Vixa Kalenga

The Path

The path into professional kitchen work is visible in the first rung: Vixa Kalenga began as a pot wash, and the line from there to Group Executive Chef at TANG in Cape Town runs through service, repetition, and responsibility accumulated over time. His own account stays blunt: “So my journey as a chef started pretty much very very young as a pot wash.” Role by role, the progression shows the standard pressures of brigade life. At Table Bay Hotel (2011–2012), Kalenga worked as Chef De Partie, then moved to Sous Chef at Peninsula All Suite Hotel (2012–2013) and The Kove Collection (2013–2014). A brief stint as Senior Sous Chef at Burrata Italian restaurant (2014) was followed by Executive Chef at The Big Mouth Restaurant (2014–2016), where the work shifted from station-level execution to broader team control and standards. The later stages of the career point to both advisory and leadership functions. Kalenga was Food Consultant at Ethos Restaurant (2019–2020), then Executive Chef at Tang Asian Luxury Restaurant & Bar (2020–2022), before becoming Group Executive Chef at TANG in 2022. Alongside that, he has also been Executive Chef and Business Owner of Chefs in Shirts (since 2016), a second track that adds ownership to kitchen leadership.

The Work Today

At TANG in Cape Town, Group Executive Chef is not a decorative title; it signals oversight across the kitchen work that defines the brand. For Kalenga, it extends a career built through successive service roles into a position where consistency, staffing, and standards sit at the center of the job.

Signature

The signature dishes tied to TANG — TANG Salmon Tartare, TANG Octopus Tiradito, and Imperial Seafood Platter — point to a style built around precision and a polished restaurant finish. In trade terms, they sit where brand identity, plating, and consistency meet.

In Their Words “So my journey as a chef started pretty much very very young as a pot wash.”

Acclaim

The record around Kalenga is less about rhetoric than about progression: work first, title second, and advancement earned through repeated service in kitchens. His own words keep the frame simple. “” He answers that expectation with a different line entirely: “my passion was always cooking.” The other detail he gives, “I got my mom's touch,” places the story back in the domestic kitchen, but the professional lesson is plain enough — the craft stuck, and he stayed with it.