A year after our first visit we went back to Paternoster to see whether Wolfgat could possibly still be what we remembered. Twenty seats in a fisherman's cottage, a menu written by the tide, and a kitchen that forages the strandveld the way other restaurants shop. It is, if anything, better.
What Kobus van der Merwe has done is bigger than one room: he has made the case that South Africa's coast is a cuisine, not just a view. The seven courses read like a field guide — dune spinach, angelfish, bokkoms butter — and the wine list champions small Swartland growers you will not find at home.
For the Gallery, this is the day trip we recommend most from the Cape: a slow morning drive up the West Coast while the golfers take on Pearl Valley, lunch at Wolfgat, and everyone comparing notes — smugly, both sides — at dinner.
— Shelagh Harker, Paternoster