Celebrate the best of SA’s culinary diversity with Chef Kobus van der Merwe and Chef Johannes Richter

Following their recent collaboration at the prestigious Ein Prosit festival in Italy, celebrated chefs Kobus van der Merwe of Wolfgat and Johannes Richter of The LivingRoom are offering local diners the opportunity to experience their culinary partnership on home soil.

On the 23 and 24 of November, they will collaborate at Wolfgat in Paternoster and showcase the ingredients that define their distinctive cooking styles and bring their shared passion for endemic cooking and sustainability to the forefront.

“I’m thrilled to be collaborating with Kobus once again, this time in the Cape. We loved taking a taste of South Africa to Italy, and I’m excited to share a similar experience with diners in Paternoster. Kobus is a pioneer of hyper-endemic cooking, and it’s an honour to cook alongside him,” says Chef Johannes.

The collaboration will celebrate the contrasting South African landscapes and diverse ingredients from which Wolfgat and The LivingRoom’s culinary experiences are inspired – from the rugged shoreline of the West Coast to the lush, subtropical terrain of KwaZulu-Natal.

Chef Johannes will present his unique style of cooking, which champions the rich diversity of KwaZulu-Natal through hyper-endemic ingredients, ancient processes, modern thinking, and classic technique. Chef Kobus will, in turn, showcase his renowned strandveld cuisine, which draws from the bounty of the West Coast and its coastal resources. Together, they will also create a one-off dish that combines their regional identities.

Johanna Richter, front-of-house manager and sommelier at The LivingRoom, will oversee the service and wine programme in collaboration with Chef Kobus and the Wolfgat team.

“It’s fantastic to cook with someone who shares a similar ethos. I think what Johannes is doing in Durban is an excellent representation of hyper-local cooking. It’s at once similar yet distinct from what we do here at Wolfgat, but I think our food really complements each other. I’m excited to host this weekend with Johannes and Johanna,” adds Chef Kobus.