On Sunday night the Eat Out top ten for next year was announced. Being in the Top Ten is a big deal for restaurants because, apart from the recognition and exposure, a lot of tourists pick up the Eat Out magazine at the airport or wherever and try and eat out at the top restaurants. This information was revealed to me by several chefs of present or former top ten restaurants.
I think a top twenty would be more useful myself because there are so many that aren’t in the top ten that should really be on any list of top restaurants that exists. Maybe that is why the list of top ten restaurants actually stretched to twelve restaurants because the last position was tied between two restaurants and they created a new category ‘best bistro’ which added another to the list.
I’m not going to make a song and dance about this, but note that as usual, nine of the twelve restaurants selected, are in the Western Cape.
The winning restaurants are listed below:
10. Overture – Bertus Basson (Stellenbosch) & The Tasting Room – Margot Janse (Franschhoek)
9. 9th Ave Bistro – Gary Goncalves (Durban)
8. Roots – Philippe Wagenfuhrer (Johannesburg)
7. The Greenhouse at the Cellars – Peter Templehoff (Cape Town)
6. The Restaurant at Grand Provence – Jacques de Jager (Franschhoek)
5. Roundhouse – PJ Vadas (Cape Town)
4. Terroir – Michael Broughton (Stellenbosch)
3. Rust en Vrede – David Higgs (Stellenbosch)
2. Mosaic – Chantel Dartnall (Pretoria)
1. La Colombe – Luke Dale-Roberts (Cape Town)
Best Bistro: Bizerca (Cape Town)
Chef of the year: Chantel Dartnall of Mosaic (Pretoria)
Service award: Rust en Vrede (Stellenbosch)
Read the official Eat Out article here and click the years to see the previous winners: 2009, 2008, 2007.