Wolfgat — Restaurant in Saldanha Bay Local Municipality

Always on the lookout for interesting places to please our palates, we stumbled on its unassuming website, which immediately piqued our interest. Spent a few minutes gathering more information about Kobus and his food and we were sold! Hook. Line. Sinker. (Caveat: before any awards). Service at 12:30 (we went in April for lunch). Apart from the food, adding to the atmosphere was the unintentional theatre taking place on the beach below with fisherman cajoling their boats in and out of the water. The photos speak for the food, but this was the conversation at the table: “It smells like moving when you are packing up your house” and “It tastes like freshly cut grass” ... in a good way! It pushed our senses way beyond any fine dining food we’ve ever had is now firmly etched into our ‘taste memory’. It was great to be able to talk to the team about the local ingredients (some growing in our garden 1 500 km away) and gaining a true appreciation and education of what ‘eat (hyper) local’ really means - something that's often harder to achieve for city slickers surrounded by 'burbs rather than bush. If you do get the opportunity to go, you simply must do it with the wine-pairing. That in itself is something to experience and learn about the wines in the region. We came full circle after driving through the Swartland for two days and then drinking some of their best wines at Wolfgat. Finally, watching the team work was one of the best 'flat organisational structure' examples I've ever seen in action. Business world take heed, throw away your chef whites and serve tables. Give your team the opportunity to cook. Throughout the lunch sitting it was clear to see that the team and the chef are equals. Great success can be achieved in shorts and velskoene #justsaying But, please, don’t go if it's just another foodie fine dining bucket list item for you to tick - the team, the food and the experience deserve more appreciation than that. Leave the spots open for those of us who will go over and over again (yes, the menue changes with every season and in an ideal world we'd go four times a year!) and love it...

Wolfgat, famously crowned Restaurant of the Year at The World Restaurant Awards in 2019, enters every diner’s radar with high expectations. Yet much of its current reputation feels anchored in past acclaim rather than present performance. The location in Paternoster is breathtaking, with views over the bay that alone justify the trip. Unfortunately, the restaurant itself shows signs of fatigue: minimal upkeep and dated presentation detract from what could otherwise be a strikingly authentic coastal charm. Service is friendly but undertrained. Standard fine-dining protocols were not followed — cork testing was delegated to the guest, bottle preparation was careless, and overall execution lacked polish. Chef Kobus van der Merwe’s presence in the dining room initially raises hopes for a personal connection to his philosophy, but his reserved manner left us with little insight into the creative vision behind the dishes. The result is a service experience that feels hesitant and inconsistent rather than world-class. The set tasting menu, presented on a photocopied sheet, comes across as sterile. In an environment that should celebrate narrative and context, this stripped-down approach undercuts the storytelling essential to modern fine dining. The food itself is good: rare indigenous ingredients, interesting textures, and thoughtful lightness define the plates. Even unconventional touches, such as beer ice cream with sorghum, were technically well executed. Yet while the dishes impress, they never fully transform into the immersive “experience” that a global accolade suggests. Without stronger articulation of concept, the food risks being appreciated rather than remembered. In the South African fine-dining landscape, peers such as FYN and Salsify currently offer more integrated, polished experiences across service, cuisine, and atmosphere. Wolfgat has potential — its location and chef’s dedication are undeniable — but unless it raises standards in service, presentation, and guest engagement, it risks being remembered as a once-celebrated restaurant that...

I've had the privilege of dining in many avant-garde restaurants around the world...

What I really enjoyed here was the seeming simplicity of the venue, making you focus on the food.... And since you come here for the food, here's my two cents on it:

Don't come here wanting to love each dish individually. I personally loved 6 out of the 7 dishes and appreciated the 7th for what it was trying to do (see next point)

For me (and each review is obviously a biased experience) the experience of this restaurant is akin to that of an innovation hub. Not each innovation works perfectly, but each innovation opens your eyes to the possibilities that mixing different ingredients can have. I love the experimental nature of the dishes. Each dish made me think differently about what is around is and how different combinations create new flavours, textures and sensory adventures. With this performance metric in mind the visit was a resounding success and can really recommend it.

The presentation and service we faultless but again I didn't come for this. I don't drink so can't comment on the alcohol but my wife says she absolutely loved the two wines she tried which she hasn't heard of before.

You don't come here to 'eat'. You come here to experience dishes hence the portions are perfect to have a good mouthful but this isn't a big plate of spaghetti that will make you feel full. This is about filling your mind.

Come with friends and make an evening or lunch experience out of it. This is as much about your pleasure of tasting as about the pleasure of exchanging different views.

There is limited seating (we had 12 diners) so it doesn't feel crowded . We didn't really chat to the waiters as more informed about the dishes. Am sure we could have chatted with them and they were ultra friendly but we were here for us and the food this time.

Overall we absolutely loved it. Expect to pay a tip and drinks above the cost of the experience, but that's not a critique, just a reminder if you are saving for the experience.

PS... The view is...