The movie “Sergio Across the Border” was full of testosterone, but Tom Weiss and Sergio Hermann also often dared to show their vulnerability

Sergio across the border This week was too short Travel Wes: The star chef went to South Africa with Tom Weiss, one of the few countries on the planet that the latter has never visited before. This stayed with us from episode five.

Who was a guest?

The most famous TV presenter in the Low Countries, who came to South Africa at the invitation of Sergio to taste the local cuisine. And to fulfill one of his long-cherished dreams: a walking safari through the Kruger National Park.

What “delicious dishes” were there?

In Khayelitsha 'town', one of the world's largest slums, Sergio and Tom headed to Abby's food truck, which served them some local specialties including chakalaka on a plate in seven different colours. At one of the stalls, they also tasted “vetkoek”, a type of olepol filled with delicious sauce – the most common type being chicken liver. Turns out the two like the concept, because when they stopped for coffee at a roadside bar the next morning, they bought a “pepper steak” cake for breakfast.

The most eye-catching dish was the drink: a gin brewed near the Kruger National Park. Paula and Les extract the “plants” from elephant feces, where plant and grass molecules always remain undigested. The gin was light brown in color, best drunk neat, and according to Sergio, it tasted a bit like grass that had been fermented for a few days, just as you'd hope gin would taste.

what did we learn?

At the end of the episode, Tom admitted that as he got older, and especially since he had a new girlfriend, the great anxiety from the past had somewhat disappeared, “as if everything had fallen into place.” However, he has not yet found this peace at the table: he still eats there – as Sergio says – “like a hurricane”. After eating a plate in a short time, Tom said he held the Guinness Book of World Records for ten years as the world's fastest pizza eater.

What's the funniest moment?

Tom is only afraid in situations that he cannot control. On a horse that doesn't do what he wants, or in the car next to Sergio who drives frighteningly close to parked cars, or makes a wrong turn and almost ends up in the background. As the two drove towards Khayelitsha, Tom was visibly terrified several times. When they left town again, he was behind the wheel.

What is the most emotional moment?

It would come as no surprise if a cloud of testosterone wafted during this episode – one of the final dishes was, not coincidentally, a cannibal toast from Game with bone marrow on the braai – but the two tough men also often dared To show their courage. They are weak. Tom talked about his relationship with his parents, how his mother still rubs her 55-year-old son's hair, and how he tries to make more time to visit them. This goodwill arose from a simple, heart-warming calculation: “I visit my father nine times a year. Suppose my father, who is now 84, turns 90, I might see him a total of sixty more times.

Sergio's tears flowed as he visited the Platteklep wine farm in Beckettberg. The sommelier he worked with once dreamed of making his own wine in South Africa and worked with the director of Platteklep. The two had already prepared a glass of wine, but on the day she wanted to leave for South Africa forever, Lottie, 32, suffered a fatal brain haemorrhage. “Sergio grew up with Tom and his Platclip.”A good glass of wine“To remember her.