7 Best Restaurants in Southern Suburbs, Cape Town

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We've compiled the best of the best in Southern Suburbs - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.

Bistro Sixteen82

$$$ | Tokai Fodor's Choice

Named for the year the Steenberg wine estate on which it sits was established, this not-to-be-missed bistro serves dishes intended to be paired with the estate's vintages, but remains the opposite of hoity-toity fine dining. Dishes like beef tataki with shimeji mushrooms or sustainable fish with kimchi and umami cream are the perfect foil to a minimalist environment of bleached wood, metallic accents, and high ceilings. The outside terrace with its gorgeous mountain views is the perfect setting for brunch or lunch. If you miss lunch, you're in for a treat with a tapas menu that includes the likes of polenta frittes with baba ganoush, sticky harissa lamb ribs, and rosti with goat feta.

Steenberg Rd., Cape Town, 7945, South Africa
021-713–2211
Known For
  • Fantastic but unpretentious fare from breakfast to lunch to tapas
  • Great location to while away an afternoon on Steenberg wine estate
  • Excellent estate wines for reasonable prices
Restaurant Details
No dinner

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The Gardener's Cottage Restaurant

$ | Newlands Fodor's Choice

Hidden in the Montebello Design Center and Nursery is this quaint little cafe that has been serving locals for decades. Serving thoughtful breakfasts, light lunches, sandwiches, and a select number of delicious hot meals. There is an extensive cake, pastry, and deli counter with all kinds of homemade goods. On warmer days, a seat outdoors allows you to view the wonderful plants in the nursery next to it and there's a small play area for kids to enjoy. 

Catharina's

$$$ | Tokai

Serving good, unpretentious fare in an elegantly quirky space with lovely views across the historic Steenberg wine estate, this is a decent fine-dining go-to no matter the time of day. An oak-shaded terrace overlooking manicured lawns makes for a lovely, lazy lunch spot, and the restaurant's interior with its origami swans hanging from high ceilings and huge windows is a stylishly bright space. The lunch and dinner menu feature dishes like pork belly with butternut puree and a cashew-crusted fillet. A Sunday lunch buffet with a South African theme and accompanying live music is a family affair, and various canapé platters are also available throughout the day and can be taken in the delightfully plush bar and lounge area. A private dining room seats up to 24 and is a gorgeous and intimate venue for a special occasion.

Steenberg Rd. at Tokai Rds., Cape Town, 7945, South Africa
021-713–7178
Known For
  • Standard European fine-dining style cuisine at reasonable prices
  • Beautiful setting
  • Sunday lunch extravaganza
Restaurant Details
Credit cards accepted

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Recommended Fodor's Video

Chardonnay Deli

$$ | Constantia

This is a café in wine country, but its in-house bakery has made this place justifiably famous for its exquisite breads, pastries, and cakes. If you're going to have wine and want something more substantial, menu items range from nourishing bowls and breakfasts that lean into organic, clean, nutritious ingredients, to full-blown fried eggs and bacon "Piggy" breakfast. Their burgers, wraps, smoked salmon bagel, and falafel bowl all hit the spot as well.

The Conservatory

$$$$ | Constantia

Discover the wonders of South African haute cuisine in this modern, glassed-in conservatory overlooking the beautiful gardens of swanky The Cellars-Hohenort hotel. The food is playful but high-end, with various multicultural techniques and flavors used to great effect on local ingredients, resulting in dishes like a springbok (local venison) shank served with shimeji mushrooms in a rich raviolo, Klein Karoo rack of lamb, and traditional Cape Malay babotie. The chef's Boland cheese soufflé is made with a gin-infused sauce that keeps it light, while crispy tempura prawns and charred springbok tataki reference Asian inspiration. A stylish room in tones of silver, gray, and dark chocolate with bare dark-wood tables allows the garden views outside to shine and if you're seated alongside one of the windows, you'll feel almost as though you're outside. In fact, you can sit outside at tables under the trees, between the foliage.

93 Brommersvlei Rd., Cape Town, 7800, South Africa
021-794–2137
Known For
  • An exquisite setting where you can eat any time of day
  • An amazing wine list
  • Solicitous service
Restaurant Details
Reservations essential

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La Belle

$$$ | Constantia

This wonderful inside-outside cafe manages to pull in every imaginable kind of customer, from businessmen doing deals over espresso to ladies from the suburbs out for tea and maybe a full-blown lunch. Apart from being a great breakfast spot, there's also a packed lunch service, with salads, pies, fish dishes, burgers, and lots more to tempt you, so much so that you need to watch yourself if you still have dinner plans (Although you could reasonably stay here for that, too).

Alphen Dr., Cape Town, South Africa
021-795–6336
Known For
  • Seriously tempting cakes and pastries that shoudl be illegal are displayed near the entrance
  • The terrace is wonderful, despite facing the parking lot
  • Decadent light meals, oysters, and some feisty seafood mains

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Paradise Road

$ | Newlands

A new cozy cafe in Cardiff Castle known for great croissants and other French pastries. Breakfast and light lunch options are also on offer and there is pleasant seating outside, tastefully decorated with pretty pot plants, bougainvillea flowers, and greenery.