A feast under the baton of the inimitable Kobus van der Merwe

Finely tuned: Kobus van der Merwe plates up with Derek Shaw and Emmerson Bester at Wolfgat restaurant, Paternoster. April 2024.

Shutters up: Emmerson Bester opens the shutters for the day’s service, and a fisher feeds the seagulls on the beach at Paternoster Bay. April 2024. But, really, I said to him, I need to get to Wolfgat, and he said to me, really, we need to get you to Wolfgat, and I thought to myself, I bloody need to get to Wolfgat. So, a vague plan was hatched that I would get there within the first few months of the new year. He’d show me how and where he forages. There’d be lunch and wine.

This is the old part of town, where most of the little cottages are home to fisher families and boats are parked in front of their homes as well as their cars or bakkies. In the early hours of the morning, the banter will begin as people head to the beach, having ascertained whether it was a good fishing day. But I’ve chosen a rainy day, I am missing the planned forage with Kobus. I will be back for that, we agree before the day is out.

So, the first thing I learn about this former world restaurant of the year, outside of the hype and the plaudits and the craven reviews, is that Wolfgat is a family. That it is a small seaside community within a community, within which everyone has multiple roles. Every family needs a head, and Kobus conducts this orchestra like the classical pianist that he is. He is the maestro of Wolfgat.

On the HYM turntable perched on a cupboard to one side, where vinyl records are spun throughout service, Satchmo is rocking his soul in the bosom of Abraham when a glass of Huis van Chevallerie ‘Hummingbird’ MCC 2020 is placed before me, a dry, sea-fresh start to a fine repast a breath away from the sea.

Shell & smoke: Mussels in a broth, right, and captured in smoking wild sage at Wolfgat restaurant, Paternoster. April 2024. The Strandveld snacks all add up: the palate is being introduced to the flavours and textures that lie ahead, starting with ‘oyster hot and cold’. I’ve seen raw heerenbone on display, and here they are on the menu as a purée.

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