Taylored Trips – Snoek Day

West Coast Magic

On a dull and dreary winters day we took a drive to the

West Coast town of Laaiplek for a very delicious South African speciality dish, snoek.After seeing an ad somewhere for a pensioner’s plate of snoek with a glass of wine, I was sold and we hit the road. Laaiplek Hotel here we come.The road through the newly planted wheat fields of the Swartland looked

lush and green with the welcome rain we have been having in the Western Cape recently.

Fresh wheat fields

Past the dormant winter vineyards of Riebeek Kasteel, then more fresh green wheat

fields, then picturesque farms with their dairy cows scattered on the hillside and then, still more green fields.

Riebeek Kasteel vineyards More wheat fields

Dairy cows More wheat fields

Riebeek Kasteel to Moorreesburg, over the hill on the N7, past Desert Rose farm stall, left at Org-de-

Rac Organic Wines, past the massive industrial site of the PPC cement factory just outside Piketberg, up over the hill at Dunn’s Castle with breathtaking views of the Berg River and the Moravian Mission settlement.The R399 from Piketberg to Velddrif used to be the worst road in the Cape but I

can positively report that it has been re-done and it is now in perfect condition and a pleasure to drive.

R399

When we got to Velddrif we were greeted with a wonderful display of pink flaming

os and lots of other water birds in the Berg River estuary.

Bird paradise

The famous Bokkom Laan is still quite something although it was very quiet and desolate. Admitte

dly this is not the right climate, season or weather for drying out bokkoms or attracting hordes of tourists. I’m sure come summertime everything will be spick and span again and bustling with people.

Bokkom Laan

Postcard stuff hey?And even in the dead of winter, what would Bokkom Laan be without bokkoms!

Bokkoms on the drying rack

Well done to the Weskus manne for carrying on the tradition no matter what the weather.Right, now let’s get down to the serious stuff! The Laaiplek Hotel and that plate of snoek.

That's what I'm talking about

Mmmmmm! Delicious. I love snoek but lately the local fish shops around Wellington and Paarl only have salted snoek which I don’t

like but those guys at Laaiplek Hotel knew just how to do it. It was amazing. Verine generally prefers hake when we buy fish but she agreed that this snoek was delicious and enjoyed hers very much.Besides the scrumptious meal and wine, the setting is from the top shelf as well. The restaurant has a

lovely view overlooking the river estuary and the fishing port.

View from the restaurant

The Eigelaars who own the hotel, also have a museum right next door which depicts

the local fishing and history of the area. Unfortunately we got there just as they were closing so we didn’t see inside but maybe next time.

Outside the museum

Of course all Hotels have a bar, right? So we had to go have a looksee. There was a lovely social

bunch at the bar and we eventually had to drag ourselves out of there before it got too late. We still had a long way home. Maybe next time we’ll stay over.

The bar

A little bit of trivia about the fish we ate is that it was originally called zeesnoek by the Dutch, who landed here in 1652, because it reminded them of the freshwater pike, called snoek, that they found at home in Holland. This fish is found in the waters of the Southern Hemisphere and is known in South Africa as snoek,

in South America as the sierra and in Australasia as barracoota. It has a very distinctive and delicious taste.So, if you want to taste what the real deal tastes like, get yourself down to the Laaiplek Hotel and order yourself a plate of the West Coast’s best. By the way, they also have perlemoen (abalon

e) and crayfish (lobster) on the menu.Enjoy!Until next time, “Keep on Tripping!”