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He recently got back from Paris, where four
days ago his 20-cover Wolfgat was named Restaurant of the Year
at the inaugural World Restaurant Awards, also winning the
remote location prize.
"In our category, which was for the off-map destination... there
are restaurants that we literally hero-worship and we were like,
this is insane," the food-journalist-turned-chef told Reuters TV
on Friday in his first interview with foreign media since
returning home.
Others on that shortlist included Japanese wild dining sensation
Tokuyamazushi.
Of both prizes, he added: "We never dreamed of making the
shortlist, let alone winning."
Situated in Paternoster, about 160 km (100 miles) northwest of
Cape Town, Wolfgat's speciality is seafood.
Van der Merwe's seven-course tasting menu pays homage to the
region's long-gone indigenous inhabitants, and his signature
dishes are flavored and supplemented with ingredients foraged
locally, such as seaweed and succulent plants.
They include Rooibos tea-smoked yellowtail with dune spinach and
buttermilk rusk, and freshly baked bread served with bokkom
(salted dry fish) butter and infused herbs.
Guests at the 130-year-old whitewashed restaurant, nestled above
Wolfgat cave within hearing distance of crashing waves, pay 850
rand ($60), or 1400 rand including drinks.
Van der Merwe, who took the plunge into full-time cooking before
completing his culinary studies, said he had no wish to expand
or replicate Wolfgat in an urban setting.
"We certainly don't aspire to be in the city because the west
coast is our muse and I can't see Wolfgat existing anywhere
else," he said.
His clientele is split evenly between foreign tourists visiting
the village and well-heeled South Africans.
But those who make the two-hour drive from Cape Town had better
be sure of their reservations before they set out - because he's
fully booked for the next three months.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; writing by John Stonestreet)
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