Itinerant gourmands Johan de Villiers and Len Straw’s nostalgic cookbook cum memoir, Once Upon a Chicken Pie and Other Food Tales, is born out of a love of travel and memorable meals shared. TASTE caught up with the pair at La Petite Tarte, their quaint Cape Town café.
Where did inspiration for the book come from?
Len: Johan's dozens of scribbles on our many travels through Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Morocco, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa.
The book is really a travelogue and comprises a collection of stories around the food, personalities and occasions that inspired the featured recipes.
Tell us more about the title, and the fact that each chapter is named after a traditional nursery rhyme. 
Johan: The title fell out of the sky, but, once we had it, we decided to continue with a nursery-rhyme theme for the rest of the book... it just seemed so obvious. A total authors’ indulgence!
After managing a five-star hotel in Franschhoek, you bought the famous La Petit Tarte in Cape Town’s trendy Cape Quarter. What are the cornerstones of your business ethic and where to from here?
Len: After La Residence, where we contributed to both the food and décor, we were looking for a five-star holiday! Instead, we got La Petit Tarte, where "tweaking", "standards" and "details" are the all-important buzz words.
What is your favourite recipe from the book?
Johan: The Blitz cake – everyone really loves the combination of buttery cake, brittle meringue, slightly tart, poached fresh apricots and the nuttiness of the almonds.
Len: The cooked carrot salad – it’s astounding that such a humble vegetable can become so delicious with only the addition of a few spices.
If a fire broke out in the kitchen, I’d save…
Johan: My good local olive oil, my zester and my Victorinox veggie peeler.
Len: My staff.
Who is your food hero of the year?
Len: Fuchsia Dunlop – for being brave enough to eat all that Chinese food.
Johan: Claudia Roden – still top of my chart since the 1960s. 
La Petite Tarte, Cape Quarter, Shop A11, Dixon Street, De Waterkant, Cape Town; tel: (021) 425-907
GIVEAWAY
Click here to enter our competition where you can *win one of three copies of Once upon a Chicken Pie and Other Food Tales (Random House/ Struik, R240).
*Competition closes 21 December 2010.