Golden Hour in Faerie Glen, Pretoria, is both a restaurant and a memorial. Created by brothers Nazirite and Jedidiah Tam as a tribute to their late father, Enoch Tam, a Hong Kong-born missionary and builder who spent his life building churches across Africa, it fuses gratitude, craftsmanship, and hospitality into one luminous space. The name comes from the last light before dusk, the brief, perfect moment of calm after a day’s labour, and it has become the restaurant’s guiding philosophy.

The interior, designed and built entirely by the brothers, feels like a continuation of their father’s work. Natural wood and stone form the base palette, amber light glows across the room, and each table carries its own built-in Korean grill. Floor-to-ceiling glass opens onto a lake view, balancing the warmth of fire with the stillness of nature. The result is understated and precise, a space clearly crafted by people who understand that structure can also be an act of care.

That care extends to the menu, which draws on Hong Kong, Japanese, and Korean grilling traditions and fuses it to South African culinary generosity. Diners cook thin slices of marinated meat and vegetables at their tables: enoki mushroom rolls, tender springbok, ostrich or wagyu cuts including rump, sirloin, chuck eye, and oyster blade. The Flame Bowls layer seared sirloin or salmon with truffle oil, Japanese mayo and bonito flakes.

In 2025, the Restaurant Association of South Africa named Golden Hour the country’s Best New Restaurant, a recognition that mirrored its word-of-mouth success. The award seems almost secondary to the atmosphere the brothers have built, a dining room that glows with memory and craft, where guests eat slowly, talk quietly, and watch the light fade, proof that warmth in all its forms can be designed.