{"id":13001,"date":"2021-12-19T16:58:17","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T00:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/?p=13001"},"modified":"2025-06-24T08:40:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T15:40:44","slug":"the-perfectionist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/the-perfectionist\/","title":{"rendered":"The Perfectionist"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Unwrap the new year with us.<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Enjoy our premium, unique selections from TrooRa marketplace<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Perfectionist\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Written by: Robyn Alexander<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Rock-star chef Gregory Czarnecki<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Rock-star chef Gregory Czarnecki has secret skills that only a select few know about\u2014anyone lucky enough to try his mind-blowing, guess-the-flavour bonbons will never go back to eating just any chocolate\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A spray-gun and a hairdryer. They don\u2019t sound like usual tools in the arsenal of a professional chocolatier, but then again, \u2018usual\u2019 is not a word anyone who knows or works with Gregory Czarnecki would use to describe him. In fact, the award-winning, French-born chef doesn\u2019t even call himself a chocolatier.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cI didn\u2019t study it, it\u2019s not my job,\u201d he explains as he sprays a fine mist of vivid orange cocoa butter into a chocolate mold, occasionally using the hairdryer to warm up the mixture when it becomes too thick. This is how he creates the delicate shells of his bonbons, but he says a home cook could use a small paintbrush to thinly paint the cocoa butter onto the molds, then use a toothpick to create any pattern, zigzag or swirl, followed by a second layer of cocoa butter in another colour to fill in the lines.<\/span><\/p>

So if making chocolate is not his job, it must be a passion then? A calling? Why else would he spend two days a week crafting his astonishing chocolates for diners at The Restaurant at Waterkloof? Gregory has headed up the kitchen for the past ten years, but it was only four years ago that he decided to start making the edible works of art that have since become a fixture at the end of his 15-course degustation menu.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Leah Alexander<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\u201cI was one of the first people to bring the bonbon to this country\u2014I wanted to offer diners something different,\u201d says Gregory. \u201cI am self-taught. Yes, I did work with chocolate when I was an apprentice but now I guess I have more knowledge, more patience, less arrogance. And I decided that if I was going to make chocolates, they would have to be the best-looking ones I could possibly make. I want to look at them and be proud to have spent so much time on it. For me, it\u2019s the results that matter.\u201d<\/p>

And it\u2019s the imaginative results of his experiments in colour and flavour that almost defy description. The themed collections of five bonbons per table of two change constantly and can include gleaming black pyramids and gemstones, marble-like stones in neutral hues, or swirls of yellow, turquoise, and purple. Concealed beneath their mirror-like cocoa butter shells are ganache fillings in some rather way-out flavour combinations.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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chef Gregory Czarnecki<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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If for some reason, the hazelnut and parmesan or passion fruit and basil oil do not fascinate you, perhaps the cr\u00e8me fraiche and raspberry vinegar will. What\u2019s more, their creator takes great delight in tricking the senses\u2014the exteriors of Gregory\u2019s bonbons give no clue to what diners\u2019 taste buds will experience. \u201cI always make sure that the colour on the outside doesn\u2019t match the flavour. Why do yellow if it\u2019s lemon, you know? You want people to be intrigued, to have to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Office Interior<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Interior- Dining room<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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chef Gregory Czarnecki Cocoa Loco\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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chef Gregory Czarnecki bonbons<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A no-limits attitude, a powerful streak of perfectionism, and using only the best-quality chocolate as the star ingredient\u2014which he works with at precisely controlled temperatures\u2014are the key to his edible works of art. \u201cIf you just melt chocolate, like people do when they want to dip strawberries, you\u2019re not going to end up with a snappy chocolate. You have to bring it to a higher temperature, quickly lower it, then warm it up again so that you can work with it. There are specific temperatures, depending on the amount of bitterness, origin, and type of chocolate you are using.\u201d<\/p>

When the chocolate has been expertly tempered, it is poured into the molds over the set cocoa butter shells. Once the chocolate has had a chance to set, Gregory uses a piping bag to add the ganache filling, taking care not to overfill each mold. The ganache is then left to set at room temperature for 24 hours. Now comes the final touch, a last layer of tempered chocolate to seal the deal.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Master Bathroom<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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chef Gregory Czarnecki bonbons<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Gregory\u2019s meticulously created bonbons are then de-molded and stored in a special room at 7\u02daC until two hours before they are to be served, at which point they are transferred to another room at 14\u02daC\u2014his advice on the perfect temperature at which chocolate should be served for maximum flavour.\u00a0<\/p>

Exactly two hours after diners first embark on their culinary journey, they will, at last, receive their bonbons presented in a box bearing Gregory\u2019s logo. \u201cI even bought the machine that makes the thermoplastic sheets they are arranged on. Sure, there are places that can make the sheets for me, but they want you to order thousands and maybe I just want 100. Now that I have the machine, I can do anything with it, you know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

Indeed he can! \"\"<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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TrooRa Magazine<\/p>\n

Words<\/p>\n

Cristina Deptula\n<\/p>\n

California, USA<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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SHOP<\/span><\/BR> \nTrooRa\nMarketplace<\/span><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Baroque Pearl Earrings<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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$80.00 usd<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Archer Bag Copper Metallic<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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$265.00 usd<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Mini Trio Candle<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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$50.00 usd<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Archer Bag Blue Steel Metallic<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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$265.00 usd<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSHOP NOW<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Rock-star chef Gregory Czarnecki has secret skills that only a select few know about\u2014anyone lucky enough to try his mind-blowing, guess-the-flavour bonbons will never go back to eating just any chocolate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":363,"featured_media":41051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13001"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41153,"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13001\/revisions\/41153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/troora.com\/team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}