I visited Cape Town and the surrounding area for two weeks this December. I had reservations at 10 tasting/prix fixe dinner menus during the course of my trip and I’ve thrown in a couple of lunches that I felt are worthy of being included.
Overall I found the food at Cape Town’s most acclaimed restaurants to be fantastic. I’ll include reviews of the 12 restaurants that I visited in the comments here. Photos are in order from my favorite meals to my least favorite meals. Prices are converted to USD using an approximate conversion rate of 18.5 Rand per USD, which is about right for the time of my trip in December 2023.
Some of the most notable restaurants that were not on my itinerary include La Colombe (I opted for La Petite Colombe instead), Chef’s Warehouse Beau Constantia, Klein JAN at Le Motte, Potluck Club, Rust en Vrede, Wolfgat, Belly of the Beast, PIER, Beyond, Le Coin Français, amongst many others. Please chime in if your favorite spot isn’t on my list!
Hopefully this post is helpful to someone planning a trip to the Western Cape. This is essentially the post I came here looking for when I started planning my trip.
IAmMexico on
#1 – Dusk (Stellenbosch)
This was the last tasting menu I had in South Africa. The menu is much more experimental than many of the others that I had on this trip, which made it stand out from the pack. After a never ending line of springbok and wagyu main courses at other restaurants, it was very refreshing to have someone serve me a chicken based main course (Photo #2) and it was superbly executed. I also really enjoyed the Caesar marinated wagyu tartare bite sandwiched between two garlic croutons, the “wash your mouth out with soap” palate cleanser (Photo #1), and the grapefruit “egg” pre-dessert (Photo #3). The A5 wagyu that came before the main course was also my favorite red meat course from the entire trip.
The atmosphere at Dusk is very masculine and dark. It’s a rather new restaurant in the Western Cape food scene and it felt like some of the very finest details pertaining to the service were still being worked out, but the food made up for any small detail that caught my attention. There were two sommeliers on staff the night that I dined there, which meant that I learned a lot about the wine pairing.
NYE 12 Course Menu: R2,650 pp (~$143)
Base Wine Pairing: R1,450 pp (~$78)
IAmMexico on
My ranking 1-12 is below. To be clear, I liked all of these restaurants and would happily eat at any of them again.
#1 Dusk (Stellenbosch)
#2 FYN (Cape Town)
#3 Salsify at the Roundhouse (Cape Town)
#4 La Petite Colombe (Franschhoek)
#5 Ouzeri (Cape Town)
#6 The Waterside (Cape Town)
#7 Epice (Franschhoek)
#8 Galjoen (Cape Town)
#9 Post & Pepper (Stellenbosch)
#10 Tokara (Stellenbosch)
#11 Chef’s Warehouse at Tintswalo Atlantic (Cape Town)
#12 Reverie Social Table (Cape Town)
IAmMexico on
#2 – FYN (Cape Town)
Fyn is probably the most acclaimed restaurant that I visited on this trip, having been featured on World’s 50 Best list and currently listed at #75, for what it’s worth. The concept is Japanese techniques with South African ingredients. Highlights from the meal for me included the burnt mushroom custard (Photo #4), which was essentially a savory creme brulee, the Cape wagyu canape, the hazelnut crusted springbok that was cooked absolutely perfectly (Photo #5), and the fried chocolate dessert that I could have eaten all night.
The atmosphere at FYN was again pretty masculine. I was seated on the mezzanine which meant I could look down onto the open kitchen all night. I couldn’t find any fault with the service. My only note is that the pours on the wine pairing were very large and I began to feel intoxicated by the end of the meal. I’m a smaller man so maybe this isn’t an issue for some, and maybe some prefer that, but for me it started to detract from the meal towards the end. I regretted not sharing the wine pairing with my wife.
