LAST week we embarked on a nine-course tasting menu that took us from Kalk Bay to the winelands to the West Coast, all the way across the Karoo, and back along the Garden Route to Bo-Kaap. The final destination is appropriate because that’s where Urchin Restaurant, at the Hyatt Regency Cape Town, is and the location for our dinner.
Urchin is now helmed by head chef Marcus Gericke, whose food philosophy is rooted in terroir, storytelling and respect for local ingredients. Known for his thoughtful approach to South African cuisine and a celebrated international career with awards like Global Chef Africa & Middle East 2022–23, the Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought prize at the San Pellegrino Young Chef Academy 2020–21, and being crowned South African Chef of the Year 2024, he has reimagined Urchin as an honest expression of the Western Cape. All this by the tender age of 30.
The Journey, illustrated on maps made of chocolate, and on paper at your table, took place over three gruelling days and 1627km. “Along the way, we were inspired by the people we met, the meals we shared, and the adventures that unfolded on the road. Each stop reminded me why I love the Western Cape so much, a place where iconic dishes, humble ingredients, and family recipes live on,” says Marcus.
Each stop thus inspired every dish you are invited to taste, and learn its story and origin. In Kalk Bay, Aunty Ashmita is the human hero, the daily snoek the fish hero. As a voorhappie, a wonderfully local expression of amuse bouche which I am pleased to add to my woordeskat, it’s crafted into a pâté, complemented with mebos to evoke the braai flavours we know so well, and curry leaves, and perched atop a tiny koeksuster. It comes to you under a glass dome filled with smoke and sets the meal off to a fine start.
The bread course has its foundation in Pete, the 20-yer-old sourdough starter, and inspired by oldest recorded recipe for brown bread from Stellenbosch. The butter pat is fashioned into a sea urchin shell almost too pretty to disturb, and a quenelle of savoury jam sit alongside on an enamel plate.
The “beginbord” hails from Paternoster, what else but crayfish? A delicate morsel, awash in nothing more than the simplicity of lemon garlic butter and a twist of cracked black pepper and a touch of Weskus salt if you are so moved. Course number four is a cold starter, a play on pickled fish (map point Langebaan) with radish, flowers and Cape Malay sauce, followed by the warm starter: braised oxtail with samp and mango atchar. When quizzed afterwards as to his favourite dish, Marcus was hesitant to pick one but if he absolutely had to, on pain of death, this would be it. It hails from Prince Albert, by far the longest stretch on the road.
The main course is Karoo lamb, which is not just any lamb. To be Karoo lamb it must eat the Karoo vegetation, which imparts a flavour like no other. Marcus selected the classic chop for this dish, flame grilling it and pairing it with “onion, coriander and a rich tomato bredie sauce, with pickled onion for balance and fresh coriander for lift”. Serving like with like, the base is pistachio pesto, also grown in that region.
How many desserts do you think one needs? At least two. The first is small and delicious milk tart (not the way Ouma made it) with a vrugte ysblokkie draped over the top. The second is malva pudding, sago and custard, and ice cream that had me flummoxed. Caramel? Butterscotch? Condensed milk! But no, it is burnt butter. I would be happy with a bowl of that.
Before you leave, there is padkos (which we actually took as padkos because we were utterly defeated): a shiny peppermint crisp tart bon bon, a hertzoggie, and a pink and white square of klapperys.
The tasting menu costs R1627, a rand for every kilometre travelled, and we shared a wine pairing which is R500. If you prefer, there is the Navigator à la carte, starters, mains and desserts. Here, there is a cheese course, which is absent from the Journey menu. I asked Marcus about it (since they went right through Stanford) and he explained it didn’t fit there in terms of balancing the meal.
This tasting menu is Marcus’s way of honouring the journey the took, a homegrown celebration brought to life by him and his team. “It is crafted in close collaboration with the farmers and butchers who sustain us, and shaped by the stories, landscapes and flavours that have inspired us along the way,” he says.
Journey at Urchin Restaurant at Hyatt Regency Cape Town , 126 Buitengracht St, Cape Town City Centre.
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