Chief Judge Abigail Donnelly and her panel of five expert judges have revealed the restaurants that will receive either 1, 2, or 3 stars at the prestigious Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards at GrandWest Grand Arena on 20 November.
It’s a significant and important shift in our judging process and for 2022, the Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards have introduced a star rating system that recognises excellence among a broader range of restaurants.
The star allocations will only be announced at the gala event on 20 November but here, in alphabetical order, is the list of restaurants that will receive either 1, 2, or 3 stars:
For the last 5 months, celebrated SA food writer, critic and stylist Abigail and her stellar judging panel of Mokgadi Itsweng, Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen, Karen Dudley, Moses Magwaza, and Anna Trapido have been eating out at a wide variety of South Africa’s very best restaurants.
“It is an absolute pleasure to work alongside my fellow judges,” says Abi, “all of whom bring a valuable and unique level of experience to the table. This has ensured a comprehensive and holistic review of all starred restaurants, leaving no doubt in my mind that the final list truly does celebrate the most excellent that South Africa has to offer.”
Using a new, specially developed online judging tool, the judges considered elements from the décor, ambience and service, to the wine list, ingredients used and of course, the quality of the food. After inputting all their scores, and further extensive discussions and deliberations, Abigail and her panel identified 42 restaurants that will be awarded stars at the 2022 Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards on 20 November.
In line with the Eat Out Awards’ commitment to a thorough, meticulous and fully audited judging process, every meal was paid for by Eat Out, with no mention made that this was part of the Awards assessment. No “on the house” freebies or special treatment were accepted.
Please do consider us in the Free State, De Oude Kraal Country Estate and Spa we do a 5 course dinner every night.
Untrained chefs, more cooks. Family farm. True to South African cuisine. Known throughout the country for our superb dinners.
Founders Gerhard and Marie Lombard started the Guest House and restaurant in 1991.
Have received numerous awards for our Diners Club Wine List together with our American Express fine dining awards.
I think I was working pastry the night Abigail came to pot luck she sat at 30 during the second seating. I remember this because she was the only one to sit alone at that table and didn’t stop making notes.
Good day
I just want to find out if you want your restaurant to be part of these how first it work ?
Is it possible to list restaurants by area, spending stax of time going into one by one to see if any in Gauteng, but now given up.
It’s a little disappointing to not see Fermier and Basalt in this list. I and many other feel that they are more than deserving of start allocations…