9 Course Tasting Menu: R1,975 pp (~$107)
Wine Pairing: R1,450 pp (~$78)
IAmMexico on
#3 – Salsify at the Roundhouse (Cape Town)
Salsify’s concept is extremely high quality ingredients prepared inventively and they executed that concept flawlessly in my opinion. My favorite dish of the evening was the smoked springbok tartare (Photo #6) but the whole menu was consistent across the board and for me every course was at least an 8.5/10. This was also my favorite wine pairing that I had in South Africa, I thought they were extremely well paired and the offered the highest quality for the base pairing compared to other spots.
The atmosphere and service at Salsify was fantastic. Our server took several minutes to explain the long and fascinating history of the building that the restaurant occupies, the Roundhouse, which has history going back to the 17th century. Apparently one of, if not the first, successful cesarean sections occurred in the building performed by Dr. James Barry, which gave us some interesting research to look into after our meal. We were lucky enough to be seated at a window which allowed for sweeping views of the sunset over Camps Bay and the 12 Apostles (Photo #7)
Tasting Menu: R1,785 pp (~$97)
Base Wine Pairing: R1,450 pp (~$78)
IAmMexico on
#4 – La Petite Colombe (Franschhoek)
This is the sister restaurant to the acclaimed La Colombe in Constantia. From everything I’ve read online, the level of the two restaurants is about equal but I cannot speak to that as I did not dine at La Colombe. There were a few very fun and whimsical moments during the menu that I really enjoyed, including the kalamansi foam palate cleanser (Photo #8). I opted for the surcharge to upgrade my main course to the wagyu with truffle (Photo #9), and it was very well executed. My other favorite dish from the menu was the fish head chowder, which I could have eaten a whole bowl of.
La Petite Colombe is set deep into the grounds of Leeu Estates, which is immaculately kept and feels like a labyrinth to navigate. It is clear upon arrival that you’re in for an elevated experience. They seat you in the lounge area for the first course of various canapes and in this moment it does feel like you’re being pressured to order a drink as well. After the canapes course you’re led to the main dining room for the rest of the meal. The space is very nice, modern with a lot of light wood and very large windows looking out to the manicured gardens. The service from the staff was excellent and the staff seemed very knowledgeable about the food and wine, more so than the other restaurants on this list.
Tasting Menu without Supplements: R1,995 pp (~$108)
Base Wine Pairing: R1,695 pp (~$92)
IAmMexico on
# 5 – Ouzeri (Cape Town)
This is a more casual spot and the restaurant probably wouldn’t describe themselves as fine dining. This is one of two spots on this list that I visited for lunch. The concept is Cypriot food using seasonal ingredients. As an American in South Africa in December, it felt so luxurious to eat peak season tomatoes and melon and other summer produce. I ordered over half the lunch menu and enjoyed every bite. My favorite dishes were the anari dumplings with tomato butter (Photo #10) and their signature tirokafteri (Photo #11).
Ouzeri is the newest restaurant that I visited in the Western Cape and it seems like they haven’t quite gotten a lot of traction yet. The restaurant was mostly empty when I dined there, which is unusual for a good restaurant in Cape Town in December. As such, we had very attentive service from the staff and they made excellent recommendations. If they keep serving food like I experienced I have no doubt they’ll become a mainstay on the Cape Town food scene.
A La Carte Menu: Small plates ranging from R60 to R362 (~$3 – $20)
Wine Pairing: N/A
IAmMexico on
#6 – The Waterside (Cape Town)
The Waterside is a La Colombe Group restaurant in the V&A waterfront set below their more acclaimed restaurant PIER. I didn’t see a lot of buzz about The Waterside online before I went, and that is probably a part of the reason that this is the restaurant that exceeded my expectations the most on this trip. I was consistently impressed by every course that came out and there were no misses for me at all during the evening. I particularly enjoyed the crawfish dumplings, the Norwegian salmon (Photo #12) and the caramelized cauliflower risotto (Photo #13), but that feels harsh to many of the other courses that were also fantastic. The overall meal was very well balanced and the progression was spot on. In addition to the food, we had two cocktails at the start of our meal that were phenomenal and worthy of a high end cocktail bar.
