18 Best Restaurants in Cape Town, South Africa

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.

An utterly unpretentious yet elegant restaurant with a select seasonal menu posted on a chalkboard, Black Sheep features food inspired by all of the Cape’s culinary influences: indigenous, North African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and more. Ingredients are locally and ethically sourced, and the restaurant has a nose-to-tail food philosophy with a focus on ensuring that nothing's wasted. Expect dishes like seared marlin, crispy pork trotters, rabbit puff pastries, Vietnamese style chicken, and grilled kudu. Typically, what appears on the blackboard depends on what meat's available, what produce is at market, and what's in season and freshest. Come early or make a booking, as the restaurant gets full quickly in the evenings.

Enjoy soaring views of the Constantia Winelands from this elegant space of carved wood and huge glass windows, where a fantastic chef's menu reminds you why long lunches were invented. A variety of dishes—all marked by freshness of ingredients and a globe-trotting host of inspiration—are served tapas-style, according to various menus which in turn are determined by what's available at market, what's in season, and what's inspired chef Ivor Jones's creativity in the kitchen. Expect items like coal-fired tuna with Namibian crab and a North African dressing or a pecorino risotto with goat cheese mousse. Everything sounds simple, but the tastes are expertly elevated, ensuring that this is perhaps the city's favorite destination for off-duty chefs.

Arguably the best dining establishment on all of Kloof Street, this always delicious, always fun restaurant is helmed by Swedish-born, South Africa–raised chef Jesper Nilsson, who does everything from gourmet pizzas to line fish with baba ganoush or lamb ribs with butter bean pilaki. His menus are a bit of a puzzle, listing the chief ingredients and making no attempt to name the dish nor describe how the ingredients will be combined. The puzzle is solved by Jesper and his chefs and the reward will be all yours: he manages to coax miraculous flavors onto every plate, and somehow achieves that "OMG" reaction every time.

Serving a range of exquisitely prepared international fusion cuisine in a casually elegant industrial setting, this restaurant and bakery in the heart of leafy Constantia is a true gem. The various dishes, each one a little more mind-blowing than the last, might incorporate flavors from harissa to ponzu to smoked garlic and feature dishes like coal-roasted lamb with brinjal curry, cauliflower parfait with baharat (an Middle Eastern spice mix), or honey-glazed duck with gem squash, turnips, and chard. The various seasonal set menus include the main chef's menu, reduced menus, and lunchtime-only winter and spring menus.

Super-chic Hemelhuijs is both a showcase for a range of exquisite and fanciful ceramics, and a centrally located restaurant serving equally fanciful and exquisite food. Though a little pricey for lunch, the owner-chef's inventive and sometimes quite daring seasonal dishes burst with freshness and flavor (think salads composed of beets, summer orange, and fresh dates, or a crispy pan-fried veal served with artichoke, lemon, and parsley) and are worth the splurge. On one of Cape Town's few pedestrian walkways (near the footbridge crossing busy Buitengracht Street), this tiny space serves food on dishes specifically made for the restaurant and is lit by chandeliers bedecked with beads, driftwood, and star-shaped seedpods; it's an eye-catching (and impossible to replicate) retreat from the bustle outside. Breakfasts, which are served all day, are also divine, making this perhaps the ultimate brunchtime indulgence.

In a dizzying rooftop venue that was purpose-built (on top of one of the Waterfront's 100-year-old buildings) for this outpost of chef David Higgs' most iconic Johannesburg restaurant, this glamorous spot opened at the end of 2024. With "meat, salt, and fire" its watchwords, the focus is on food cooked over an open flame, inspired by a kind of upmarket rendition of what South Africans call braai and Americans refer to as barbecue, and undertaken in kitchens decked out in the world's most state-of-the-art grilling equipment. Steaks of the highest caliber are only the beginning—the entire menu, from wood-fired linefish with burnt leeks and seaweed butter to mushroom paella made with rice from the wood-burning oven, is a charred, smokey, coal-tinged thing of beauty. Plus there's a scene-stealing bar (for which walk-ins are possible) and a wraparound balcony where it's possible to feel elevated in ways both literal and metaphoric.

With great harbor and mountain views from its position on the sixth floor of a renovated silo, this hip tapas-style restaurant serves an eclectic but clearly Asian-influenced array of small plates. Helmed by the young and highly creative Greek-born chef, Jason Kosmas, the regularly changing menu contains dishes like smoked beef fillet with truffle café au lait; ceviche avocado tacos; and fish sliders. You'll want to order about three plates per person, and be sure to ask about whatever fish is most recently off the boat (Kosmas is a fisherman who takes marine sustainability very seriously). Drink service is excellent, too, with imaginative and delicious cocktails and a well-curated selection of wines from the Cape. The atmosphere, enhanced by tip-top servers, is pleasantly relaxed, and stepping into the handsome space is always a great treat.

An evening spent with a dozen-or-so strangers at this anti-restaurant fine-dining experience is as much of a pleasure as is tucking into the exquisite five-course wine-pair meal created by Julia Hattingh, the young and vibrant chef-owner, who was raised in the Cape Winelands. Hattingh's knowledge of terroir and experience in some of the region's best kitchens are reflected in her brilliantly created and executed menus that feature local, seasonal ingredients. Hattingh personally introduces each dish that's served family style at a single 18-seater wooden table and then joins the table to chat and socialize toward the end of the evening.

