Lamberts Bay, Cape West Coast, South Africa
A Culinary Adventure, Awaits You, if You Know Where to Look
Feb 19, 2009
Lamberts Bay, the largest town along the West Coast derives its wealth from its fishing industry. Yet, after the quaintness of Churchaven and Paternoster, it has a distinct ‘industrial’ feel to it. The old fish processing factory which provided work for a large part of the population is now a chip cutting plant serving Wimpy and MacDonalds
Is This It? You ask.
And you begin to wonder: why did I come here in the first place? And the answer is: the food. Of all the three eateries not to be missed, Muisbosskerm is the most important. It is literally an open-air restaurant walled in by muisbos (mouse bush) branches that form a screen. It started off quite by chance, as one of the locals explains: They guy who started it wanted to create a meeting place for his friends, mostly members of the local rugby team. This was as good a place as any to meet; besides which, he'd spend the whole day harvesting seaweed to sell.
Accidental Fame
“They would dive for crayfish and fish and have, you know, a braai (barbecue) with all the sea food. And of course a couple of drinks. And so the place got so popular, it developed into a fully fledged restaurant, which is even featured in the Lonely Planet.
Feast Under the Stars
They serve freshly baked bread from the outdoor oven, home-made jams, a boere (farmer) version of paella which in this part of the world they simply call “potjie” (little pot). Of course – fish caught that day and as fresh as the ocean breeze, and crayfish (Cape Lobster) in season. Make no mistake: this is a total feast! There is nothing quite like it; this is real country food and you eat with your hands! Or at most, using an empty mussel shell.
Also outside Lamberts Bay is another open air restaurant (who needs roofs when it never rains?) Bosduif (lit translated meaning ‘bush dove’). They serve a fantastic array of traditional dishes ranging from lamb done on a spit, to seafood, to Malay-inspired dishes. Dinner will cost you R150 + R45 for half a crayfish in season.
Kitta se Plaaskombuis: The Real Thing
And then there’s ‘Die Plaaskombuis’, (Farmhouse Kitchen) run by the very pleasant Kitta Burger. Also, as it happens, just outside Lamberts Bay. The farmhouse, a far cry from your chic so-called rustic farmhouses, is authentic. There’s an outside oven for baking bread, and inside the restaurant is a coal stove.
The walls are adorned by framed photographs of historical interest, the kind you saw on very wall during the apartheid era: Photograph of the members of the first Nationalist Government led by D.F. Malan; the hallowed images of the Kakebeenwa (ox wagons) that carried the staunch Boers away from British rule, and into the bosom of Africa. It’s all there. Just as it was.
Suspended, Oddly, in Time
And Kitta Burger left it all intact, complete with dining room tables covered in linoleum tops. So it’s a kind of relic, an authentic museum, in a way, where she serves traditional dishes from the past except this is how they eat very day. She cook on her coal stove, all those dishes your grandmother talks about: old farm dishes, mutton stews, bean stews, bobotie (a Malay-inspired dish made with mince and custard). The food is sensational. Busloads of tourists stop by at this simple little farmhouse kitchen.
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