While the restaurant is at the bustling V&A Waterfront, it is nestled away into a quieter nook that meant the crowds outside didn’t detract from the experience. Being one of the restaurants that is clearly lower on the “totem pole” of the La Colombe Group restaurants, it seemed to me that the wait staff was less experienced than many other restaurants that we visited. Many of the staff seemed a little unsure and spoke as if they were reciting the dish descriptions from a memorized script. This didn’t detract from my experience, I understand everyone has to start somewhere and I’m glad people can break into the industry.
Christmas Eve Tasting Menu: R2,250 pp (~$122)
Wine Pairing: Unknown, I forgot to take a picture of the wine pairing menu
IAmMexico on
#7 – Epice (Franschhoek)
Epice is touted as a spice-forward tasting menu (as evidenced by the name). I thought they could have gone a lot further with that concept and I didn’t think most of the dishes were any more spice-heavy than comparable dishes from other restaurants. At the start of the meal, they wheel around a spice rack with various whole spices and encourage guests to try a few for taste. For me, this just accomplished blowing out my palate ahead of the first course. However, beyond all of that, I enjoyed many of the dishes including the bread course served with spiced beef drippings and the phaal curry lamb roti “taco” (Photo #14). I found the main course (springbok, artichoke, spinach dahl, biryani) to be a near carbon copy of the beef main course at La Petite Colombe (both La Colombe Group). La Petite Colombe came first so I count this against Epice. We opted for the non-alcoholic pairing with this meal and enjoyed it very much. They did a nice job of not just serving us seven sweet juices but rather a very balanced array of thoughtful NA options.
Regarding the atmosphere, my wife liked the interior design here the best of any restaurant we visited in South Africa. It is modern and cozy and a little minimalist with lots of mid-toned wood. The service was very attentive and for one course we were invited to go up to the chef’s counter and have the various components of the kitchen and the back of house team explained to us as we ate.
Tasting Menu: R1,795 pp (~$97)
Wine Pairing: R1,295 pp (~$70)
NA Pairing: R795 pp (~$43)
IAmMexico on
#8 – Galjoen (Cape Town)
Galjoen is the newer sister restaurant to the much more well known Belly of the Beast. The concept at Gajoen is sustainable local seafood. The menu is completely pescatarian. The menu was a clear half-step down in technique, execution, and presentation from many of the other more highly acclaimed restaurants in town, which is reflected in the price. However, with the right expectations this is a very enjoyable evening that is more affordable than other comparable options. My favorite dish of the night was the braaied Cape Malay yellowfin (Photo #15). I also particularly enjoyed the smoked stanford cheese course and the unlisted s’mores petite fours.
The restaurant is set on the second floor of a newer multi-unit residential/commercial building and is a nice, bright, and inviting space with a mezzanine that did not seem to be in use. The dining room went right up to the open kitchen where you can watch the dishes being expedited all night. They also seat all guests at the same time, for what it’s worth. I thought the staff were very attentive and didn’t push any extra supplements or drinks at all, which is always appreciated. The pacing of the meal was also spot on for my preferences.
Dinner Tasting Menu: R850 pp (~$46)
Dinner Wine Pairing (Regular or Large): R 499 or R 599 pp (~$27 or ~$33)
IAmMexico on
#9 – Post & Pepper (Stellenbosch)
Post & Pepper is a more casual spot in Stellenbosch offering a dinner four course prix fixe menu including a bread and snacks course, starter, main course, and dessert. After several consecutive tasting menus, we appreciated being in and out of Post & Pepper in less than 2 hours. The highlights of the menu for me are the extensive bread and snacks course which includes their signature crispy and sticky pork lollipops (Photo #16) and the heirloom tomato salad with burrata (Photo #17). The cashew and coconut tart with banana butter and coconut ice cream was a tasty conclusion to an elevated prix fixe experience.
The atmosphere at Post & Pepper is spot on and the noise level maintained a cozy chammering without ever being too loud.
