By Roxanne Reid
You’ve spent the day exploring the Cape Columbine Nature Reserve and lighthouse, walking on the beach at Paternoster and kayaking in the sea. Now your stomach is growling. Luckily, there’s no way you’re going to go hungry in Paternoster, with restaurants offering everything from pizzas and burgers to seafood and fine dining. Here are some Paternoster restaurants worth visiting.
You’ve spent the day exploring the Cape Columbine Nature Reserve and lighthouse, walking on the beach at Paternoster and kayaking in the sea. Now your stomach is growling. Luckily, there’s no way you’re going to go hungry in Paternoster, with restaurants offering everything from pizzas and burgers to seafood and fine dining. Here are some Paternoster restaurants worth visiting.
One of my favourite things to do in Paternoster on South Africa’s West Coast is to eat out. Remember that most Paternoster restaurants are closed one or two days a week, so check ahead and book if you want to eat at a specific place. If you prefer to take it as it comes, there’s always somewhere open for visitors on any day of the week though your choices may be limited, especially on Mondays and Tuesdays after the busy weekend.
It’s best to book ahead, especially for dinner. Also remember that some restaurants take their annual break in June/July so they may be closed in winter. Note that I haven’t ranked the restaurants I’ve mentioned, but presented them in random order.
Leeto
Leeto opened at the Strandloper Ocean Boutique Hotel in early 2018. There’s an airy lightness to the restaurant, with glass doors that fold out of the way to allow the beach and seascape in. Lounge on a sofa on the deck to enjoy a pre-meal drink and choose from tables on the deck or inside the restaurant for full shade without sacrificing the view or the sense of being in the fresh air.
As so often the case here in Paternoster, the menu is replete with seafood choices. I had seafood linguini that was richly delicious, while my carnivorous lunch partner chose Chalmar beef. Both desserts – Amarula crème brûlée and a lemon posset with berries – were a wonderful way to end the meal.
Other choices include prawn and calamari risotto, tiger prawns, kudu fillet, and honey panna cotta. There’s also a vegan menu.
I’d definitely go back for more fine dining next time I’m in Paternoster.
Open daily.
The Noisy Oyster
As so often the case here in Paternoster, the menu is replete with seafood choices. I had seafood linguini that was richly delicious, while my carnivorous lunch partner chose Chalmar beef. Both desserts – Amarula crème brûlée and a lemon posset with berries – were a wonderful way to end the meal.
Other choices include prawn and calamari risotto, tiger prawns, kudu fillet, and honey panna cotta. There’s also a vegan menu.
I’d definitely go back for more fine dining next time I’m in Paternoster.
Open daily.
The Noisy Oyster
A chalkboard at the door of The Noisy Oyster announces, ‘We’re fully booked but fast eaters and big tippers may be considered.’ It’s a fun intro to a delightfully quirky restaurant that doesn’t take life too seriously. Best of all is the courtyard seating with fairy lights for a romantic atmosphere.
There used to be orange, yellow and blue umbrellas to give shade in the courtyard like those in Agueda, Portugal, but they’re sadly gone – sacrificed to the practicalities of providing deeper shade on hot summer days. Nowadays, multi-coloured bunting adds a festive touch. On cooler evenings, fires burn for warmth and ambience. At night it’s so romantic that it’s small wonder the starters, mains and desserts of normal menus have been ditched for the more titillating ‘foreplay’, ‘intercourse’ and ‘afterglow’.
We’ve been here numerous times and always enjoyed friendly and efficient service as well as great food, from melt-in the-mouth fish to mussels and oysters, which are referred to as West Coast Viagra. If fish isn’t your thing, a regular on the menu is Chalmar sirloin, perhaps with brandy pepper sauce and mustard butter. If you have space for starters, don’t miss the loaded hummus on crisp flatbread with shaved zucchini, toasted almonds, pickled sultanas and feta. It’s sublime.
I love the blackboard that says: ‘Seize the moment! Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved away the dessert cart.’ Indeed. Catalan flan, flourless chocolate torte or cheesecake are some ways to round off your meal, but our fave was blueberries and apple-filled phyllo with toasted nut cream.
It’s all about good food in a relaxed, unpretentious atmosphere at the Noisy Oyster.
Closed Monday and Tuesday.
De See Kat
There used to be orange, yellow and blue umbrellas to give shade in the courtyard like those in Agueda, Portugal, but they’re sadly gone – sacrificed to the practicalities of providing deeper shade on hot summer days. Nowadays, multi-coloured bunting adds a festive touch. On cooler evenings, fires burn for warmth and ambience. At night it’s so romantic that it’s small wonder the starters, mains and desserts of normal menus have been ditched for the more titillating ‘foreplay’, ‘intercourse’ and ‘afterglow’.
