Your guide to fine dining in Cape Town this winter
The Mother City’s favourite chefs are at it again – making it impossibly difficult for locals not to don wellies, brave the rain, and head out for some of the city’s tastiest meals. Here’s our hit list of what’s new, what’s sizzling, and what’s on special this chilly season.
STEP INSIDE CAPE TOWN’S NEWEST FINE-DINING RESTAURANT
CURATE AT ELLERMAN HOUSE
The multi-award-winning Ellerman House, an art-filled boutique hotel in Cape Town’s Bantry Bay (and last year voted Travel + Leisure‘s Best City Hotel in Africa) recently launched a new fine-dining restaurant, Curate at Ellerman House. Located in the hotel’s Wine Gallery – complete with texture-rich interiors, an impressive carbon-fibre corkscrew wine rack and no shortage of terroir-inspired art installations – the restaurant has an intimate and cocooning atmosphere perfect for cosy winter nights. On offer to diners, from Wednesday to Saturday evenings, is head chef Kieran Whyte’s elegant tasting menu, a true celebration of South African flavours. His flavour-forward menu includes playful innovations like a pineapple umqombothi and a salmon trout koeksister, as well as novel takes on traditional South African dishes, like amagwinya paired with caviar, braaied Atlantic gamefish with Malay spices, a savoury melktert, springbok and beef mains, and a Prieska white chocolate pap dessert. Definitely local flavours worth braving the chill for!
www.ellerman.co.za
ANOTHER CAPE TOWN RESTAURANT JOINS THE WORLD’S 50 BEST RESTAURANTS TOP 100
SALSIFY
We couldn’t be more thrilled to see another of Cape Town’s exceptional restaurants, Salsify at the Roundhouse, join the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Top 100 list. Ranked at 88 on the global list, the announcement comes mere months after Salsify won Restaurant of the Year at the 2025 Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards. The list is the result of voting by more than 1 000 anonymous global culinary experts, who each select their 10 favourite gastronomic experiences of the previous 18 months. Independently adjudicated, the ranking has come to represent the most prestigious accolade for the world’s leading hospitality venues. South Africa’s other inclusions are La Colombe and Fyn restaurants. “At Salsify, we push boundaries, embrace creativity, and craft experiences that reflect the essence of South African ingredients and stories,” says co-owner and executive chef Ryan Cole. “This achievement is a testament to the relentless passion, innovation and dedication of our team – our aim is simple, to be better than we were yesterday.” The Lifestyling team were present at a recent collaborative dinner held by Cole at Salsify, at which he prepared a unique tasting menu alongside his mentor, chef Phil Howard. Similar collaborative dinners with other international chefs are planned for Salsify’s winter season.
www.salsify.co.za
OUR FAVOURITE FINE-DINING SPECIALS IN CAPE TOWN THIS WINTER
COY
What SunDAZE at Coy is a sharing-plates experience showcasing head chefs Geoffrey Abrahams and Teenola Govender’s menu favourites alongside concept dishes the pair are working on.
When Sunday lunches and dinners, throughout winter.
What’s included Coy’s killer views of the city bowl, Table Mountain and the working harbour make this a cosy experience with a window onto wintry Cape Town. Diners can expect individual and shared dishes – all holding some element from the fire – across bread, snacks, starters, mains and desserts. Our favourites include amagwinya brioche, diablo flatbreads, and whole roasted line fish with Ras el Hanout.
Price R490 per person for two people sharing (excluding beverages). The menu can be adapted for vegetarian and pescatarian diets.
www.coyrestaurant.com
THE POT LUCK CLUB
What The popular Sunday Brunch Winter Extravaganza returns to The Pot Luck Club.
When Sunday brunches from 11h00, until 28 September.
What’s included With bottomless Graham Beck Brut and Rosé Cap Classique to take the edge off the chill, and a live jazz band to set the mood, diners will enjoy ten courses. While the menu changes regularly, dishes include the likes of oysters topped with trout roe and a spicy dressing, snack-sized courses like cornbread with lobster, pico de gallo and chipotle, brioche with quail egg, porcini hollandaise, mushroom duxelles and truffle, and venison tartare. A smoked haddock omelette as well as a risotto course will likely follow. Thereafter it’s a roast lamb main, and trio of desserts.
Price R1 250 per person (including bottomless bubbly – both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, as well as the DIY Bloody Mary station).
www.thepotluckclub.co.za
MARBLE
What Seven Colour Sundays, in partnership with Kfm 94.5.
When Sunday lunches, twice monthly until the end of August (with a spring menu for the month of September).
