Now, finally, thanks to certain lifestyle authorities, we can spring forth from the kitchen cabinet and embrace the fat without fear or shame.

What a time to be alive. No more sideways glances across the table because you are eating the butter straight off the knife, to hell with the bread. Maybe a sprinkling of salt though. And what a delight that there are steak restaurants that trim the fat off the sirloin and grill it to be served – in a bowl with a spoon! My joy knows no bounds.

So you can only imagine my delight when the first course at Vadas Smokehouse & Bakery on Spier Wine Farm in Stellenbosch included crispy chicken skins and whipped chicken fat. Technically these were not intended to be enjoyed together, but I wasn’t the only person who decadently dipped the one into the other.

PJ Vadas. Photo supplied

The whipped fat is the pale colour and consistency of mayonnaise, and meant to go on the quinoa oat and sesame sourdough instead of butter. It’s silky and creamy and chickeny with tiny darts of saltiness. It is, without contest, the most delicious thing I’ve put in my mouth this month and I’m planning to drive back out there and demand a bucket of it to have at home.

The Vadas of Vadas Smokehouse & Bakery is PJ, who has a solidly impressive resume. He’s worked with Gordon Ramsay at his Michelin-star restaurants in London and New York, with Roger Vergé at Moulin de Mougins in France, and with Angela Hartnett at The Connaught in London. Back in South Africa, PJ established The Roundhouse restaurant in Camps Bay which he ran for four years and then went on to work as executive chef at Camphors, Vergelegen. Both these positions earned him Eat Out Top Ten awards and more recently he established and ran The HogHouse BBQ, which won Eat Out’s Best Eatery.

Photo: Supplied

For clarity, HogHouse is now Vadas, and occupies the same location in the Jonkershuis building, opposite The Werf, and is primarily a name change, although the interior has been spruced up and the menu has a fresh new look. What stays the same is PJ, the abundance of smoked meats, and the bakery which turns out loaves and pastries and pies. More on these later.

Like his landlord, PJ believes in supporting local, quality-driven businesses and practises farm-to-plate dining where simple dishes embrace and showcase the quality of produce. Which is why, for example, one of his suppliers is Farmer Angus – a name familiar with visitors to Spier. Passionate about ethical food production, Angus Macintosh is a biodynamic farmer and free-range crusader aiming to change the way we view and produce our food. Farmer Angus supplies Vadas with all its beef, pork, chicken and eggs.

For a snack or starter, have a plate of Farmer Angus’s ham (which will ruin you for life and you’ll never look at a deli counter the same way again), steak tartare with sourdough toast and herbs, or smoked harissa chicken wings with yoghurt dressing and sprinkled with pomegranate jewels to give little pops of sweetness in your mouth to balance the mild heat.

The Vadas vibe is casual and easy, and a summer day demands that you sit outside under the trees. Dishes are designed to be shared at the table, so you dish up from platters on to your personal tray covered with brown paper. Meat is obviously the focus here – in particular, the smoked kind – but there are some groovy vegetarian options too. As with any restaurant which embraces local, sustainable, seasonal produce, the menu at Vadas can change from time to time. The ingredients are hyper-local, but the inspiration for the dishes is worldwide. “Why should we have boundaries of what we can do?” Vadas asks. “Our menu might go from an English pork pie to a taco, to a ramen-style broth. It is all super tasty.”

For now, my recommendations include the smoked pork belly with a thin layer of crispy crackling served with apple ketchup (and the tart pickle that has survived the transition from HogHouse to Vadas and also needs to be made available in a bucket to take home); and the fire-roasted broccoli with mustard cider vinaigrette, macadamias and smoked cheddar. Chips cooked in pork fat and dusted with truffle are a must.

And then… then there is dessert. PJ calls them his “Sweet Surrender Pies” – American-style sweet pies such as blueberry and nectarine pie, chocolate cream pie, pecan pie and strawberry pie, pie with bourbon, and an incredible gluten-free low-carb chocolate pie which teases you to stop at one slice. Eat there or take away, the famous gorgeous golden pastéis de nata should not be overlooked.

Yeah, it seems like I’m going to Stellenbosch later. DM