Four Course Prix Fixe Menu: R850 pp (~$46)
“Wine Flight”: R265 pp (~$14)
IAmMexico on
#10 – Tokara Restaurant
Tokara is the second of two restaurants that we visited for lunch instead of dinner. We were seated at the window of their “outdoor” section that offered a fantastic view of the rolling hills of the vineyard. I started with an extremely fresh and light tomato and watermelon salad (Photo #18) and moved on to a perfectly cooked kingklip “fish of the day” served on a bed of parsley and trout caviar cream and garnished with delicately sliced mange tout. I’d highly recommend Tokara as a light lunch option while in the winelands.
A La Carte Menu: Dishes ranging from R190 to R390 (~$10 to ~$21)
Wine Pairing: N/A
IAmMexico on
#11 – Chef’s Warehouse at Tintswalo Atlantic
Chef’s Warehouse has a very good reputation based on their flagship location at Beau Constantia. The menu on the night that we dined with a four course prix fixe with two options per course. Between my wife and I, we tried everything on offer that evening. I had high hopes for our Christmas dinner at their remote Tintswalo Atlantic location along Chapman’s Peak Drive. Unfortunately, I found the food to be good, not great and overall rather forgettable. There was no dish that was bad, I found the entire menu to be about a 7/10 with no standouts or favorites among them. Writing my thoughts down about two weeks after the meal, I don’t remember nearly anything about the food even after consulting my photos.
The setting for Chef’s Warehouse Tintswalo Atlantic is breathtaking and watching the sunset over Hout Bay (Photo #19) was by far the highlight of the evening. However, it was very windy as Cape Town tends to be, and I felt they were not well equipped to deal with the wind. They sat nearly all of the guests on their outdoor patio to make full use of the sweeping views, but only had a flimsy plastic enclosure for the patio that was loudly whipping in the wind all evening. A more permanent and elegant solution to enclosing the patio to protect from the wind without hampering the view would greatly improve this experience.
Christmas Day Six Course Prix Fixe Menu: R 1,550 pp (~$84)
Wine Pairing: Unknown, I forgot to photograph the wine pairing menu
IAmMexico on
#12 – Reverie Social Table (Cape Town)
Reverie Social Table is just that, a social table concept. There is one table, one seating, and 18 diners each night. The chef and owner lives upstairs and hosts a cozy and intimate evening consisting of five courses where she encourages diners to rearrange after each course to socialize with the group. It feels harsh to rank this last on my list as I did have a very nice time at the 4.5 hour dinner experience here, but it didn’t quite stack up against the giants of the Cape Town fine dining scene. To be fair, Reverie Social Table probably doesn’t consider many of the restaurants on this list as their direct competition anyways. The food was hyper seasonal with peak squash, cherries, and apricots being the headliners. The second course was eight types of summer squash prepared three different ways, served family style. I thought this course was lacking a critical texture component and became one-note in flavor and texture very quickly. The next course was braised cherries and polenta which was quite enjoyable. The highlight of the meal was the beautiful celebration of apricots (Photo #20) in the dessert course, which had their small window of peak freshness during our visit.
The atmosphere was dimly lit creating a cozy and intimate setting. As with most social table restaurants, the experience is highly dependent on the group of people that you’re seated with. On this particular night, the crowd was not particularly engaging with one another, which is a risk that you take with this concept.
Five Course Set Menu: R1,360 pp (~$74)
Wine Pairing: Included in menu price
Aedion on
Thank you for posting!
this is well timed and inspirational for me to keep planning my march trip to South Africa.
alaijmw on
Absolutely incredible post(s) and photos! Some really, really good looking dishes. And those views, holy shit! Sorry if I missed it, but where was that second to last photo taken (the outside tables w/view)?
pandaspuppiespizza on
We went to La Colombe and La Petite Colombe — though we did the reduced menu at lunch at La Colombe but the regular full dinner menu at LPC. I do think they are comparable — I actually liked LPC more but might be bc we did the full dinner menu (but they had this sweet and savory cheese course that was amazing / I’d never had anything like it before, that I don’t think is on the La Colombe menu). I don’t think LPC is “petite” / 2nd / scaled down in any way — it’s just in a different location and setting! Highly rec either (or both).
macchinas on
That sunset pic 😍😍😍😍
reformingindividual on
so you went to Jan? how was it? I heard great things about their use of the south african truffles.