We’ve been here numerous times and always enjoyed friendly and efficient service as well as great food, from melt-in the-mouth fish to mussels and oysters, which are referred to as West Coast Viagra. If fish isn’t your thing, a regular on the menu is Chalmar sirloin, perhaps with brandy pepper sauce and mustard butter. If you have space for starters, don’t miss the loaded hummus on crisp flatbread with shaved zucchini, toasted almonds, pickled sultanas and feta. It’s sublime.
I love the blackboard that says: ‘Seize the moment! Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved away the dessert cart.’ Indeed. Catalan flan, flourless chocolate torte or cheesecake are some ways to round off your meal, but our fave was blueberries and apple-filled phyllo with toasted nut cream.
It’s all about good food in a relaxed, unpretentious atmosphere at the Noisy Oyster.
Closed Monday and Tuesday.
De See Kat
Since our last visit to Paternoster, De See Kat has moved from the main road to the Paternoster Waterfront where it has a much better setting right on the beach. Although the food is good, it’s the view and atmosphere that get 10 out of 10.
We began our meal with a sushi starter that was excellent. For mains, we had linefish (my favourite kabeljou on that day) with lemon-garlic butter and chips, all tasty and served with efficient friendliness. Other menu items included calamari, seafood platters, oysters, chicken skewers with peanut and sweet chilli sauce, and Mexican style chicken breast. There’s vegan curry and vegan stirfry too. We were too full for dessert, but choices included chocolate bomb, cheesecake, and sticky toffee pud with ice cream.
In busy February, we were lucky to get a lunch table without a reservation, but they were already fully booked for dinner the whole week, so booking ahead is obviously a smart idea.
Closed Monday.
Gaaitjie
We began our meal with a sushi starter that was excellent. For mains, we had linefish (my favourite kabeljou on that day) with lemon-garlic butter and chips, all tasty and served with efficient friendliness. Other menu items included calamari, seafood platters, oysters, chicken skewers with peanut and sweet chilli sauce, and Mexican style chicken breast. There’s vegan curry and vegan stirfry too. We were too full for dessert, but choices included chocolate bomb, cheesecake, and sticky toffee pud with ice cream.
In busy February, we were lucky to get a lunch table without a reservation, but they were already fully booked for dinner the whole week, so booking ahead is obviously a smart idea.
Closed Monday.
Gaaitjie
The simple whitewashed old fishermen’s cottage that is Gaaitjie is right on the rocks next to the beach so the views are superb. We enjoyed watching kids and dogs playing on the beach, boats coming in with their catch. The menu includes seafood as well as guest appearances by beef and chicken for those who don’t feel like fish.
On our first visit when Jaco Kruger was chef, my Asian chicken salad was delicious, the Norwegian salmon served with a delicate orange and fennel sauce that was so good I asked for a spoon so I didn't waste a drop. And the chocolate crème brûlée was a triumph.
Now the kitchen is in the hands of Maryka Williams and Luvalain Losper, who present tasty items like goats cheese salad with baby beets, spring rolls, calamari, West Coast mussels and oysters, seared tuna, masala prawns, almond and pear torte, and coconut panna cotta.
Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Voorstrandt
On our first visit when Jaco Kruger was chef, my Asian chicken salad was delicious, the Norwegian salmon served with a delicate orange and fennel sauce that was so good I asked for a spoon so I didn't waste a drop. And the chocolate crème brûlée was a triumph.
Now the kitchen is in the hands of Maryka Williams and Luvalain Losper, who present tasty items like goats cheese salad with baby beets, spring rolls, calamari, West Coast mussels and oysters, seared tuna, masala prawns, almond and pear torte, and coconut panna cotta.
Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Voorstrandt
Voorstrandt restaurant is slap-bang on the beach. In fact, I’ve seen people take a walk to the breakers between courses. The green corrugated iron building with its red roof has been there a long time, having started life as a private home. It alone seems to have escaped the developers’ rule that buildings in Paternoster should be white and designed in ‘Cape coast’ style. As with many Paternoster restaurants, menu choices are largely of the seafood variety, though fillet and burgers also make an appearance.
I had a calamari starter which was generous enough to serve as my main course. My husband had the calamari/hake combo, which he enjoyed – tender crumbed calamari strips with a portion of succulent hake that was beautifully cooked and came with chips.
Sit under the shade awning and feast your eyes on the beach just a step away and the sweep of sea all around. We enjoyed our food but it was the view and ambience that were spectacular. We were early enough to watch the sunset over the bay while three young children played on rowing boats pulled up on the sand, just an arm’s reach away from mom and dad.
Open daily.
Paternoster Lodge
I had a calamari starter which was generous enough to serve as my main course. My husband had the calamari/hake combo, which he enjoyed – tender crumbed calamari strips with a portion of succulent hake that was beautifully cooked and came with chips.
