4 Best Restaurants in Cape Town, South Africa

Away from the Camps Bay "strip" and higher up on the mountains in the historical Roundhouse building, high-profile chef Ryan Cole has created one of the country's finest restaurants. The seasonal 10-course menus are immaculately crafted, taking diners on astonishing flavor-focused journeys that could include a coal-smoked oyster starter or Wagyu sirloin; wine pairings (for an additional fee) are available, as is a reduced five-course menu for lunch. The "Roundhouse" was once a hunting lodge, and its crazy history (involving an illicit affair between Lord Somerset and a woman who disguised herself as a man so she could work as a doctor) is told in graffiti on the walls of one of the little rooms, which is where a few unusual pre-meal canapes and an uplifting cocktail is served. That's after a friendly hand-washing ceremony in the entrance and before you're led to your table—when you book, ask to be seated in the "Sea Room" with its gorgeous view of Camps Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. 

Intimate, edgy, and slightly experimental, there's no telling what ingredients might have given rise to the day's dishes—the tasting menu is designed around choice cuts of sustainable meat (although vegetables and fish are served if meat’s not your thing). They don’t tell you what’s going to be served, the idea being to trust in the talent in the kitchen and in what owner-chefs Anouchka Horn and Neil Swart decide to make with what they’ve got. Whether they do something special with West Coast mussels or put some extraordinary cut of gemsbok on your plate, though, you can be sure it will please your palate and stretch your imagination at the same time. For their multi-course menus, they charge R750 for lunch and R1,050 for dinner, and you must book in advance.

With its unrivaled atmosphere, whimsical decor, and personality-forward waitstaff, this wonderful farm-to-fork restaurant showcases the chef's respect for local ingredients and his interest in the provenance of what he cooks with. Menus respond to the seasons and feature wonderfully uncomplicated dishes you might call "classics with a twist," such as a twice-baked cheese soufflé that will knock your socks off, and a simply wonderful French onion soup. Whether it's springbok loin with smoked artichokes and zamli dates or fish en papilotte done in a shakshuka-style miso tomato sauce, you can rest easy knowing the chef knows precisely where each ingredient came from, and possibly how it was grown or raised. Apart from the wonderful food and spirited cocktails (there are many classics and a number of in-house signature concoctions), there's the sense of being somewhere quite special so you might want to linger. So set aside enough time to let it all sink in.

Among South Africa's most lauded fine-dining establishments—it's been listed among the world's top 50 restaurants and named "Best Restaurant in Africa 2024"—chef James Gaag's sublime French-Asian-inspired tasting menus are served in a smart minimalist setting overlooking a pretty and bucolic patch of green in the Constantia wine region. Inspired by extensive global travels, incessant research, and an obsessive desire to improve, Gaag's menus change regularly. Having made the effort to secure a table here, you might as well go all in and have the full gourmand experience, as there is not a false note to be found. With plating so artful that you almost feel reluctant to break into some dishes, Gaag's genius does not come at the expense of taste, but instead creates breathtaking moments that become burnt into your memory.