Against the Grain: Wolfgat Wins Restaurant of the Year From the First Ever World Restaurant Awards
by CWA
@ 22 Feb 2019
When you hear Restaurant of the Year, what’s the first image you think of? An exclusive, elegant restaurant with gold accents, white clothed tables, an extensive wait staff headed by a world-renowned chef, and exquisite ingredients? The World Restaurant Awards have recently named their choice for Restaurant of the Year, and it may not be what you’re expecting. It’s a small restaurant housed in a 130 year old cottage in a village in South Africa. It seats 20 people, run by a team of six members who consist of the locals of the village who had to learn about the restaurant business on the job and their head chef and owner is a man who had never finished cooking school because he didn't want to end up working in some hotel kitchen.
Kobus van der Merwe, who worked as a journalist and ran his family’s country store and their restaurant, is the man behind the establishment, and was grateful when he picked up the award at the awards ceremony in Paris. He thanked his team for their hard work and time working to get the restaurant Wolfgat to where it is today. "I don't feel worthy. It's a big title. My staff who go out every day gathering herbs, succulents and dune spinach, should be here... It's their baby,” he told AFP when asked for comment about the restaurant’s win."I can't wait to celebrate with them with a big glass of South African sparkling wine."
The restaurant’s humble setting, as well as Van der Merwe;s belief in sustainable, back-to-basics cooking was key in winning over the judges of the inaugural World Restaurant Awards in Paris. Its seven-course tasting menu costs the equivalent of €53 euros (S$81),, With dishes such as twice-cooked laver (seaweed), angelfish with bokkom sambal and wild garlic masala, limpets, mussels and sea vegetables harvested within sight of its "stoep" (porch), Wolfgat also won the prize for best "Off-Map Destination". The bearded Van der Merwe - a former journalist - said that apart from the influence of the subtle spices of local Cape Malay cooking, his philosophy was to "interfere as little as possible with the products, and to keep them pure, raw and untreated. "It's hyper local cuisine but we try to come up with new flavours, like dune celery spice."
Wolfgat may not be run the way a typical kitchen would be like in any busy metropolis, but it works well for them.
“We're a small team, a total of six, we all do everything with no distinctions," van de Merwe said, according to CNN. "There's no kitchen hierarchy so it's all about collaboration and learning from one another. I'm incredibly proud of them. They don't come from any formal food background, so this achievement is all the more amazing."
Photo thumbnail credits: The South African
