If cities had beauty pageants, Cape Town would be a finalist. There are beaches galore, backed by spectacular mountain ranges and a high concentration of parks throughout the city.
There are also scores of scenic vineyards, many producing top-quality wines you won’t taste if you’re not in South Africa.
The tourist scene is thriving — a record number of visitors arrived at Cape Town International in 2025. Right on cue, the dining scene is amping up, too.
On the top end, it’s been drawing global celebrities; casual neighbourhood cafes have been raising their game as well, even as the number of diverse choices has expanded.
While the restaurants used to be dominated by European concepts, now plenty of local heroes showcase the food and products they grew up with.
Although there’s still a dearth of chefs of colour, more and more restaurants are sourcing from Black entrepreneurs.
Take Tambourine, which has joined with the community garden Moya We Khaya to source ingredients from Khayelitsha, Cape Town’s largest historic Black township — a neighbourhood where the average income is about $300 a month and nearly half of the residents are unemployed.
But as hospitality has boomed, so have prices, as well as the chance that service will be uneven. A lot of hyped restaurants don’t have a long shelf life.
It’s best to know which places are worth sitting down at, whether you’re coming for the annual Finance Magnates Africa Summit or the famed Cape Town International Jazz Festival, or you want to take full advantage of South Africa’s flexible nomad visa.
The five top tables we chose include Tambourine, plus a place from the first South African chef to run a Michelin-starred establishment.
We’re also shouting out the Bloomberg DINE
In this edition, we highlight one of Africa’s top-ranked dining rooms, whose fans include Dua Lipa.
The Tashas cafe chain spans the globe, with more than two dozen locations from London to Dubai.
But the roots of the group’s breezy all-day dining spots are South African: Founder Natasha Sideris opened the first cafe in Johannesburg more than 20 years ago.
At her latest concept, Arlecchino, she’s shifted the emphasis to the Mediterranean- and Italian-styled places she grew up with.
There’s playful theatricality on display throughout, including the harlequin-style server uniforms.
Come for the pastas, especially the Amalfi lemon bucatini that delivers a sharp citrus hit, for R208.
There’s also plenty of seafood. (This is, after all, a city where two oceans meet.) Grilled fresh sea bass, branzino and tiger prawns prepared with minimal fuss (from R246), as well as tasty tuna tagliata topped with anchovy crumb (R328), are all strong orders.
The most popular meal is still brunch, which pulls in a trendy crowd, and not just for the vibe.
Highlights include seasonal fruit salad with maple syrup (R120), panettone French toast (R156) and — because why not? — a cannoli with maraschino cherries on the side (R148).
Tambourine would be a destination dining room even if you didn’t admire its support for Black entrepreneurs and regenerative farming.
As they bypass traditional supply chains, owners Kyle du Plooy and Keane Munro funnel capital directly into the hands of Black urban farmers. Kitchen scraps are returned to Khayelitsha as compost.
Plus, the restaurant’s location is convenient: it’s in the historic District Six neighbourhood, now transformed into a hub for Cape Town’s tech startups, and just steps away from Chips, the coworking space that’s become a hangout for incognito high-net-worth locals.
The plant-based tasting menus start at R650 and feature ingredients from those gardens, including ash-baked beetroot and fire-charred cabbage.
There’s also a “living pot”: Inside that pot you’ll find spekboom (a slightly sour succulent shrub) and fynbos (wild herbs with citrusy, aromatic notes).
For dessert, try the peppermint crisp, a beloved South African tart layered with mint chocolate and whipped cream.
Tambourine adds mint tuile and caramel crémeux to reimagine this traditional icebox dessert, part of the R850 tasting menu.
Before he opened his eponymous spot in his hometown of Franschhoek — just over an hour’s drive east of Cape Town — Reuben Riffel ran Bruno’s Brasserie in Cambridge, England.
The celebrity chef credits his time in the UK as a professional turning point: it was when he started prioritising top-quality ingredients.
Riffel returned to South Africa two decades ago to open Reuben’s, a place featuring local products.
It has earned him attention and culinary awards, and was such a successful formula that many of his original dishes have remained unchanged on the good-value, seasonal menus.
Among the long-standing favourites: venison roasted in a charcoal-fuelled Josper oven and served with blueberry chutney and truffled cauliflower puree (R345).
Another is the tempura prawns (R155), served on a pineapple and chile-coriander salsa and elevated with sweet corn velouté, a nod to the country’s most important staple ingredient, also known as mealies, or maize.
But if you try one dish, it should be the smoked springbok carpaccio (R135), featuring South Africa’s national mammal.
It’s so iconic it appears on rand coins and is known internationally as the national rugby team’s mascot.
In a city obsessed with bookings, Le Bistrot de Jan is welcomingly accessible.
It’s the latest restaurant from star chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen, who also runs the Michelin-starred Jan in Nice, France; hosts a food travel TV show; and has an eponymous cookware line.
Le Bistrot de Jan takes reservations, but it’s also surprisingly easy to walk in. Located inside the foyer of the newly renovated InterContinental Table Bay Cape Town hotel, it’s outfitted with eye-catching velvet booths and timber panelling.
The menu celebrates French bistro cooking using South African ingredients. The couscous royal is served family-style and studded with traditional boerewors (a local beef sausage seasoned with warm spices), for R750.
Tourte au poulet arrives smothered in truffle sauce (R650). There’s also extravagant steak Florentine (R2,100).
The menu changes often, but Jan’s malva pudding (R140) is a constant. The luscious, spongy, sticky pudding-like dessert, based on his mother’s recipe, uses tangy apricot jam instead of dates.
Among La Colombe’s many fans are Dua Lipa, who, on a recent trip to Cape Town, took to Instagram to show off her meal there.
The highest-ranked dining room in Africa on the World’s 50 Best restaurant list is tucked away in an indigenous forest along a mountain pass.
It’s fine dining with a proper view, overlooking a centuries-old wine valley where homes are hidden behind trees, not the walls of the rest of the velvet-roped neighbourhood.
Befitting the restaurant’s surroundings, the menu focuses on nature. Depending on the time of year, you can expect at least nine courses reflecting premium seasonal ingredients. The chef’s menu is R2,395.
Among the outstanding dishes, the Coastline course — served on a custom-made ceramic plate that mimics a bird’s-eye view of Table Mountain and its coastline — simultaneously establishes La Colombe’s sense of place and the excellence of local products.
The night I was there, the dish was made with Namibian red crab and local coastal succulents, accompanied by a theatrical tableside pour of aromatic South African-spiced Cape Malay velouté.
“It was an absolute pleasure dining at this location. There is a beautiful fireplace, which is great during a Cape Town winter.
If you have an adventurous palate and enjoy a holistic dining experience of hearing more about the ingredients and method of cooking, then this is a great choice,” raves DINE user Sonia Ramautar.