What’s included With music courtesy of Kfm 94.5, and drinks on arrival to set the mood, diners can look forward to a menu that will change regularly, and include Marble’s much-loved focaccia bread, a selection of starters for the table, a main (like a succulent brisket with pickles and Yorkshire pudding, or spinach and marinated feta phyllo twists for vegetarians) with colourful sides like roast potatoes, cauliflower with cheese croutons and broccolini with chili crunch, and either dessert or a selection of cheeses from the cheese trolley.
Price R750 per person and R195 per child (both excluding beverages). Diners are encouraged to wear something that matches the colour theme for the day.
www.marble.restaurant/capetown/
HEIRLOOM X ATLAS SWIFT WINES
What In the heart of the V&A Waterfront, Heirloom at Cape Grace partners with Atlas Swift Wines for a wine-pairing dinner that offers diners wonderful insights into how terroir shapes a wine, in this case chardonnay. The five Formal Range Chardonnays (all with labels illustrated by a locally-based Ukrainian illustrator) from Martin and Welma Smith’s Franschhoek wine estate are showcased.
When Thursday to Saturday evenings in July and August, and nightly thereafter.
What’s included Long a fan of the wine estate’s chardonnays, Heirloom’s sommelier tasked executive chef Wesli Jacobs with creating dishes that marry beautifully with each of Atlas Swift’s chardonnays – with their Cederberg, Cape South Coast, Franschhoek, Wellington and Robertson terroirs. Expect free-range quail with carrot puree, mustard seed, nori dust and citrus beurre blanc, West Coast lobster with sauteed asparagus, wild garlic aioli, toasted hazelnuts and citrus jus, Buffelshoek Venison with parsnip, red peppercorn foam and balsamic jus, and more.
Price R1 395 per person for five courses or R1 195 per person for three courses. Wine pairing included.
www.capegrace.com/restaurant/heirloom-restaurant/
BELLY OF THE BEAST X THE POT LUCK CLUB
What An exciting collaboration between The Pot Luck Club’s executive chef Jason Kosmas and the duo behind the much-loved Belly Of The Beast, Anouchka Horn and Neil Swart.
When The collaboration begins at Galjoen with dinners on Tuesday 24, Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 June. It then moves to The Pot Luck Club, with dinner on Friday 27 June, followed by both lunch and dinner on Saturday 28 June.
What’s included Expect a multi-course tasting menu that blends the distinct culinary voices of The Pot Luck Club, Belly Of The Beast, Galjoen and Seebamboes. From the personal storytelling of Belly of the Beast to the personality that’s integral to The Pot Luck Club, the dishes speak to different influences while honouring the ingredients and technique at the heart of it all.
Price R1 500 per person (excluding beverages). An optional wine pairing experience is available at R795 per person.
www.thepotluckclub.co.za and www.bellyofthebeast.co.za
THE TEST KITCHEN FLEDGELINGS
What A prix fixe lunch menu.
When Lunches until 30 September.
What’s included Expect a five-course menu that kicks off with amagwinya and smoked snoek pate, oysters, and then offers diners the choice of tuna tartare or an heirloom tomato tart, followed by Korean fried chicken or pan-fried wild mushrooms, and concludes with the popular TTK Wagyu burger and fries, linefish or sirloin.
Price R590 per person (excluding beverages).
www.ttkfledgelings.co.za
PLUS: WINTER’S BEST ‘HOW TO’ COOKBOOKS (FOR FOODIES WHO PREFER A NIGHT IN)
MANGIA: HOW TO EAT YOUR WAY THROUGH ITALY (Smith Street Books)
Author of How To Be Italian, Maria Pasquale’s newest book delves into Italy’s twenty regions, exploring their food histories and most cherished dishes. In addition to a recipe per region, the book also outlines choice regional produce, Maria’s favourite dishes and drinks, and culinary experiences and food festivals of each area. There’s also a nifty guide to Italian foodie etiquette. Ideal for anyone planning a culinary journey to, or through, Italy, Mangia equally offers interesting insights into the country’s distinct regions for anyone planning to cook Italian.
Recommended retail price: R895
THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO JAPANESE COOKING (Hardie Grant)
Beautifully and playfully illustrated, this book breaks down 100 classic Japanese recipes, and demystifies everything from the ingredients needed to the techniques required to prepare them. From tempura to onigiri, and from black sesame ice cream to matcha roll cake, step-by-step and annotated illustrations and photographs guide readers through the preparation of some of the world’s favourite Japanese dishes. Discover how to make the perfect sushi rice, and which vinegar to use when doing so. Learn how to fillet a fish for sashimi, and the secret to perfecting homemade pickled ginger. Then invite family and friends to toast sake to your success!
Recommended retail price: R720