19 Comments
I visited Cape Town and the surrounding area for two weeks this December. I had reservations at 10 tasting/prix fixe dinner menus during the course of my trip and I’ve thrown in a couple of lunches that I felt are worthy of being included.
Overall I found the food at Cape Town’s most acclaimed restaurants to be fantastic. I’ll include reviews of the 12 restaurants that I visited in the comments here. Photos are in order from my favorite meals to my least favorite meals. Prices are converted to USD using an approximate conversion rate of 18.5 Rand per USD, which is about right for the time of my trip in December 2023.
Some of the most notable restaurants that were not on my itinerary include La Colombe (I opted for La Petite Colombe instead), Chef’s Warehouse Beau Constantia, Klein JAN at Le Motte, Potluck Club, Rust en Vrede, Wolfgat, Belly of the Beast, PIER, Beyond, Le Coin Français, amongst many others. Please chime in if your favorite spot isn’t on my list!
Hopefully this post is helpful to someone planning a trip to the Western Cape. This is essentially the post I came here looking for when I started planning my trip.
#1 – Dusk (Stellenbosch)
This was the last tasting menu I had in South Africa. The menu is much more experimental than many of the others that I had on this trip, which made it stand out from the pack. After a never ending line of springbok and wagyu main courses at other restaurants, it was very refreshing to have someone serve me a chicken based main course (Photo #2) and it was superbly executed. I also really enjoyed the Caesar marinated wagyu tartare bite sandwiched between two garlic croutons, the “wash your mouth out with soap” palate cleanser (Photo #1), and the grapefruit “egg” pre-dessert (Photo #3). The A5 wagyu that came before the main course was also my favorite red meat course from the entire trip.
The atmosphere at Dusk is very masculine and dark. It’s a rather new restaurant in the Western Cape food scene and it felt like some of the very finest details pertaining to the service were still being worked out, but the food made up for any small detail that caught my attention. There were two sommeliers on staff the night that I dined there, which meant that I learned a lot about the wine pairing.
NYE 12 Course Menu: R2,650 pp (~$143)
Base Wine Pairing: R1,450 pp (~$78)
My ranking 1-12 is below. To be clear, I liked all of these restaurants and would happily eat at any of them again.
#1 Dusk (Stellenbosch)
#2 FYN (Cape Town)
#3 Salsify at the Roundhouse (Cape Town)
#4 La Petite Colombe (Franschhoek)
#5 Ouzeri (Cape Town)
#6 The Waterside (Cape Town)
#7 Epice (Franschhoek)
#8 Galjoen (Cape Town)
#9 Post & Pepper (Stellenbosch)
#10 Tokara (Stellenbosch)
#11 Chef’s Warehouse at Tintswalo Atlantic (Cape Town)
#12 Reverie Social Table (Cape Town)
#2 – FYN (Cape Town)
Fyn is probably the most acclaimed restaurant that I visited on this trip, having been featured on World’s 50 Best list and currently listed at #75, for what it’s worth. The concept is Japanese techniques with South African ingredients. Highlights from the meal for me included the burnt mushroom custard (Photo #4), which was essentially a savory creme brulee, the Cape wagyu canape, the hazelnut crusted springbok that was cooked absolutely perfectly (Photo #5), and the fried chocolate dessert that I could have eaten all night.
The atmosphere at FYN was again pretty masculine. I was seated on the mezzanine which meant I could look down onto the open kitchen all night. I couldn’t find any fault with the service. My only note is that the pours on the wine pairing were very large and I began to feel intoxicated by the end of the meal. I’m a smaller man so maybe this isn’t an issue for some, and maybe some prefer that, but for me it started to detract from the meal towards the end. I regretted not sharing the wine pairing with my wife.
