Dining in Cape Town requires a calendar alert, a strategic group chat, and the calm confidence to commit weeks in advance – in both time and money. Because the real flex is no longer just the handbag, the watch, or the hotel suite – it’s the reservation message.
What’s fascinating about the Mother City’s current global culinary moment is how refined it has become. The best dining rooms now operate like modern ateliers: obsessive about detail, certain about their identity, and capable of turning a single ingredient into an emotional arc.
Belly of the Beast promises carnivorous dishes but delivers some of the best vegetarian variations in the country. JAN and Wolfgat have made the top travel dining destinations for people and publications around the world. And the guests – international and well-travelled, visually literate, with sophisticated palates – have consistently voted Cape Town as one of the best food cities in the world.
Rankings have merely formalised what diners already know. Condé Nast Traveller captured the mood when readers named Cape Town the Best City in the World for Food in 2024. Meanwhile, culinary heavyweights such as La Colombe and FYN continue to anchor the city’s global reputation, keeping standards high and expectations higher.
But the true story isn’t only written in awards. It’s written in exports – restaurants and hospitality concepts so influential that they start shaping international taste.
Babylonstoren has become one of the country’s most evocative lifestyle exports: garden-driven, design-forward, and globally aspirational. It has sparked international curiosity and sister-property comparisons with The Newt in Somerset, London. The Newt is no small reference point either, having earned Three MICHELIN Keys and recognition on The World’s 50 Best Hotels list.
Four Chefs, One City
In this landscape – equal parts competitive and collaborative – four chefs stand out not only for what they cook, but for what they represent: confidence, culture, mentorship, and a belief that world-class is not a location, but a discipline.
Dining in Cape Town makes you feel plugged into local and global culture – what the futurists are coining ‘glocal’.
And if the world is paying attention now, it’s because the city isn’t asking for validation anymore. It’s simply serving.
Ryan Cole – Salsify at the Roundhouse
Under Ryan Cole’s leadership, Salsify (pronounced sal-si-fee) at the Roundhouse has become a Cape Town pilgrimage: intimate, intelligent, and steeped in story.
The restaurant’s rise has been validated on global and local stages. From its entry onto The World’s 50 Best Restaurants extended list at No. 88 to its top-tier accolades at home, recognition has followed.
Ryan’s personal honours – including being voted Eat Out’s Chefs’ Chef of the Year by his peers – carry weight, and not just because they widen responsibility.
“All awards… are a stark reminder that my role goes beyond cooking,” he says. “My job is to be a mentor to the next generation and to act as a kind of lighthouse in the industry… someone steadfast, who works for the greater good of hospitality.”
Sustainability for Ryan is not a marketing line; it’s a personal inheritance. Coming from a fishing family, he speaks about seafood with reverence. It’s a story – “a fisherman who woke up at two in the morning and risked his life… to bring back something beautiful and fresh.”
Salsify & Friends, hosted every August with peers from across South Africa, has become an engine for that philosophy – and last year the concept went global with collaborators including Margot Janse, Phil Howard, and London’s Akoko.
“I’ve always believed collaboration is one of the most powerful ways to grow our industry,” he says.
Looking ahead, 2026 is already shaping up to be a year of international visibility. Ryan has several projects lined up, including a collaboration with The Alchemist in Copenhagen, a World’s 50 Best Signature Session at Sand & Koal in Abu Dhabi for the Middle East & North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants, and a one-night collaboration dinner with Gaggan in Bangkok — voted the Best Restaurant in Asia in 2025 by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Further collaborations are planned for Scotland and London.
Vusi Ndlovu – EDGE
Ranked among the top seven at the S.Pellegrino Young Chef finale in 2018 and a founding member of the African Culinary Library, Vusi Ndlovu represents a new kind of culinary authority: chef, storyteller, and cultural custodian.
His work isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about building an African food narrative that is intellectually respected, globally relevant, and proudly its own.
“The philosophy is to share our beliefs and pride in the African pantry with everyone and anyone that’s willing to listen,” he says. “True stories shared over the fire.”
The accolades, he insists, matter most because of what they unlock for others.
“We always say we don’t cook for awards,” he says, “but for the young team we’re building.” Seeing them celebrate success makes it meaningful – because “that is why EDGE exists: for a young African child to be allowed to dream.”
The spirit of EDGE is rooted in celebration — of the continent’s people, energy, and the food. African flavours are explored over open flame and delivered with modern precision and a sense of drama, and intentionality.
“I have a very playful personality,” he admits, “and I want people to be curious… to push their understanding of what an ingredient can be.”
The experiments aren’t always guaranteed wins. “Believe me, sometimes we miss big time – but that’s part of the charm.”
Vusi’s vision is distinctly future-facing: collaboration, movement, and continental scale. A Europe tour is planned for winter 2026, with details to be announced.
Amori Burger – Upper Union
As executive chef of Upper Union, Amori Burger has helped shape one of the city’s most magnetic dining spaces.
Recognition has followed. In 2025, Amori won the Culinary Rising Star Award at the Luxe Restaurant Awards, a fitting nod to a chef whose influence is felt not only in flavour, but in the way she builds energy and consistency in a room.
One word anchors her cooking: honest.
It explains why her cooking feels emotionally accessible even when it’s highly considered: it isn’t trying to impress you with complexity. It’s trying to make you feel good.
“I lead the same way I cook,” she says. “With curiosity, intention, and a bit of playfulness. And I genuinely care about my team.”
There’s something distinctly modern about that kind of leadership: emotionally intelligent, standards-driven, and fully aware that great hospitality is built by people who feel valued.
Her creative fuel comes from exposure – collaborations, festivals, stepping into other chefs’ worlds.
“I come home with a head full of new sparks,” she says. “Then I start playing with local ingredients… it’s not mimicry. It’s a conversation.”
And that’s exactly what Upper Union feels like: a room in conversation with the city.
Ivor Jones – Chefs Warehouse Beau Constantia
Often described as “your favourite chef’s favourite chef”, Ivor Jones delivers excellence at the highest level night after night at Chefs Warehouse Beau Constantia.
It’s a reputation that can’t manufactured – it’s earned in kitchens, and affirmed in quiet admiration.
“The real win is when a guest takes a bite and gives that little ‘oh wow’ grin,” he says.
Ivor has helped define the modern Cape Town standard: elevated, seasonal food served with ease – sophisticated, but never stiff.
“Cape Town cooks like it’s got nothing to prove,” he says, “and that confidence is contagious.”
The restaurant’s standing is reflected in repeated Three Plates accolades from the JHP Gourmet Guide – a marker reserved for world-class destination dining, as well as recognition from La Liste, the international restaurant ranking and awards guide.
In 2025, Ivor was named Eat Out S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna Chefs’ Chef – arguably the most meaningful kind of recognition, because it comes from the people who understand the craft most intimately.
Ivor cooks like someone who understands what today’s diner wants: surprise without confusion, flavour without clutter, and a sense of mood that makes the experience feel effortless.
