Eat Out's top 10 SA restaurants
16 January 2006
Johannesburg restaurant YUM scooped South Africa's most prestigious gastronomic accolade when it was named the Eat Out Johnnie Walker Restaurant of the Year 2005, while culinary trendsetter Richard Carstens of Lynton Hall restaurant in KwaZulu-Natal won the Eat Out Johnnie Walker Chef of the Year title.
The Eat Out awards ceremony, held at the ArabellaSheraton Hotel in Cape Town in November, also marked the launch of the 2006 edition of Eat Out: The Restaurant Guide of South Africa.
In the new edition, tributes are paid to 14 additional achievers. Best New Restaurant was awarded to the much talked-about Haiku in Cape Town, where passionate restaurateur Sabi Sabhawal has set up a tapas-orientated restaurant that's innovative, exciting and offers superb Asian food. Mariana's Home Deli & Bistro in the Western Cape, and La Petite Normandie in KwaZulu-Natal, won the Eat Out Johnnie Walker Top Country Kitchens Awards.
The names of the
Eat Out Johnnie Walker Top 10 restaurants in the country were also unveiled at the awards ceremony. The Top 10 were chosen by judges Phillippa Cheifitz and Hilary Biller, highly respected members of the industry, from a shortlist
submitted by 30 national reviewers.
According to Eat Out editor Sam Woulidge, the judges visited each nominated restaurant unannounced to evaluate the ability of the chefs and restaurants to create "that special experience that gives added pleasure to diners".
Eat Out Johnnie Walker Top Ten
(in alphabetical order)
95 Keerom, Cape Town (chef: Giorgio Nava)
9th Avenue Bistro, Durban (chef: Carly Goncalves)
Auberge Michel, Johannesburg (chef: Frederic Leloup)
Bosman's, Cape Town (chef: Frank Zlomke)
Ginja, Cape Town (chef: Michael Bassett)
La Colombe, Cape Town (chef: Franck Dangereux)
Lynton Hall, Durban (chef: Richard Carstens)
Reuben's, Cape Town (chef: Reuben
Riffel)
Terroir, Cape Town (chefs: Michael Broughton and Nic van Wyk)
Yum, Johannesburg (chef: Dario de Angeli)
"South Africa is a foodie nation", says Woulidge. "Comfort food. Padkos. Haute cuisine. And jammerlappiekos. We have it all."
Eat Out 2006
Eat Out: The Restaurant Guide of South Africa is an annual listing guide featuring independent critics' reviews of over 800 restaurants countrywide.
According to the publishers, Eat Out neither charges restaurants to be listed, nor expects them to pick up the tab for its meals, making Eat Out "the most objective and definitive restaurant guide in South Africa."
Eat Out 2006 includes a "People's Choice" booklet listing the favourite restaurants of local celebrities - and featuring SA's "Fab Fifteen"
restaurants, as voted by the South African public on the Eat Out website.
The website is comprehensive interactive restaurant guide that allows visitors to find the perfect place to eat out in their area, post their own restaurant reviews or read what other diners have to say.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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