Consistently rated South Africa’s top restaurant and on the top 50 restaurants in the world list, this industrial-elegant boutique eatery in Cape Town’s trendy Woodstock neighborhood is a struggle to get a table at, but the fantastical sensory and culinary journey that awaits you is a worthy and potentially life-changing reward. Since opening in 2009, TTK, as it’s known, has led fine-dining trends in foodie-mecca Cape Town. Keeping one step ahead of the game, chef-owner Luke Dale Roberts has curated a food-theater experience that, in a manner at once playful and artful, employs all five senses to transport you through a mind-blowing array of courses, with an end result that feels simply magical. Come with your best appetite, as the richness of the meal—starting with canapés like a shortbread-foie-gras with gold-leaf, moving on to dishes like lamb sweetbread with liquorice liver jus, and finishing with the likes of duck breast with duck liver stuffing and sour cherry—is also superlative.

Booking system has become month-to-month, so instead of planning months in advance, log in very early on the morning of the 1st.

At the top of the Helshoogte Pass with simply amazing views of the valley and mountains, Tokara is a Winelands must-visit. Chef Carolize Coetzee grew up in small-town South Africa and honors local ingredients and cooking methods in her wide range of dishes. Lunch is à la carte, while dinner guests choose between four- or six-course set menus, each with a wine-pairing option.

The front door provides access to two distinct restaurants (one up, one down) both overseen by the same brilliant team and dreamed up by chef and restaurant empire-builder Liam Tomlin who began enthralling Capetonians with his shared tapas menu concept at his first Chefs Warehouse. Now, in another handsomely transformed historic building, three chefs are using their skills and knack for sharp flavors to create more of the same, with a twist—Chefs Warehouse & Canteen (downstairs) is shared tables and global tapas like flavorsome lamb dizi while the somewhat clubby Merchants Bar & Grill (upstairs) offers a choice of an a la carte or set menu, and seating is at individual tables. The food focus is nose-to-tail cooking and slow-prepared dishes, some of them made from ingredients that have spent time in the fermentation and preservation larder. Don't miss the scotch eggs, which you can even order at the bar.

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.

In a restored warehouse, this trendy operation has turned a once-derelict piece of land near the V&A Waterfront into a private beach space with several bars and comfortable covered seating areas inside and out. Although the food—huge rectangular pizzas, colorful salads, Wagyu burgers, seafood platters, steaks, fish-and-chips, and tasty but not-exactly-authentic sushi—is slightly overpriced, remind yourself that you're paying for the view, the toes-in-the-sand vibe, and the chance to rub shoulders with some of Cape Town's shiniest, happiest people. This is simply a beautiful place to have a cocktail and create memorable moments with a like-minded tribe of partiers and carefree pleasure-seekers.

A more casual offering at the Roundhouse, this outdoor restaurant overlooking Camps Bay relishes in the fresh air, sunshine, and enfolding nature while children can run around and pets are welcome. Although the menu of pizzas, salads, pasta, burgers, fish-and-chips, and lovely desserts will stave off hunger, the real attraction is the festive mood, so summer cocktails and bubbly tend to be headline acts. Parking is treacherous (and getting out after hours of celebration even trickier), so use Uber and lose yourself in the moment. 

If your reasons for traveling are to experience some of the world's most creative dining, then chef John Norris-Rogers has plenty to dazzle you with, as he experiments with flavors and inventive ways of presenting dishes. From a platter of seafood morsels to sourdough served with curried hake butter and lamb with morel and chimichurri, diners experience show-off levels of culinary virtuosity. Whether it's the between-course nibbles and palate cleansers, the astonishingly beautiful crockery, or the glittering harbor views, this will be a full-on, immersive dining experience. Children under 8 are not allowed. 

Almost entirely comprised of outposts of the Cape's most popular restaurants, this food hall has more than a dozen different kitchens and four bars (one that's wine-focused). For immaculate sushi, try Sushiya, where Cape Town’s lauded chef Peter Tempelhoff has collaborated with a Michelin-star chef from Japan, or visit Barakat for a contemporary take on Cape Malay cuisine (order the bobotie, a curried beef mince dish, followed by a couple of donut-like koesisters) or maybe stop by Milo for sish’nyama—aka braai or barbecued food created by one of the country’s most exciting young chefs, Vusi Ndlovu. Plus there's Asian street food from How Bao Now; simply delicious cooking at celebrity chef Siba Mtongana's Siba Deli; and the best ice cream in town from Unframed. Most stalls get going at 11 am—Nosh opens for breakfast at 8 am—and the market stays open well into the night with occasional parties and live music.

Claiming a sweet spot at the V&A Waterfront with fabulous harbor and mountain views, this versatile eatery focuses on updated versions of global classics. From fish tacos to a Wagyu beef cheeseburger to salade Niçoise, dishes that you wouldn’t normally expect to see on the same menu are harmonized by shared traits of freshness, flavor, and quality. With a sleek, warehouse-inspired interior and outside seating that maximizes its position overlooking both Table Mountain and the harbor, Mondiall is a highly agreeable culinary stop. Open all day, this modern brasserie is a welcome addition to the Waterfront's often ho-hum offerings.