8 July 2017
Tieties Bay
South African West Coast

Great food is about great people. This afternoon we met some of the finest!  Six years ago Neels and his wife, Attie, stopped at the gate to Tieties Bay.  There was nothing except a gate, sand, the ocean and wind.  Neels got out of the car and walked onto a sand dune. Looking towards the ocean he said to Attie, “Here I’m am going  to create a seafood restaurant for the Gauteners.”

It took them two years to secure the land. Everything he built with his own hands. Eben, Minette, Luanie and Lauren sat mesmerised for hours, rotating between Attie (Eben is listening to her telling the story in the picture) and Neels at the bar. Little Luan wanted to play outside and the girls migrated in and out of the Seekombuis.

It turns out that Neels knows Karel Mesteg well who was one of the forces behind Midlands Meats.  As their banker, he financed the original construction at Wolwehoek.  The family of meat people is small and intimate and many stories from over the years were told about the previous owners of Midlands Meats.

Oscar and Trudie renewed their wedding vows at this amazing place, a few years ago. They remembered the event well and great Woody’s, Oscar, Trudie and kids stories were told.

Such a privilege to get to know the man and woman better who had the vision to build something out of nothing.  Neels shook his glass with ice in it and said there are many plans still to be fulfilled and he will shake it into being before his time on earth is up.  The energy is electric, the people, salt of the earth. True to the rugged South African West Coast they call home!

https://www.facebook.com/seekombuis/

Good food, great stories and amazing company in an idyllic setting!

Life is beautiful! 
(c) Eben van Tonder