9 Course Tasting Menu: R1,975 pp (~$107)
Wine Pairing: R1,450 pp (~$78)
#3 – Salsify at the Roundhouse (Cape Town)
Salsify’s concept is extremely high quality ingredients prepared inventively and they executed that concept flawlessly in my opinion. My favorite dish of the evening was the smoked springbok tartare (Photo #6) but the whole menu was consistent across the board and for me every course was at least an 8.5/10. This was also my favorite wine pairing that I had in South Africa, I thought they were extremely well paired and the offered the highest quality for the base pairing compared to other spots.
The atmosphere and service at Salsify was fantastic. Our server took several minutes to explain the long and fascinating history of the building that the restaurant occupies, the Roundhouse, which has history going back to the 17th century. Apparently one of, if not the first, successful cesarean sections occurred in the building performed by Dr. James Barry, which gave us some interesting research to look into after our meal. We were lucky enough to be seated at a window which allowed for sweeping views of the sunset over Camps Bay and the 12 Apostles (Photo #7)
Tasting Menu: R1,785 pp (~$97)
Base Wine Pairing: R1,450 pp (~$78)
#4 – La Petite Colombe (Franschhoek)
This is the sister restaurant to the acclaimed La Colombe in Constantia. From everything I’ve read online, the level of the two restaurants is about equal but I cannot speak to that as I did not dine at La Colombe. There were a few very fun and whimsical moments during the menu that I really enjoyed, including the kalamansi foam palate cleanser (Photo #8). I opted for the surcharge to upgrade my main course to the wagyu with truffle (Photo #9), and it was very well executed. My other favorite dish from the menu was the fish head chowder, which I could have eaten a whole bowl of.
La Petite Colombe is set deep into the grounds of Leeu Estates, which is immaculately kept and feels like a labyrinth to navigate. It is clear upon arrival that you’re in for an elevated experience. They seat you in the lounge area for the first course of various canapes and in this moment it does feel like you’re being pressured to order a drink as well. After the canapes course you’re led to the main dining room for the rest of the meal. The space is very nice, modern with a lot of light wood and very large windows looking out to the manicured gardens. The service from the staff was excellent and the staff seemed very knowledgeable about the food and wine, more so than the other restaurants on this list.
Tasting Menu without Supplements: R1,995 pp (~$108)
Base Wine Pairing: R1,695 pp (~$92)
# 5 – Ouzeri (Cape Town)
This is a more casual spot and the restaurant probably wouldn’t describe themselves as fine dining. This is one of two spots on this list that I visited for lunch. The concept is Cypriot food using seasonal ingredients. As an American in South Africa in December, it felt so luxurious to eat peak season tomatoes and melon and other summer produce. I ordered over half the lunch menu and enjoyed every bite. My favorite dishes were the anari dumplings with tomato butter (Photo #10) and their signature tirokafteri (Photo #11).
Ouzeri is the newest restaurant that I visited in the Western Cape and it seems like they haven’t quite gotten a lot of traction yet. The restaurant was mostly empty when I dined there, which is unusual for a good restaurant in Cape Town in December. As such, we had very attentive service from the staff and they made excellent recommendations. If they keep serving food like I experienced I have no doubt they’ll become a mainstay on the Cape Town food scene.
A La Carte Menu: Small plates ranging from R60 to R362 (~$3 – $20)
Wine Pairing: N/A
#6 – The Waterside (Cape Town)
The Waterside is a La Colombe Group restaurant in the V&A waterfront set below their more acclaimed restaurant PIER. I didn’t see a lot of buzz about The Waterside online before I went, and that is probably a part of the reason that this is the restaurant that exceeded my expectations the most on this trip. I was consistently impressed by every course that came out and there were no misses for me at all during the evening. I particularly enjoyed the crawfish dumplings, the Norwegian salmon (Photo #12) and the caramelized cauliflower risotto (Photo #13), but that feels harsh to many of the other courses that were also fantastic. The overall meal was very well balanced and the progression was spot on. In addition to the food, we had two cocktails at the start of our meal that were phenomenal and worthy of a high end cocktail bar.
