History

Snoek, Thyrsites atun, runs in cold water along the Western Cape coast and has fed Cape Town from the harbours at Hout Bay, Kalk Bay and Lamberts Bay for generations. The fish is oily, strongly flavoured and full of fine bones, which is why it is cooked open on a hinged grid rather than filleted, and why the standard baste is sweet: apricot jam cut with lemon juice, butter and garlic balances the salt and oil. The traditional accompaniments are soetpatats, boiled sweet potatoes, and roosterkoek baked on the same coals. Smoked snoek, worked into a pate with cream cheese, is the other half of the tradition.

Common allergens: Fish, Milk

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 20 minTotal 45 minDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 1 fresh snoek, about 1.5kg, cleaned and butterflied, head and tail removed
  • 150ml smooth apricot jam
  • 100g butter
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 4 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 25ml soy sauce, optional
  • Olive oil, coarse sea salt and black pepper

Method

  1. Rinse the butterflied fish under cold water and pat it dry, or salt it with coarse sea salt for 20 minutes and rinse the salt off before cooking.
  2. Melt the butter in a small pot, fry the garlic gently for 1 minute, then stir in the apricot jam, lemon juice and soy sauce until smooth. Keep it warm beside the fire.
  3. Build a medium coal bed, about the heat at which you can hold a hand over the grid for 4 seconds.
  4. Smear the skin side with olive oil so it does not stick, close the fish in a hinged grid and set it skin side down.
  5. Cook for roughly 12 minutes skin side down, then turn for the last 3 minutes. Total time is about 15 minutes for a fish this size.
  6. Baste the flesh generously in the final third of the cooking, then again the moment it comes off the fire, and serve with boiled sweet potatoes.

Tip from the editors. Keep most of the cooking on the skin side: the skin is the tray that holds a soft oily fish together, and turning it early is how snoek falls through the grid.

Where to eat braaied snoek with apricot glaze

Braaied snoek with apricot glaze in Cape Town

Kalky's ★ 4.3

$ SeafoodKalk Bay

Kalky's is a cash only fish counter on the Kalk Bay harbour wall near Cape Town, where the snoek comes straight off the boats tied up outside.

Why locals goVisitors driving the coast road pass Kalk Bay's fishing harbour by, and the self-service queue at this cabin fills with locals, especially at weekends.

TipCarry small notes since the till only takes cash, and eat standing at the harbour wall rather than hunting for a table.

Directions

Snoekies ★ 4.3

$$ SeafoodHout Bay

Snoekies is a fish and chips takeaway at the far end of Hout Bay harbour near Cape Town, where the brand began in a converted bus parked there in 1951.

Why locals goIt sits at the far end of Harbour Road, past the point on the Hout Bay waterfront where most visitors turn back, on the spot where its founder parked a converted bus in 1951.

TipHead upstairs if you have children: the Hout Bay branch has a big indoor play area with a jungle gym and sandpit beside the dining room.

Directions

West Coast Fisheries ★ 3.9

$ SeafoodMilnerton

West Coast Fisheries fries hake and chips at Centre Court on Koeberg Road in Milnerton, on the northern edge of Cape Town, priced as a family takeaway.

TryFried hake with chips

TipIt also sells fresh fish daily, and the menu runs to calamari, BBQ ribs, Mega-burgers and Cape gatsbys if hake is not the plan.

Directions

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