Though it took Nokx a few years to settle on a career in the kitchen (and slightly longer to convince her family it was the right decision – now, she smiles, they are her biggest supporters), she quickly landed her first role at a new Durban hotel after graduating university. The call to go abroad came from Disney, who were recruiting in Africa for their Orlando resort, where she worked for two years before moving to Miami and then London in 2002. Positions at The Intercontinental Park Lane, The Landmark and Brown’s followed, before the opportunity at Rosewood London arose in 2014.

By that point, the pressure of balancing work with a young family – she was married with a daughter by the time she came to London – meant Nokx had reached a crossroads: find more stability, or change career. ‘I was tired, I had my daughter and juggling everything was so difficult,’ she says. ‘I didn’t have any balance.’ Rosewood was her last shot – had it not worked out, it's unlikely she would be in the kitchen today. Thankfully for all of us, ‘I felt at home for the first time,' she says.

That was in many ways thanks to Calum, who, as well as forging his reputation as a pastry expert, was creating a team culture at Rosewood London. Nokx’s gratitude to him as a mentor is clear; ‘He wanted to build a family kitchen, which was different,’ Nokx says. ‘There was someone there to listen – that’s where I found my balance. That’s what kept me, and still does today. Some things just happen for a reason.’ It was in 2018 – when Holborn Dining Room's menu featured just one pie – that they converted the adjacent delicatessen and The Pie Room came to be. Nokx remembers being asked to step in and make pithiviers. ‘I made five of them and, honestly, just thought ‘this is what I want to do’,’ she laughs. ‘I had a moment with time to think, time to create art and time to focus on the details.’

The rest, really, is history. Nokx had found her niche and a talent she says she didn’t know she had. ‘Sometimes you don’t know what you can do – Calum would say ‘this is incredible’ and I’d think ‘did he just say that’? It was amazing. It’s food that was done a long, long time ago, and we bring it back,’ she says. ‘Everyone knows what a pie is, but in The Pie Room it’s not just a pie.’ A glance at the golden, glossy crusts which fill Nokx’s Instagram page prove that to be true. Sculpted into precise patterns and laced with delicate finishing touches, they are as much masterpieces as meals. ‘There’s so much you can do with the details – it’s your own signature,’ she says. ‘I say that to my team – if you see a design you like on a door handle or a window, or anywhere, you can do it. Thinking ‘I’m going to try a pie with that’ inspires me even more. I want to create a memory for someone.’

This year, The Pie Room turns five and Nokx will mark her first year overseeing it. She tells me she is living her dream, but she doesn’t need to – her pride is obvious. ‘I used to ask myself ‘what is it that I specialise in’? But this is Nokx – this is what I’m doing and it feels like joy,’ she beams. In early 2022, she appeared on the cover of The Observer Food Monthly, highlighted by Jay Rayner as a chef to watch (‘my husband bought it and my daughter screamed ‘mum, mum, you’re on the cover’,’ she laughs). Since then, she has graced magazine pages and appeared on TV, opportunities she doesn’t take for granted. ‘When people say I have inspired them it is a dream come true,’ she says. ‘As a woman of colour it is something important.’

It wouldn’t be a surprise if Nokx had one eye on her next move, but she is enthused about what comes next at Holborn Dining Room – she is excited to bring back pie masterclasses for budding bakers, and, while she is tight-lipped on specifics, wants to weave more of her heritage into her cooking, both in the pie room and wider kitchen. ‘This year is going to be about my journey,’ she says. ‘It’s about two worlds meeting. I want to include the influence of South African food, but respect British pies as they used to be. I want to have that combination – I think it’s going to be fire. It’s going to be an explosion of Africa and England – I’m excited.’