Sit under the shade awning and feast your eyes on the beach just a step away and the sweep of sea all around. We enjoyed our food but it was the view and ambience that were spectacular. We were early enough to watch the sunset over the bay while three young children played on rowing boats pulled up on the sand, just an arm’s reach away from mom and dad.
Open daily.
Paternoster Lodge
The best thing by far about the restaurant at the Paternoster Lodge is the view from the balcony. It looks out to sea over the beach where colourful boats go out and come back from fishing. Watch the beach activity, listen to the seagulls and spy on the locals walking past on the street below.
Breakfast is my favourite meal here, either for the fresh fruit, granola and yoghurt or for the yummy vegetarian omelette with sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions and peppadews for piquancy and deliciousness. Bacon addicts like my husband prefer the full English breakfast.
Lunch and dinner menus include choices like curry, fish, calamari, prawns, pizza, burger, and Cajun chicken salad. You don’t have to be staying there to enjoy a meal in the restaurant. Try to get a table on the balcony to watch the sea; it’s worth booking ahead to get a spot there.
Open daily.
Blues Restaurant at Abalone Hotel
Breakfast is my favourite meal here, either for the fresh fruit, granola and yoghurt or for the yummy vegetarian omelette with sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions and peppadews for piquancy and deliciousness. Bacon addicts like my husband prefer the full English breakfast.
Lunch and dinner menus include choices like curry, fish, calamari, prawns, pizza, burger, and Cajun chicken salad. You don’t have to be staying there to enjoy a meal in the restaurant. Try to get a table on the balcony to watch the sea; it’s worth booking ahead to get a spot there.
Open daily.
Blues Restaurant at Abalone Hotel
The restaurant at the Abalone Hotel in Paternoster is somewhere to sit in elegance inside or a more informal setting on the deck overlooking the sea. The evening we ate dinner there was fairly nippy so the large glass doors remained closed, but it’s usually radiant in high summer, when the setting sun turns the sea pink.
The menu includes tapas like calamari, prawns and mussels, light dishes like Vietnamese salad, chicken or salmon wraps, and fish n chips. Mains include beef fillet, butter chicken and prawn curry, grilled linefish, and a seafood platter of mussels, calamari, prawns and linefish. They also have a sushi menu. For dessert, there’s crème brûlée, malva pudding and cheesecake.
Open daily.
Cathy’s Kitchen
The menu includes tapas like calamari, prawns and mussels, light dishes like Vietnamese salad, chicken or salmon wraps, and fish n chips. Mains include beef fillet, butter chicken and prawn curry, grilled linefish, and a seafood platter of mussels, calamari, prawns and linefish. They also have a sushi menu. For dessert, there’s crème brûlée, malva pudding and cheesecake.
Open daily.
Cathy’s Kitchen
For something different, support Cathy’s Kitchen where service is friendly, food is tasty and filling. It’s part of a non-profit iniative and you can learn more about the Hoopsig project that gives local kids life skills through regular workshops. Some 60 children receive a daily nutritious home-cooked meal followed by an afternoon life skills programme for 5 to 17-year-olds. You can add a donation to this worthy cause to your bill and it’s something that will make you feel good.
As for the food at the restaurant, the menu is small but with something for everyone. We enjoyed a bobotie pancake and a coronation chicken wrap. Both were huge and really tasty. You could also choose a croissant with ham/cheese or chicken mayo fillings, omelette filled with bobotie, spinach/feta, or ham/cheese. A daily specials blackboard might include mussels and oysters. If you’re looking for something sweet, try the baked cheesecake, milk tart, or flapjack stack.
Portions are generous and prices reasonable. Note that Cathy’s Kitchen is open in the mornings only. The kitchen closes at 12.30 (for orders) and the restaurant at 13:00, so it’s a good place for breakfast, brunch or an early lunch.
Closed Wednesday.
Wolfgat
As for the food at the restaurant, the menu is small but with something for everyone. We enjoyed a bobotie pancake and a coronation chicken wrap. Both were huge and really tasty. You could also choose a croissant with ham/cheese or chicken mayo fillings, omelette filled with bobotie, spinach/feta, or ham/cheese. A daily specials blackboard might include mussels and oysters. If you’re looking for something sweet, try the baked cheesecake, milk tart, or flapjack stack.
Portions are generous and prices reasonable. Note that Cathy’s Kitchen is open in the mornings only. The kitchen closes at 12.30 (for orders) and the restaurant at 13:00, so it’s a good place for breakfast, brunch or an early lunch.
Closed Wednesday.
Wolfgat
Chef Kobus van der Merwe is a forager who loves nothing more than creating Strandveld food using plants that have adapted to the harsh coastal conditions. For instance, his menus include edible succulents, seaweed and other plants that complement seafood.
