News
The winners of the 2017 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards
Sunday, November 19th, 2017
South Africa’s culinary talents were announced at the 2017 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards on Sunday 19 November at the Grand Arena at GrandWest in Cape Town.
Milk curd with Granny Smith apple, raspberry-poached kohlrabi and concentrated Cape gooseberries from The Restaurant at Waterkloof. Photo supplied.
The Top 10 restaurants
1. The Test Kitchen (Woodstock, Cape Town)
2. Restaurant Mosaic at The Orient (Elandsfontein, Pretoria)
3. The Restaurant at Waterkloof (Somerset West)
4. Chefs Warehouse at Beau Constantia (Constantia, Cape Town)
5. Greenhouse at The Cellars-Hohenort (Constantia, Cape Town)
6. Camphors at Vergelegen (Somerset West)
7. La Colombe (Constantia, Cape Town)
8. The Shortmarket Club (City Bowl, Cape Town)
9. Overture (Stellenbosch)
10. The Pot Luck Club (Woodstock, Cape Town)
A dish at Fermier Restaurant. Photo supplied.
This year, we also honoured numbers 11 to 20:
11. Jardine Restaurant (Stellenbosch)
12. Foliage (Franschhoek)
13. Wolfgat (Paternoster)
14. Jordan Restaurant (Stellenbosch)
15. Fermier Restaurant (The Willows, Pretoria)
16. Thali (Gardens, Cape Town)
17. DW Eleven-13 (Dunkeld West, Johannesburg)
18. Hartford House (Mooi River, KwaZulu-Natal)
19. Luke Dale-Roberts X The Saxon (Sandhurst, Johannesburg)
20. La Tête (City Bowl, Cape Town)
The soup du jour from Restaurant Mosaic at The Orient. Photo supplied.
All the winners
Stellar restaurants and individuals on the South African scene also received special awards. (Stay tuned for more about each winner in the coming week.) They are:
Eat Out S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna Chef of the Year: Liam Tomlin of Chefs Warehouse & Canteen (City Bowl, Cape Town)
Eat Out Retail Capital New Restaurant of the Year: La Petite Colombe (Franschhoek)
Eat Out Graham Beck Chefs’ Chef: Kobus van der Merwe, Wolfgat (Paternoster, West Coast)
Eat Out Rising Star: Kayla-Ann Osborn, The Chefs Table (Umhlanga)
Eat Out Woolworths Sustainability Award: Camphors at Vergelegen (Somerset West)
Eat Out Service Excellence Award: Restaurant Mosaic at The Orient (Elandsfontein, Pretoria)
Eat Out Wine Service Award: Moses Magwaza, Restaurant Mosaic at The Orient (Elandsfontein, Pretoria)
Eat Out John Psillos Award for Outstanding Contribution to Service: Morne Wessels, La Petite Colombe (Franschhoek)
Eat Out Lannice Snyman Lifetime Achievement Award: Letitia Prinsloo
Eat Out Style Award: Fermier Restaurant (The Willows, Pretoria)
Woolworths TASTE Eat Out Bursary winner: Bryan Mlotshwa
Click here for more information on the judging for each of the awards.
Follow @Eat_Out on Twitter and search #EatOutAwards for all the awards excitement. Visit Eat Out’s Instagram page @eatoutguide and Facebook page www.facebook.com/EatOutMag for photographs of the awards celebration.
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Number 1: The Test Kitchen
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Number 2: Restaurant Mosaic at The Orient
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Number 3: Waterkloof
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How does La Colombe get rated 7th best in the world by international judges but the come 7th in SA? Never eaten there but seems like the EatOut awards have lost all their value. What a lot because it was actually a great standard for restaurants in South Africa. Manipulation for marketing at its best.
Hi Keith. We have a pretty robust system geared towards removing personal preference and making it about an outstanding dining experience. Our panel of 5 anonymous judges is headed up by Eat Out editor Abigail Donnelly (they don’t all live in Cape Town, btw ?) and all of them eat at all nominated restaurants as well as a large selection of eligible places. They score the restaurants on a consistent set of criteria and the results get audited. We also encourage the restaurants to meet with Abigail afterwards to go through their scorecards 🙂 Hope that helps? Read more about the process here: https://www.eatout.co.za/award/2017-eatout-mercedes-benz-restaurant-awards-2017/#awardjudging
very biased. very few KZN eateries………………..
We have a pretty robust system geared towards removing personal preference and making it about an outstanding dining experience. Our panel of 5 anonymous judges is headed up by Eat Out editor Abigail Donnelly (they don’t all live in Cape Town, that much we can share ?) and all of them eat at all nominated restaurants as well as a large selection of eligible places. They score the restaurants on a consistent set of criteria and the results get audited. We also encourage the restaurants to meet with Abigail afterwards to go through their scorecards. Hope that helps? Read more about the process here: https://www.eatout.co.za/award/2017-eatout-mercedes-benz-restaurant-awards-2017/#awardjudging
Why not an award for best value for money restaurant?
Surely in these difficult times, this is more appropriate than ever?!
That’s a pretty great idea – maybe if we add it to the list we’ll name it after you, Terry! 😉
We are truly lucky to have such wonderful food in SA and to have such talented and inspired chefs too. However, these restaurants are for the people who can afford 3 quality, nutritious meals a day and more. Since it is estimated that a third to half of all South Africans go to bed hungry every night, and our unemployment rate is so high, please could the dining industry/fraternity be more upfront about its social responsibility portfolio. I personally would prefer to support chefs who show that they care about all South Africans and that do more than just pay their taxes. Being near celebrity status, they can influence and shape their own industry in the right moral direction. Let us know the positive ifs/whats being done by any chefs towards supporting all hungry mouths in SA.
Great restaurants mentioned and nominated. There is one more that I can refer you to.
It’s a fairly new restaurant in Pretoria called Khaleo at the Club Hazelwood
Fantastic service, Rustic but out of this world menu concept, and the deserts are the talk of the day.. Literally every day!!
Thanks for the tip, Sunet! 🙂 We do love a good dessert!
Went to Waterkloof for the second time in 2 weeks. Can only say that food was very disappointing, So called hostesses, not correctly dressed for an apparently fine food restaurant and trying to give me advice on wine with NO knowledge. When I complained about the service, the hostess said that she would have a word with the waitress whereas my problem was with her. Will never return despite beautiful view. As French guests, expect loads more from this mediocre chef. Definitely not worthy of top 10 restos in ZA. On a positive note, as I only had 2 starters, they very kindly took this into consideration and charged me accordingly. A lovely french speaking waitress was also extremely accommodating.