His Passion for his first love and the Art Of Culinary
WHO IS KWAME AMFO?
Kwame Amfo-Akonnor, also known to people as Bishops, a 23-year-old graduate from the Presbyterian University, was born and raised in Accra, Ghana. Kwame is a self-taught private/pop up chef and the owner and manager of Biishville. Kwame had his primary education at Presec Staff Basic School, continued to St. Thomas Aquinas Senior high school and just graduated from Presbyterian University with a BSc in Administration. Born into a family of 6, with 2 brothers and a sister, Kwame said he grew up in a traditional home where they used to eat a lot of homemade food. His mother was a very good cook who always made sure there was something to eat at home. They rarely ate out and always ate together as a family. Kwame always loved to cook. He developed this love and interest from watching and helping his mum cook for his family. He said he is closest to his mother and he was virtually always with her in the kitchen, where he learnt most of his culinary skills. Growing up, he used to cook the family’s meals for them when his mother was not available. He said his family came to love the food he made for them when his mum was away.
“Cooking was like my first love. My family love my food and my brothers call to find out if I had cooked before coming home.”
HOW DID HIS INTEREST TO BECOME A CHEF MANIFEST?
He always had the passion for cooking from childhood however it was not his plan to necessarily be a chef from the start. “Could’ve been food blogging or owning a restaurant, not necessarily be a chef.” he told me. He related that as a child, he wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer. He however diverted to business in the university. He realized he wanted to be a chef at age 16 and pursued this dream when he got to the university at age 18. He was faced with challenges though. “at the start, I thought about opening a restaurant but I realized that I didn’t have enough funds to start the restaurant or even hire a chef. Then I thought, I love cooking, I love being in the kitchen, why don’t I start my own private chef services?” I asked him how his family took on his dream to become a chef and he said at the beginning, they wanted him to focus with school, get over with it then pursue his dreams. However, he was very determined to go on with it so he proved to them that he could combine both and they supported him. He mentioned that his family has since and always been supportive of what he does.
“My mum is my greatest inspiration. She inspired me a lot and still does. My friends are also very supportive and they love it when they come over to my place because there’s always free food to bite on.”
LIFE OF A CHEF
Living as a chef and also working as a national service personnel is hectic for Kwame. Also, he is the manager of his brand called Biishville. In addition, being a chef, doesn’t mean he’s always in the kitchen cooking. He has to run a full-time business which includes marketing, accounting, advertising, pitching ideas, among others. He mentioned that his work is very seasonal so there are times when he gets extremely busy because he has been booked every single day of the week. There are other times when he could get one booking in a week. However, he said the demand for his services are moderately high.
“Because you’re dealing with people, you need to push the business in the faces of the people for the business to boom. I mostly get my clients through social media campaigning, leverage on social media and most efficiently recommendations by people I’ve rendered services to.”
What makes his dishes different and special is that he makes sure that every type of meal he cooks, notwithstanding the origin of the food, he adds an African touch to it.
“I cook both local and continental dishes, however I make sure I add a personal touch of African to it, could the presentation or the spices I use. I always say that the base of the cuisine is African so most times, I use spices from the local farms”
KNOWING THE BIISHVILLE BRAND
Kwame started developing his brand when he realized that although he did not have funds to open his own restaurant at a specific location due to high rates of rent, he loved cooking. He decided to get into the kitchen himself and cook good homemade food for people who request his services in order to raise funds to start a restaurant. Biishville, which means Bishops House and is synonymous to Bishops Kitchen, is a pop up restaurant which is made up of a team of himself, the head chef and creative director, consultants, customer relations officers, and kitchen staff. The idea of Biishville started in his third year in university and he told me that he used his monthly allowance for school to host a launch in his house where he invited 30 people.
“Every business is created to solve a problem and I realised that the problem about most restaurants in Ghana was that they focused on making continental dishes while our traditional foods are getting lost. So, my aim and the main purpose for creating Biishville was to rebrand our local dishes and represent African food to make people patronize and feel excitement because you can now enter a restaurant and order to eat boiled yam and kontomire stew, not necessarily fries or rice.”
According to Kwame, financial constraints, locations for events, finding the right people to work with and combining school work with running a restaurant at the same time were his major challenges when starting Biishville. With much efforts and dedication now, the brand is a full-blown business who have worked for a commendable number of well-known organizations including Nestle Ghana, Maggi, Publicis Africa, just to mention a few. Recently, Kwame was hosted by the first lady of the republic of Ghana, H.E Rebecca Akuffo-Addo, to cook for on her birthday. He sees his brand cooking for the president of the country himself, and other people from other countries. Biishville offers private catering services for birthdays, dinners and any other events for families or corporate bodies. “The goal of my brand is to open the first authentic fine African restaurant in Ghana. So far our clients attest to our unique service and we are also in to give our all to make them live deliciously”
KNOWING MORE ABOUT KWAME IN AND OUT OF THE KITCHEN
Do you remember the first dish you ever prepare? What was it?
