47 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.

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.

Inspired, clever, and—above all—delicious, the food at this excellent Ryan Cole–helmed restaurant is intent on redefining South Africa's high-end dining scene. To achieve this, Cole (whose other venture, Salsify, is also a must-try) asked head chefs Teenola Govender and Geoffrey Abrahams to create a menu inspired by personal food memories and their respective cultural backgrounds using the best seasonal ingredients. The result is set menus, with options for vegetarians and pescatarians, that are a concise, flavor-focused acknowledgement of Africa as its own gastronomic entity. There's a beautiful vegetarian dish of samp (dried corn kernels) and chakalaka (chopped veggies, tomatoes, and beans) that's quintessentially South African or maybe ox tongue with ras el hanout (a Moroccan spice blend) and beef tallow, or an incredible tuna tartare cold starter made with sugarcane and caramelized pineapple that beautifully evokes summertime on the beachfront in Durban (where Teenola grew up). Most of the dishes will be unlike anything you've ever had and will probably never have the opportunity to try again; mouthful after mouthful, you'll likely feel as though the world has shifted off its axis slightly, altering your understanding of what food can be.

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.

Arrive at acclaimed chef Peter Tempelhoff’s exquisite glass-walled restaurant on the fifth floor of the Speakers’ Corner building when the sun's still shining, and you'll be treated to soaring views of Table Mountain and Lion’s Head. The real focus, though, is on the open kitchen, where you can also sit at the counter and watch or interact with the team as they prepare multicourse kaiseki menus that focus intently on giving fresh and often unexpectedly local ingredients a Japanese treatment while refraining from overcomplicating what’s on the plate. There are multiple courses (fewer at lunch, and cheaper at R1,375) in this profound showcase of culinary imagination and skill: think burnt mushroom custard in a Hokkaido milk bun, Cape wagyu temaki, seared chokka, tuna with tomato ponzu and kelp biltong, and a gorgeous xigugu ice-cream sandwich or amasi cheesecake.

Across the road from the world’s first hemp high-rise building, chef Isca Stoltz heads up South Africa’s first upmarket restaurant dedicated to local, sustainable seafood. It's a strange reality that, in a city built around a harbor, local seafood is often elusive, which is why the core tenet here is refusing anything imported and using only ethical local suppliers and artisanal fishers. The result is a more adventurous approach to cooking, with diners getting introduced to seldom-heard-of fish—like katonkel and Cape bream—cooked over coals, served sashimi-style, or even poached in its own liquid. It's not fine dining so much as smart thinking about how best to create honest, authentic-tasting dishes, none of which you'll likely find anywhere else on Earth. The restaurant’s namesake galjoen, by the way, is South Africa's national fish, and though it's an endangered species (and thus never to be fished), the restaurant's name is intended to spark conversation about maritime conservation. Galjoen is also committed to minimizing food wastage by utilizing as much of the animal as possible.

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.

What's been termed South Africa's "first fine-dining halal restaurant," The Happy Uncles offers a chance to try dishes full of intricate and expert spicing, some that you may never have heard of, through a choice of multi-course set menus. Part of a burgeoning reinvention of Cape Malay cooking by chef and co-owner Anwar Abdullatief, dishes are elevated, beautifully prepared, and impeccably plated. From a bread course that might include springbok bone marrow and chili and ginger chimichurri to braised Angus short rib with celeriac milk and charred cabbage with truffle and nutmeg, just about every dish is some sort of fiercely novel use of local and often unusual ingredients to showcase unstoppable gastronomic pizazz. It’s not only a novelty for your taste buds, but this restaurant is a bit of history in the making, living evidence that Cape Malay cooking, frequently pigeonholed or defined by a few specific dishes, is evolving and rolling with the times.

