I was already loving the post that Cape Town had reclaimed its crown as the king of cuisine in South Africa after winning 5 out of 10 of the Top Ten restaurants in South Africa in the Eat Out 2011 awards. For interest sake I decided to check out the complete Top Ten list, where I found that 9/10 of the Top Ten were the Western Cape!
Now Capetownians can be a little bit devilish when categorising “Cape Town” towns. For example, if you live in London and someone asks where you are from and you say, ‘Stellenbosch’ (for example). The next question will be, ‘Where’s that?’ The immediate answer, ‘Cape Town’. We have a habit of lumping all towns within a 150km radius into the Cape Town category. By colloquial terms, we won 9/10 but by truth, it is really only 5/10.
The next trick is to actually VISIT these Top Ten restaurants. I not sure if I know anyone who has visited even one of this year’s winners. We should all make a commitment as Capetownians to go out and enjoy this rock star food!
Here’s the list, click on the venues for their official websites and make a commitment to visit them. Perhaps one a month?
1) The Green House (Constantia)
2) The Test Kitchen (Woodstock – Biscuit Mill nogal!)
3) The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Français (Franschoek)
4. The Roundhouse (Camps Bay)
5. Overture (Stellenbosch)
6. Terroir (Stellenbosch)
7. DW Eleven 13 (Johannesburg)
8. Jordan Restaurant (Stellebosch)
9. Nobu (V&A Waterfront, Cape Town)
10. La Colombe (Constantia)
Each year I attend the Taste Festival, which is an awesome opportunity to sample some of these fine establishment’s cuisines, check it out if you can’t afford to hit the real deal!
