The 2009 edition of Eat Out Magazine is on the shelves and inside you will find (along with plenty of other info) their selection of the top 10 restaurants in SA.
Once again, seven of them are in the Western Cape. Two are in Gauteng and one in the Kwazulu Natal Midlands. Aubergine, Bread & Wine, The Showroom, Grande Provence, and Ginja have all dropped of the list from last year (and the year before!), but Jardine and The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Francais are still there.
New additions in the Western Cape are: La Colombe at Constantia Uitsig with Luke Dale-Roberts also being voted chef of the year, Terroir at Kleine Zalze wine estate (was in the top 10 year before last too), Overture at Hidden Valley winery, Rust en Vrede restaurant and Bizerca at the Foreshore.
It must be very difficult to choose 10 top restaurants out of so many excellent candidates and I’m sure that many restaurants were a hair’s breadth away from being on the list.
The full list of venues and chefs is as follows:
1. La Colombe (Luke Dale Roberts – chef of the year) – Constantia Uitsig, Cape Town
2. Jardine (George Jardine) – CBD, Cape Town
3. Terroir (Michael Broughton) – Kleine Zalze wine estate, Stellenbosch
4. Overture (Bertus Basson) – Hidden Valley winery, Stellenbosch
5. Mosaic at the Orient (Chantell Dartnall) – Elandsfontein, Pretoria
6. Rust en Vrede (David Higgs) – Rust en Vrede wine Estate, Stellenbosch
7. The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Francais (Margot Janse) – Franschoek
8. Roots at the Forum Homini (Philippe Wagenfuhrer) – Krugersdorp, Johannesburg
9. Bizerca (Laurent Deslandes) – Foreshore, Cape Town
10. Hartford House (Jackie Cameron) – Mooi River, Kwazulu Natal Midlands
Eat Out have upgraded their website, it’s looking pretty good. You can view the results on their website here.
Comments
5 responses to “Eat Out top 10 restaurants for 2009”
I’ve just finished browsing through this latest edition of Eat Out magazine. I’m not sure how they intend it to be used. What I do is page through the Cape Town section and tick the places I have been so that in future when I’m wanting to try a new place I can choose one from those which I haven’t ticked.
I’m surprised that they have not divided the guide into fine dining vs casual dining this year. Without that division it is difficult to narrow down the search for a place to dine.
Also, they need to give the places a star rating. The premise seems to be that if it’s in the magazine, it’s worth eating at but the experience differs vastly between the various places. Also, can one assume that if a place is not in the magazine that it’s not worth visiting or did they just neglect to review it?
They also only list one address for restuarants of which there are several. The other addresses are listed in the back of the magazine, but I find that quality often varies between branches so they should be reviewed separately or at least have the branches listed with applicable comments.
I like the way they recommend some menu items for each place, although I would like to know how often they eat at these places to know which items are the best or is that just what they ordered when they went?
I do disagree with some of the comments or recommendations but on the whole they seem fair and accurate. I find it handy as a list of potential eating spots with their contact details, not much more than that.
My absolute favourite spot in CT is bizerca – the spot just works – the food is fantastic – the wine list well priced and well chosen – Cyrillia is amazing with the front of house. Overture is by far the best of show for the winelands – excellent, balanced food with a breathtaking view and professional service complemented by very well priced lands end wines and hidden valley wines.
I haven’t had the opportunity of eating at la colombe since the new chef has taken over – so no comment there.
Ate at jardine recently and found the food & wine heavily overpriced – food was good but not WOW – crayfish risotto heavily oversmoked tomatoes at R100 surcahrge – Bill for 2 pax almost R1000.00.
Cannot find the actual website for contacting Bizerca. I live in Australia and often ate at their previous restaurant. Can you tell me how to contact them by email?
Website is http://bizerca.com/
Email is bizerca@mweb.co.za
Constantia valley wines features superb wine estates, fantastic shopping opportunities and a variety of excellent restaurants.