While the restaurant is at the bustling V&A Waterfront, it is nestled away into a quieter nook that meant the crowds outside didn’t detract from the experience. Being one of the restaurants that is clearly lower on the “totem pole” of the La Colombe Group restaurants, it seemed to me that the wait staff was less experienced than many other restaurants that we visited. Many of the staff seemed a little unsure and spoke as if they were reciting the dish descriptions from a memorized script. This didn’t detract from my experience, I understand everyone has to start somewhere and I’m glad people can break into the industry.
Christmas Eve Tasting Menu: R2,250 pp (~$122)
Wine Pairing: Unknown, I forgot to take a picture of the wine pairing menu
#7 – Epice (Franschhoek)
Epice is touted as a spice-forward tasting menu (as evidenced by the name). I thought they could have gone a lot further with that concept and I didn’t think most of the dishes were any more spice-heavy than comparable dishes from other restaurants. At the start of the meal, they wheel around a spice rack with various whole spices and encourage guests to try a few for taste. For me, this just accomplished blowing out my palate ahead of the first course. However, beyond all of that, I enjoyed many of the dishes including the bread course served with spiced beef drippings and the phaal curry lamb roti “taco” (Photo #14). I found the main course (springbok, artichoke, spinach dahl, biryani) to be a near carbon copy of the beef main course at La Petite Colombe (both La Colombe Group). La Petite Colombe came first so I count this against Epice. We opted for the non-alcoholic pairing with this meal and enjoyed it very much. They did a nice job of not just serving us seven sweet juices but rather a very balanced array of thoughtful NA options.
Regarding the atmosphere, my wife liked the interior design here the best of any restaurant we visited in South Africa. It is modern and cozy and a little minimalist with lots of mid-toned wood. The service was very attentive and for one course we were invited to go up to the chef’s counter and have the various components of the kitchen and the back of house team explained to us as we ate.
Tasting Menu: R1,795 pp (~$97)
Wine Pairing: R1,295 pp (~$70)
NA Pairing: R795 pp (~$43)
#8 – Galjoen (Cape Town)
Galjoen is the newer sister restaurant to the much more well known Belly of the Beast. The concept at Gajoen is sustainable local seafood. The menu is completely pescatarian. The menu was a clear half-step down in technique, execution, and presentation from many of the other more highly acclaimed restaurants in town, which is reflected in the price. However, with the right expectations this is a very enjoyable evening that is more affordable than other comparable options. My favorite dish of the night was the braaied Cape Malay yellowfin (Photo #15). I also particularly enjoyed the smoked stanford cheese course and the unlisted s’mores petite fours.
The restaurant is set on the second floor of a newer multi-unit residential/commercial building and is a nice, bright, and inviting space with a mezzanine that did not seem to be in use. The dining room went right up to the open kitchen where you can watch the dishes being expedited all night. They also seat all guests at the same time, for what it’s worth. I thought the staff were very attentive and didn’t push any extra supplements or drinks at all, which is always appreciated. The pacing of the meal was also spot on for my preferences.
Dinner Tasting Menu: R850 pp (~$46)
Dinner Wine Pairing (Regular or Large): R 499 or R 599 pp (~$27 or ~$33)
#9 – Post & Pepper (Stellenbosch)
Post & Pepper is a more casual spot in Stellenbosch offering a dinner four course prix fixe menu including a bread and snacks course, starter, main course, and dessert. After several consecutive tasting menus, we appreciated being in and out of Post & Pepper in less than 2 hours. The highlights of the menu for me are the extensive bread and snacks course which includes their signature crispy and sticky pork lollipops (Photo #16) and the heirloom tomato salad with burrata (Photo #17). The cashew and coconut tart with banana butter and coconut ice cream was a tasty conclusion to an elevated prix fixe experience.
The atmosphere at Post & Pepper is spot on and the noise level maintained a cozy chammering without ever being too loud.