Wolfgat offers a seven-course tasting menu for lunch on Wednesdays to Sundays, and dinner or Friday and Saturday evenings, seating about 20 people for what he calls a two-and-a-half-hour ‘eating journey’. He doesn’t want to offer it more often or to more people because he wants to keep the harvesting of these plants sustainable. ‘That’s why I won’t use corms or tubers where you have to use the whole plant, just ones you can harvest and will regrow,’ he told me when I chatted to him not long after Wolfgat opened.
He has developed his menu ideas through research and experimentation, reading old recipe books, and chatting to old people and botanists, anyone he can buttonhole to talk about his passion. ‘And I’m a danger to myself when I’m driving because I can’t keep my eyes on the road,’ he admitted.
Wolfgat is a lovely space, with gorgeous views out to sea. The building, about 130 years old, lies above a series of calcrete chambers that were most recently occupied 2000 years ago by Khoikhoi, who ate the same kind of foods he now serves, from plants to seafood.
I haven’t had a full meal at Wolfgat, just a taster, but Kobus insists he strives to make it delicious. ‘It may be a new taste adventure so you need to have an open mind, but we’re not making Fear Factor food here,’ he quips.
In February 2019, Wolfgat was declared Restaurant of the Year in the World Restaurant Awards. Given the amount of media coverage this restaurant has received, and the number of accolades it has picked up, booking is essential – usually three months in advance.
Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Other Paternoster restaurants
Wolfgat offers a seven-course tasting menu for lunch on Wednesdays to Sundays, and dinner or Friday and Saturday evenings, seating about 20 people for what he calls a two-and-a-half-hour ‘eating journey’. He doesn’t want to offer it more often or to more people because he wants to keep the harvesting of these plants sustainable. ‘That’s why I won’t use corms or tubers where you have to use the whole plant, just ones you can harvest and will regrow,’ he told me when I chatted to him not long after Wolfgat opened.
He has developed his menu ideas through research and experimentation, reading old recipe books, and chatting to old people and botanists, anyone he can buttonhole to talk about his passion. ‘And I’m a danger to myself when I’m driving because I can’t keep my eyes on the road,’ he admitted.
Wolfgat is a lovely space, with gorgeous views out to sea. The building, about 130 years old, lies above a series of calcrete chambers that were most recently occupied 2000 years ago by Khoikhoi, who ate the same kind of foods he now serves, from plants to seafood.
I haven’t had a full meal at Wolfgat, just a taster, but Kobus insists he strives to make it delicious. ‘It may be a new taste adventure so you need to have an open mind, but we’re not making Fear Factor food here,’ he quips.
In February 2019, Wolfgat was declared Restaurant of the Year in the World Restaurant Awards. Given the amount of media coverage this restaurant has received, and the number of accolades it has picked up, booking is essential – usually three months in advance.
Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Other Paternoster restaurants
Sit on the deck at Blikkie Pizzeria for ocean views
Other places we didn’t have time (or the capacity!) to try include:·
Notes:
1. We paid in full for all our meals.
2. Be aware that rock lobster/crayfish is now on the red (i.e. don't buy) list of the SA Sustainable Seafood Initiative because stocks are so low they're unsustainable. So even if you see people selling them on the side of the road in Paternoster, know that many are taking crays without the necessary permits, taking individuals that aren’t the specified size, or taking them outside the crayfish season, which only runs from November to March/April. Don’t expect to find crayfish on the menus of ethical restaurants, especially outside those months, and please resist the urge to buy them on the side of the road so that wild stocks have a chance to replenish.
You may also enjoy
20 things to do in Paternoster
Paternoster: fishing boats, beaches and crayfish
Cape Columbine Nature Reserve & Lighthouse
Like it? Pin this image!
- Benguela Blue – toasties, salads, tapas, seafood platters
- Blikkie Pizzeria – lots of pizza variants, as well as hake and chips, burgers
- DiSpens at the Winkel op Paternoster
- Paternoster Hotel – tramezzinis, mussels, calamari, prawns, burgers, steaks
- Waffle Wharf at the Paternoster Waterfront – sweet and savoury waffles
Notes:
1. We paid in full for all our meals.
2. Be aware that rock lobster/crayfish is now on the red (i.e. don't buy) list of the SA Sustainable Seafood Initiative because stocks are so low they're unsustainable. So even if you see people selling them on the side of the road in Paternoster, know that many are taking crays without the necessary permits, taking individuals that aren’t the specified size, or taking them outside the crayfish season, which only runs from November to March/April. Don’t expect to find crayfish on the menus of ethical restaurants, especially outside those months, and please resist the urge to buy them on the side of the road so that wild stocks have a chance to replenish.
You may also enjoy
20 things to do in Paternoster
Paternoster: fishing boats, beaches and crayfish
Cape Columbine Nature Reserve & Lighthouse
Like it? Pin this image!
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