Haha yes. It was shepherd’s pie and I messed it up.
What was the first food you professionally cooked?
It was for one of my client’s daughter’s birthday. Chicken salad, potato salad, pork sliders, jollof, spicy potatoes in beef sauce and some crepes. (honestly my mouth waters anytime I see this)
Who has been your favourite client so far?
Honestly, I’ve cooked for too many people haha. I’ve cooked for corporate bodies, individuals, countless families and businesses. I enjoyed cooking for them all.
Your most challenging client so far?
Ever event or catering I hold is challenging because I push myself to present experiences for my clients and that means going above and beyond.
Any plans on going to Paris? I heard that’s where all the cooking sauce is. What 3 countries will you love to visit in addition?
Yes, Paris is historically known for food and culinary in that regard. French people make amazing food. I’d love to visit Morocco, Italy and Gambia just to learn about their food and spices
Do you have a philosophy of life, related to cooking?
Not really, but cooking is all about experimenting so there’s always more to discover and learn.
Favourite eateries/restaurants/recommendations?
My favourite spots in Ghana are Bistro 22, Teabaa, there’s a chop bar around Ghana Food and Drugs Board, Waakye international. I can’t recommend because we all have different taste buds but you can check out these places I mentioned if you like.
Your top 4 cooking tips
Use sharp knives, ensures efficiency
Clean while you cook
Cooking is all about preparation, you can marinate your meat or fish overnight.
Waste nothing, you can save stocks and some cuts of meat for a different meal.
Do you have a girlfriend? If no, why? If yes, will you tell us who this lucky lady is?
Skipped. (laughs) No personal life information. Oh people will worry me so let us just keep it out.
(at this point I was very disappointed because I was voicing out all ladies’ most important question to him. I was personally disheartened too because, I mean, who doesn’t want a sexy cook? Don’t read this like you’re not thinking what I’m thinking please please, we both know you are)
What’s your biggest accomplishment?
“Being able to start Biishville was a big accomplishment. However the fact that I am able to cook for people and they express their love for the food that I make in a positive way, that to me is my biggest accomplishment.”
Kwame’s favourite dish is Rice balls and groundnut soup. He loves rnb and old school music and his favourite musicians are Drake, DVSN, HER and Akan. He prefers basketball to football I guess, because when I asked him what his favourite sports was he said basketball and his favourite team is “definitely the Warriors.” (another disappointment). He said his role model is Chef Selassie and his favourite food blogger is Siba Montagna and favourite blogs are Mammestales, Tastetales and Accracraves. When I asked what his favourite spice was he said he uses only natural spices but he never misses his garlic. His favourite kitchen tool is the knife and his favourite kitchen task is chopping. (obviously). Kwame loves to travel to explore and he would love to visit other African countries to learn about their food and expand on the African cuisine.
“At a point, he barely had a social life because starting a business in Ghana is difficult and if you don’t commit your entire time and focus to it, you’ll face a lot of challenges. But now I’m on track with my social life. I love to go out with my friends and I taste a lot of different kinds of food as well.”
Kwame used to be a model, and an actor as well. Yes, apart from making finger licking meals, he was modelling and acting on the side-lines as well. He modelled for some brands in Ghana and also worked with a number of professional photographers. Earlier this year, he played a role in a short film titled Three Nights Ago, a thriller produced by Sika Osei which touches on the subject of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, specifically how the disorder develops after unexpected shocking or dangerous events.
Combining all these, you would agree with me that Chef Kwame Amfo is one real talented and self-determined young man.
“If you want to do something this is the right time to approach it. Don’t wait for the right time tomorrow because the right time is now. And out all your energy and hard work into your dreams and it will strive.”
I had a good time with Chef Kwame and by the time the interview came to an end, I had received from him to be invited to his next event so that I would also taste some of his unpopular dishes. There are so many young, talented and upcoming people in the country who have so many good and innovative ideas and all we need to do to support to these young entrepreneurs is to find different channels to tell the world about them. I’m rooting for Chef and cannot wait to write about him again but as an international and well renowned chef by then. And oh yeah, my esteem was overly boosted even before our chat ended. I was inspired to reach out for what I find love in doing.
CONTACT BIISHVILLE
Twitter: https://twitter.com/biishville
Instagram: https://instagram.com/biishville
Snapchat: https://snapchat.com/biishville
Email: biishville@gmail.com