Heard On 702: A Quiet Honor For HAUTE

HAUTE Boutique Patisserie was recently the subject of a real, on-air conversation on 702's Weekend Breakfast Show — one of South Africa's most listened-to radio programmes — where accomplished chef and food writer Dr Anna Trapido (PhD) spoke about the desserts, the patisserie itself, and the people behind the brand.

For a small, independent patisserie built collection by collection, hearing your own name discussed by a respected voice in South African food media, on a platform with that kind of reach, isn't the sort of thing you campaign for — it's the sort of thing that catches you quietly off guard. HAUTE's founder put it simply: a moment to reflect on quietly, not to make noise about.

What was actually being discussed has its own, longer story. HAUTE's now-signature lifelike fruit desserts — hand-sculpted patisserie finished to look almost indistinguishable from the real fruit it's shaped after — have been part of HAUTE's identity for five years already, long before any of the online attention that's followed them more recently. The viral moment is recent. The craft behind it isn't.

Deepest gratitude goes to Dr Anna Trapido (@trapidoterritory), to Gugs Mhlungu (@gugsm) and the rest of the Weekend Breakfast team, and to Talk Radio 702 (@talkradio702) itself, for the platform and for the words. It means the world to us.

One small, good-natured correction came along with it too, worth setting straight for the record: HAUTE Boutique Patisserie was founded by, and remains led by, Chef Nikita De Sutter.

It's the same thread that runs through every piece of recognition HAUTE has quietly received: the craft, and the people behind it, speaking for themselves. You can listen to the full segment above.