Oep ve Koep in Paternoster

During the course of our West Coast holiday, we ventured to Paternoster late one morning to have lunch at Die Winkel op Paternoster, better known as Oep ve Koep. We’d read all about Chef Kobus van der Merwe, making a name for himself as a culinary forager, each morning collecting “veldkos” on the beach before serving his finds at lunch or supper. You will find various edible seaweeds, dune spinach and sea lettuce on his menu. The day we visited we tasted snoekkuite, soutslaai and summer ice plants ("vygies"). His food is beautifully presented, from the bread starter with bokkoms flavoured butter and syrupy naartjie to the oysters served on rocks. Edible flowers made the tomato consommé with lobster almost too pretty to eat. Our taste buds can testify to a very interesting culinary experience!!

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The Lighthouse at Shelley Point

Part of our summer holidays was spent on the West Coast. It delivers the type of holiday where days are filled with walks on long stretches of beach, watching whales, dolphins and seals from the patio and counting the passing ships on the still ocean.

Within walking distance was the Shelly Point Lighthouse. I read somewhere that when the area was bought for development, the owner, who was a very keen Lighthouse enthusiast, decided to build one. After it was privately built, it later became an official lighthouse.

We took a stroll one morning hunting for pretty beach pebbles and shells on the sands of the lovely Shelly Bay Beach towards the lighthouse…