Elegant and tranquil, this small oasis at the busy Kloof Nek intersection serves pricey but beautifully executed Japanese fare that reaches far beyond sushi. Sourcing as much as possible from Japan, the owner verges on obsessive in his effort to maintain a high standard of both ingredients and technique, evidenced in the lightness of the tempura, the freshness and variety of seafood, and the deliciousness of dishes like salmon, seaweed, shiitake, and shimeji salad; miso clams; or warm scallops in their shell.

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.

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.

You step into this revitalized historic space as much for the upbeat atmosphere and heartwarming service as you do for the delicious Japanese-Peruvian fusion cuisine that's distinctive enough to be its own genre. Order from the large and diverse menu, or select one of the set menus that will give you a good overview of the offerings like braised sesame-coated short rib with yam mash, tea-cured apricots, and black truffle sauce, or yellowtail hamachi with fermented chili, black garlic and confit yolk. If you opt for a la carte, you'll need to order quite a few of the tapas-style sharing plates. You'll probably want to linger, so book the later dinner seating so there's no time limit.

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.

Like so many of chef Luke Dale Roberts's restaurants—such as The Test Kitchen, the former fine-dining establishment that truly put Woodstock on the international culinary map—Salon transports diners to another era with its rich golden hues, velvet banquettes, art deco artwork, fringed vintage-style lamps, and tinted, textured glass panels. Along with executive chef Carla Schulze, Roberts takes diners on a global culinary journey inspired by the international places he's cooked, eaten, and learned about food. Without too much complication, diners are surprised again and again by inventive ideas that have their roots in Mexico, the Philippines, Morocco, Mexico, South Africa, and elsewhere—a literal culinary journey that's equal parts nostalgia and innovation.

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.

At this restaurant—part of Cape Cadogan, the boutique hotel next door—chef Amori Burger's (who has done time on TV food shows and worked in the bush cooking at safari lodges) concept revolves around the idea of a family feast. Menus change with the seasons and gravitate around a theme Amori and her squad of chefs are exploring, but guests can choose between a couple of tasting menus or dip into the à la carte selection of small plates, all of it made to be shared. Think of it as food cooked by your (South African) grandmother if she were a world-class professional chef with a contemporary outlook: sharing plates of tasty vegetables, mains with hints of nostalgia, everyone reaching across the table, and lots of fine wine. Just off Kloof Street, the venue is a double-story colonial-era manor house that's been jazzed up and turned into a seriously eye-catching space, decorated in green and white, with tables that spill onto the outside terrace. 

In this warm space of yellowwood tables, sash windows, and reed ceilings, chef-owner Harald Bresselschmidt has served classic European-with-a-twist cuisine since 1996 at one of the city’s oldest fine-dining establishments. Using the freshest South African produce prepared with classical European methods, the chef cooks with wine in mind, and Aubergine's cellar and pairings are unsurprisingly superb. Seafood options are excellent, as are meat dishes like the gemsbok sirloin with chestnut puree. In summer, the garden seating of this historic 1830s home is recommended. Lunch and winter specials are more affordable ways of enjoying this classic restaurant, and apart from its à la carte options, there are degustation menus available.

This relaxed but glam eatery in the posh Vineyard Hotel & Spa outside Cape Town attracts well-heeled regulars, who come for chef Mike Basset's consistently excellent fusion flair, evidenced in dishes like squid ink spaghetti with yuzu pearls and the divine truffle-teriyaki beef fillet topped with perfectly crisped tempura vegetables. Evenings are all about the amazingly good-value seven-course tasting menu. Lunches are more casual but also offer a five-course tasting menu option. Black chandeliers and tones of gray and silver make for an ambience of cool evening elegance, while daytime diners will appreciate the gorgeous garden and mountain views. Don't neglect the fabulous wine list, which features many of the country's best.

Don't miss Mount Nelson's legendary high tea, which has been offered since the hotel was erected in 1899 to welcome the then Prince of Wales on his visit to the Cape. Served from noon to 3 pm, afternoon tea offers sweet and savory treats and more than 40 tea varieties, which an expertly trained tea sommelier can guide you through. You should most definitely book in advance. 

