Sonny & Irene Café Bakery, Cape Town
Sonny & Irene Café Bakery, Cape Town

MUST VISIT: South Africa’s Newest and Best Restaurants

Indulge in our selection of South Africa’s newest and best restaurants. Here are this season’s must-visit restaurants to explore.

Sometimes, we find ourselves wondering where the South African restaurant industry gets its unending inspiration from. Every year, a bevvy of new cafés, restaurants, bars, and lounges opens their doors—or undergoes a design reinvention—to cater to the seemingly insatiable dietary and liquid appetites of locals and visitors. It’s an incredibly dynamic industry that keeps us enthralled with a constantly improving standard of innovation, and this summer is no different! So, here is our selection of new restaurants you just have to try!

Sonny & Irene Café Bakery, Cape Town

Whether you’re serious about healthy eating or hunger for an indulgent brunch, Sonny & Irene—the “not-your-average” neighbourhood café bakery—caters to all tastes! Located on Kloof Road in Sea Point, this stylish retro café has an on-site bakery and pastry bar, delivering sweet and savoury café-style classics with a contemporary twist. The pastry bar opens at 7 AM for that on-the-go coffee and breakfast, while the main café is open from 8 AM right through lunch to dinner. Then, the cocktail menu comes out to play!

Sea Point, Cape Town
www.sonnyandirene.co.za

Sonny & Irene Café Bakery, Cape Town

Sonny & Irene Café Bakery, Cape Town

One&Only Vista Bar & Lounge, V&A Waterfront

As a stomping ground for A-list celebrities, the likes of Leonardo di Caprio, the One&Only at the V&A Waterfront needs no introduction. This is arguably Cape Town’s most glamorous hotel, and the strikingly reimagined Vista Bar & Lounge certainly upholds this reputation! In an elegant and contemporary double-volume space, floor-to-ceiling windows afford uncompromised views of Table Mountain. In the kitchen, internationally acclaimed local chef Karen Dudley has teamed up with resort Executive Chef Jacques Swart to create a bespoke menu that centres around fresh, local ingredients.

V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
www.oneandonlyresorts.com

One&Only Vista Bar & Lounge, V&A Waterfront

One&Only Vista Bar & Lounge, V&A Waterfront

Yori ōkī Sushi & Grill, KZN

The new Yori ōkī Sushi & Grill at the Ballito Lifestyle Centre represents the time-honoured art of sushi and the distinctive flavours of contemporary Japanese fusion. But beneath that layer is an embodiment of the “greater than” philosophy that Yori ōkī actually translates to: it’s taking a small, intimate space and creating a wholly beguiling atmosphere; it’s taking a cuisine that is simple at its heart and delivering a unique sensory experience that showcases immense flavours; and it’s making sure that everything they do—from sushi to service—is done with enormous generosity of spirit.

Ballito, KZN
www.yorioki.co.za

Yori ōkī Sushi & Grill, KZN

Yori ōkī Sushi & Grill, KZN

Scala Pasta, Cape Town

While pasta dishes are traditionally served as stand-alone meals at restaurants, which you have to then guard with knife and fork against order-envious family members, at Scala Pasta, dinner is different. Here, the emphasis is on sharing, and sharing means variety! So, after some delicious antipasti—like a great glob of creamy burrata cheese, Piemontese tartare with black truffle, and bruschetta potato focaccia—the recommendation is to order three to five eye-closingly delicious pasta plates. Make sure you try the Signature Carbonara by Michelin-star chef Luciano Monosilio! He is, after all, “The King of Carbonara”.

Church Street, Cape Town
www.scalapasta.co.za

Scala Pasta, Cape Town

Scala Pasta, Cape Town

Deux Lions, La Bourgogne Farm, Franschhoek

Set in the resplendent Franschhoek Valley at La Bourgogne Farm, Deux Lions offers an exquisite culinary complement to the estate’s already divine repertoire of wines. Under the stewardship of Head Chef Nanda Cardoso, the kitchen transforms homegrown gifts from the farm into honest yet delicious seasonal dishes that are a feast for all the senses. From cheese and charcuterie boards and freshly-baked brioche to Franschhoek confit trout, lamb rump, and pork belly, if there’s wine to be soaked up—and there will be because it’s Franschhoek—then let Deux Lions’ menu do the soaking!

Franschhoek
www.deuxlions.za.com

Deux Lions, La Bourgogne Farm, Franschhoek

Deux Lions, La Bourgogne Farm, Franschhoek

Dusk, Stellenbosch

“At Dusk, we Dine!” is the motto of chefs Darren Badenhorst and Callan Austin’s new thought-provoking restaurant on Plein Street, Stellenbosch. And with a philosophy rooted in restaurant psychology and employee mental health, you can’t help but like Dusk before you’ve even stepped foot inside! To approach the guest mind-first and then through the senses with its immersive and captivating multi-course dining experience is unique. Guests can choose between the tasting menu (R995) and the premium tasting menu (R1590), the latter of which has more courses and more opulent ingredients. Both have a beverage pairing option.

Plein Street, Stellenbosch
www.duskrestaurant.co.za

Dusk, Stellenbosch

Dusk, Stellenbosch

Modern Tailors Restaurant & Gin Bar, Johannesburg

“To think of Indian cuisine, to most, invokes a most delicious assault on the senses,” says somebody smart at Modern Tailors Restaurant & Gin Bar in Rosebank, Johannesburg. And they’re totally right: it’s why Indian eateries are ubiquitous, no matter where in the world you travel to. But here, at Modern Tailors, the vivacious colours, eye-watering aromatics, and kaleidoscopic flavours of authentic Indian street food are delivered particularly masterfully. When the food is made with this much love and reverence for its provenance, as humble as those origins may be, it couldn’t be anything but great.

Rosebank, Johannesburg
www.moderntailors.co.za

Modern Tailors Restaurant

Modern Tailors Restaurant

The Nines, Cape Town

Just chillin’ on the ninth floor of the newly-developed Station House at Nineteen Kloof Road, The Nines is the go-to rooftop restaurant and cocktail lounge this summer! From this lofty vantage point—with floor-to-ceiling glass and a 200-square-metre deck—guests are afforded pretty much panoramic views over upper Sea Point and the glittering Atlantic Ocean. The Nines’ menu is all about “classics done right” with every dish a carefully-considered standout, like the Seafood Risotto, the Lezena Spatchcock Roast Chicken, or the Lates Seabass. This isn’t even to mention the warm, inviting ambience, the exquisite lounge, and the cocktails!

Sea Point, Cape Town
www.thenines.co.za