Four Course Prix Fixe Menu: R850 pp (~$46)
“Wine Flight”: R265 pp (~$14)
#10 – Tokara Restaurant
Tokara is the second of two restaurants that we visited for lunch instead of dinner. We were seated at the window of their “outdoor” section that offered a fantastic view of the rolling hills of the vineyard. I started with an extremely fresh and light tomato and watermelon salad (Photo #18) and moved on to a perfectly cooked kingklip “fish of the day” served on a bed of parsley and trout caviar cream and garnished with delicately sliced mange tout. I’d highly recommend Tokara as a light lunch option while in the winelands.
A La Carte Menu: Dishes ranging from R190 to R390 (~$10 to ~$21)
Wine Pairing: N/A
#11 – Chef’s Warehouse at Tintswalo Atlantic
Chef’s Warehouse has a very good reputation based on their flagship location at Beau Constantia. The menu on the night that we dined with a four course prix fixe with two options per course. Between my wife and I, we tried everything on offer that evening. I had high hopes for our Christmas dinner at their remote Tintswalo Atlantic location along Chapman’s Peak Drive. Unfortunately, I found the food to be good, not great and overall rather forgettable. There was no dish that was bad, I found the entire menu to be about a 7/10 with no standouts or favorites among them. Writing my thoughts down about two weeks after the meal, I don’t remember nearly anything about the food even after consulting my photos.
The setting for Chef’s Warehouse Tintswalo Atlantic is breathtaking and watching the sunset over Hout Bay (Photo #19) was by far the highlight of the evening. However, it was very windy as Cape Town tends to be, and I felt they were not well equipped to deal with the wind. They sat nearly all of the guests on their outdoor patio to make full use of the sweeping views, but only had a flimsy plastic enclosure for the patio that was loudly whipping in the wind all evening. A more permanent and elegant solution to enclosing the patio to protect from the wind without hampering the view would greatly improve this experience.
Christmas Day Six Course Prix Fixe Menu: R 1,550 pp (~$84)
Wine Pairing: Unknown, I forgot to photograph the wine pairing menu
#12 – Reverie Social Table (Cape Town)
Reverie Social Table is just that, a social table concept. There is one table, one seating, and 18 diners each night. The chef and owner lives upstairs and hosts a cozy and intimate evening consisting of five courses where she encourages diners to rearrange after each course to socialize with the group. It feels harsh to rank this last on my list as I did have a very nice time at the 4.5 hour dinner experience here, but it didn’t quite stack up against the giants of the Cape Town fine dining scene. To be fair, Reverie Social Table probably doesn’t consider many of the restaurants on this list as their direct competition anyways. The food was hyper seasonal with peak squash, cherries, and apricots being the headliners. The second course was eight types of summer squash prepared three different ways, served family style. I thought this course was lacking a critical texture component and became one-note in flavor and texture very quickly. The next course was braised cherries and polenta which was quite enjoyable. The highlight of the meal was the beautiful celebration of apricots (Photo #20) in the dessert course, which had their small window of peak freshness during our visit.
The atmosphere was dimly lit creating a cozy and intimate setting. As with most social table restaurants, the experience is highly dependent on the group of people that you’re seated with. On this particular night, the crowd was not particularly engaging with one another, which is a risk that you take with this concept.
Five Course Set Menu: R1,360 pp (~$74)
Wine Pairing: Included in menu price
Thank you for posting!
this is well timed and inspirational for me to keep planning my march trip to South Africa.
Absolutely incredible post(s) and photos! Some really, really good looking dishes. And those views, holy shit! Sorry if I missed it, but where was that second to last photo taken (the outside tables w/view)?
We went to La Colombe and La Petite Colombe — though we did the reduced menu at lunch at La Colombe but the regular full dinner menu at LPC. I do think they are comparable — I actually liked LPC more but might be bc we did the full dinner menu (but they had this sweet and savory cheese course that was amazing / I’d never had anything like it before, that I don’t think is on the La Colombe menu). I don’t think LPC is “petite” / 2nd / scaled down in any way — it’s just in a different location and setting! Highly rec either (or both).
That sunset pic 😍😍😍😍
so you went to Jan? how was it? I heard great things about their use of the south african truffles.