Although Azure's blue-and-white nautical-theme decor may feel a bit outdated to some, the restaurant's jaw-dropping sea and mountain views are reason enough to experience the mostly inspired menu. Dishes like the Malay-style mussel curry, venison loin, and roast chicken may sound simple and old-school, but the treatment is top-notch, the focus on proper cooking techniques, Cape produce, and clean flavors rather than trying to wow you with fancy trimmings, a reminder of what's important when eating out. Diners can choose between the à la carte or tasting menu.  Ask for a window table.

Boasting one of the largest selections of wines by the glass (more than 250) in the world, Belthazar is also recommended for its consistently good if pricey steak and seafood. Enjoy gorgeous Table Mountain and harbor views from the all-weather outdoor seating at lunch, or at dinner, the moodier interior, where a team of sommeliers can recommend the best wine match for your meal. Venison options like the springbok fillet served with a chocolate-chili sauce are delicious, and the Chicago-cut beef is more than a pound of on-the-bone heaven. Mozambican seafood options like prawns and langoustines are also very popular.

On the historic Buitenverwachting wine estate in Constantia, this fine-dining establishment spares no punches in the flavor department with its Japanese-inspired dishes. The warm, wonderful service and the graciousness of the space fit perfectly with the tranquil countryside setting. An unpretentious tasting menu that sounds elaborate but is actually a pretty straightforward distillation of uncompromisingly high-quality ingredients, expert kitchen technique, and wondrous culinary creativity means that everything just works. The full 6-course "Tasting Experience" is R1,250 (plus R850 with paired wines). Request a table on the balcony in warm weather to enjoy the wonderful vineyard views.

Located in a historic manor house, this hotel restaurant serves tasty and hearty Italian fare from multiple dining rooms whose white walls are adorned with edgy South African art and or shelves packed with books. As much as this place is about atmosphere and socializing, its menu is packed with classic crowd pleasers like seafood linguine, Bolognese rigatoni, steak Florentine, and osso buco—hardly groundbreaking, but the basis for a pleasant night out, especially if you splurge on wine and save space for dessert. And there's lighter fare, such as burgers, garlic prawns on a bap, and salads, too  On a summer's day it's worth coming early for a drink at the lovely outdoor Rose Bar in the garden adjacent to the restaurant.

From their Wagyu beef burgers and steak tartare to slow-cooked oxtail and lamb cutlets dusted with biltong spice, the focus here is meat, meat, and more meat. That's not to say that they don't cater to vegetarians and seafood-seekers, but to be totally honest, if you fall into either of those categories you'll be far better off elsewhere. Pride of place here goes to the selection of dry-aged and wet-aged cuts of steak, plus a supporting act in the form of an extensive wine selection. Ultimately, it's a fancy steak house, but with the beach across the road and the option of al fresco seating in summer (and a fireplace inside in winter), it's sure to hit the spot if you need to satisfy a carnivore craving.

Ornate, handblown glass chandeliers, lots of dark wood, marble and luxurious fabrics, and above all, pitch-perfect high-end new interpretations of classic cuisine from across the subcontinent converge to create a space of almost fantastical opulence. There's a choice of vegetarian and non-vegetarian "Gourmet Experience" tasting menus, or you can dip into the variety offered by the à la carte options, which include a signature butter chicken in a creamy tomato gravy with fenugreek, crispy Malabar style kingklip, and a delectable dal makhani (lentil) dish that's been simmered overnight. Everything, from the refined ambiance to the authentic spicing and slow-cooking approach will transport you to a dazzling night out in India.

With a prime location for views of the Atlantic Ocean and the Twelve Apostles mountains, Bungalow has plenty of outdoor seating that makes this the place to be on a warm, sunny day. The menu features beautifully plated sushi, plenty of classic meat dishes, burgers, roasted chicken, and good options for vegetarians. Trendy is indeed an applicable word, so don your chicest aprés-beach outfit and make a booking.