Epoché: A Summer Dining Experience at Hasher Family Wines

How do you lure a chef away from his two-Michelin-starred restaurant in the Netherlands for a summer season in South Africa’s Hemel-en-Aarde Valley? You give him a taste of the Hemel-en-Aarde terroir!

A collaboration of three families at Hasher Family Wines, Epoché is an innovative dining experience that began with a long-held dream… a tent, a superb chef and a seasonal summer menu. Joke Gonggrijp (who with her husband, Just, and son, Daan, owns Ficks, Dutchies and Daan’s Bakery in Hermanus) had the name and initial vision; chef Edwin Vinke of De Kromme Watergang had already fallen in love with the area, and wasn’t hard to convince; and at Hasher Family Wines they found the perfect venue – Frederik and Céline’s family wine farm centered around regenerative farming, conservation, foraging and the flavours and terroir of the valley.

Heaven in the Hemel-en-Aarde

The views from Hasher are some of the best in the valley, looking over a dam to the distant ocean, mountains on each side, a wetland valley, vineyards and fynbos slopes. The tent concept has evolved into a glass pavilion on the lawns beside the dam (hung with linen drapes and air-conditioned) that places you firmly in the landscape from which you are about to feast.

Native cooking

Edwin gave us a preview of his “native cooking” philosophy at a spring lunch. He and Céline had been out exploring the farm, picking and tasting edible flowers and leaves. Céline and Joke had taken him to a local abalone farm where he’d dreamed up the first dish, an abalone dashi using the fresh meat and the livers (usually discarded) as well as spring vegetables – light and fresh but with complex depths of flavour.

There was the freshest of fish straight from the Abalobi fishermen – we had yellowtail cured in a fresh orange juice, ginger and lemongrass, served with waterblommetjie and artichoke; and later a beautifully brined Cape Bream, served with fire-cooked zucchini, a salsa roja, nasturtiums, crunchy almonds and vanilla confit tomatoes (pure poetry!).

Land and sea

As he has been doing for years at De Kromme Watergang (which is on The Netherlands coast close to the border with Belgium), Edwin uses filtered seawater to cook vegetables and brine fish, and harvests local seaweeds and algae for seasoning. Influenced by Asian cuisine he substitutes herb-infused oils and coconut for butter and cream, going out into nature for herbs and botanicals.

Tasting our way through a series of delightful and dizzyingly creative dishes (and a whoosh of inspired botanicals), we got to see our indigenous South African ingredients through a new lens… that of a Michelin-starred chef whose sense of discovery brings a fresh excitement to the table. As he explores, so do our palates.

A summer dining experience

The summer menu, once Epoché officially opens in December, will evolve with the seasons and the wild ingredients available. It comprises 15 plates over five or six courses, each paired with one of the five signature wines produced by Hasher… and bubbly from family friends, Colmant in Franschhoek. A lavish bread table comes courtesy of the Gonggrijp family’s Daan’s Bakery (we tasted their rich and flaky seaweed-infused croissants and brioche rolls), and their restaurant expertise will be guiding the front of house and daily rhythm.

Wine expressions of the valley

Wines rooted in the unique cool-climate terroir of the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde are the signature of Hasher Family Wines and provide an anchor to the menu: from the delightfully crisp mineral expression of their sauvignon blanc, Nauticus, to their lightly-oaked chardonnay, Marimist, and Ernest (named for their eldest son), an essentially elegant pinot noir. Then there are two wines from old vineyard blocks that they’ve kept for a sense of heritage: a pinotage named for the endangered Batrachella frog found in their wetlands; and a cabernet franc, Cyriel, whose chocolate notes have inspired Edwin to devise a chocolate dessert pairing for the summer menu.

Time out of time

The word “Epoché” means a moment suspended in time, inviting you to step out of the routine and root yourself fully in the dining moment… and that’s exactly what we experienced at our lunch. With a simplicity rooted in a skilled understanding of flavour, of technique, Edwin abandons frills and furbelows in favour of a deep connection and curiosity, exploring land, tidal zone and ocean.

Epoché is a not-to-be-missed one-off summer dining experience revelling in the terroir of the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley and Walker Bay.

Cost R2 150 (set menu)
R900 (wine pairing)
When December 2025 – February 2026
Opening times Wednesday – Sunday, 12pm
Wednesday – Saturday, 6pm
Where to find it Hasher Family Wines, Upper Hemel-en-Aarde, Hermanus
Book through DinePlan

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