The World Restaurant Awards held its first-ever ceremony in Paris on Feb. 18 2019. With a gender-balanced panel of judges from around the world, the new awards were designed to recognize fresh talent and intended to reflect the eateries and trends most captivating chefs, sommeliers, foragers, and food writers right now.

Wolfgat, a restaurant run by Kobus Van der Merwe, a former food journalist turned chef was named as restaurant of the year in the first ever World Restaurant Awards that were unveiled in Paris at the Palais Brongniart.

The restaurant in Paternoster, South Africa also won the Off-Map Destination award. 160 kilometres away from Cape Town, this acclaimed restaurant draws on inspiration from the surrounding landscape and its dramatic season transformation. The chef serves his signature Standveld food menu which comprises of sustainable seafood, local lamb and venison as well as wild herbs and sea-weed among others.

It is a restaurant that supports the community and is also particular because all the staff except for the chef and one other person are women. Most of the fish that is bought by the restaurant is caught by fishermen who are related to the staff of the restaurant), Wolfgat has made a name for itself and has often been mentioned as the ‘Noma’ of South Africa.

Head chef Kobus van der Merwe forages daily for ingredients on the seashore.

The awards, set up by one of the 50 Best Restaurants list’s founders, went to mostly affordable restaurants.

The restaurant,  serves a seven-course tasting menu priced at 850 rand (£46; $60), can only feed 20 people at one sitting, the restaurant is just two years old and serves lunch at 12:30pm Wednesday to Saturday, 12pm on Sunday and dinner at 7pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

Other winners from the World Restaurant Awards included London’s Noble Rot which was awarded the best ‘Red Wine Serving Restaurant’ while Japan’s Inua restaurant won ‘Arrival of the Year’.