tell us about your menu and what makes your pizzas so popular?

We offer a variety of meals including wraps, pastas, shawarmas, burgers and – most popular of all – pizzas.  Only we know the recipe for our pizza base. No employee of ours has this recipe. We prepare everything fresh, so if bacon/chicken/seafood/meat is the topping of choice, they are freshly grilled before the pizza is assembled and cooked.

Tell us about the ingredients you use?

We strive to obtain the best locally sourced ingredients and we use only top quality meats and vegetables as this attention to detail is what really enhances the flavour and quality of our pizzas.

What are your top four tips for making a great pizza.

  1. A thin crust
  2. Use of top quality produce
  3. A great combination of toppings
  4. Made with love and passion

What’s better, a thin crust or a thick crust?

Off course thin crust pizza base. Some of our gluten intolerant customers really enjoy our pizzas even though the base is not made from almond flour.

What is your favourite pizza topping?

A good quality Neopolitana tomato sauce for the base, good quality cheese and obviously fresh ingredients.

Is there anything that should never be on a pizza and what is your feeling about pineapple as a topping?

We sometimes get requests for a bacon and banana pizza and, even though its not on the menu, we are happy to make it as we want satisfied customers. We do have two pizzas on our menu that have pineapple and they are popular.

What wine do you prefer to drink with a pizza?

The Porcupine Ridge Sauvignon Blanc or the Porcupine Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon – dependant on the toppings.

Collin & Matt’s BLUE FIG PIZZA

Top your pizza base with the following ingredients:

  • Napolitana sauce
  • mozzarella cheese
  • a variety of mushrooms
  • preserved green fig
  • shaved hickory ham
  • diced red onion
  • blue cheese
  • wild rocket – to be added only once the pizza is baked

Now in its fourth year, the Porcupine Ridge Pizzeria Challenge sees the public voting for their favourite local pizzeria via a dedicated website: https://votepizza.wine/. The restaurant with the most votes will be crowned South Africa’s favourite pizzeria, picking up the ultimate bragging rights as well as wine and marketing collateral to the value of R40 000. A new introduction this year sees additional prizes for all of the top 10 restaurants with all receiving R1,800 in vouchers and three cases of wine for their top, Porcupine Ridge-selling servers.

Consumers voting for their favourite venue can also win a weekly prize of a case of Porcupine Ridge wines and EarthFire pizza accessories, with one Grand Prize Winner at the end of the competition winning an EarthFire Tabletop Pizza Oven, pizza for a year from their favourite pizzeria (to the value of R2 000) and five cases of Porcupine Ridge Wines. The last day of voting is October 31, with the top 10 announced in mid-November.

Matt and Collin’s Pizzaria and FoodBar is located at 77 Bland St, Mossel Bay. Telephone bookings can be made on 076 181 4807

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