Good grief
is it that time already? We’ve been so busy with Food24’s lovely re-design
we’ve been stuck in a time warp, but now we are back, better and ready to rock
your restaurant world. And just in time for the 2009 Eat Out Restaurant
awards.
The top 10
list, or should I say top 11, has a few newcomers – but not at the number one
spot. Luke Dale-Roberts has once again clinched the coveted first place
for La Colombe, making it two years in a row. Chef of the Year honours went to
Chantel Dartnall of Restaurant Mosaic, with the restaurant itself taking the number two spot.
The service
award went to Rust en Vrede, recently also the SA winner in Great Wine
Capitals’ Best Of Wine Tourism Awards.
Newcomer
The Roundhouse came as no surprise to us at Food24 as we’ve been following a
string of over-the-top fabulous reviews that follow this restaurant around.
Interestingly,
no sign of George Jardine or his namesake restaurant Jardine (Number 2 last
year). Perhaps next year his new venture on Jordan Wine Estate will crack the exclusive
list? We can’t wait to see what has been so worthy of his attention…
And Bizerca (Number 9 last year)? What happened there? We had high hopes for this Cape Town fusion sensation. Never mind, they have been relegated to Eat Out Editor Abigail Donnelly’s new Best
Bistro category.
The other new category created by the Eat Out Editor is The Best Country Kitchen Award which went to Mariana’s in Stanford.
The top 10/11 Eat Out Restaurant of the Year for 2009 are as follows:
1.
La Colombe (Cape Town)
Chef Luke Dale-Roberts
2.
Restaurant Mosaic (Pretoria)
Chef Chantel Dartnall
3.
Rust en Vrede Restaurant (Stellenbosch)
Chef David Higgs
4.
Terroir (Stellenbosch)
Chef Michael Broughton
5.
The Roundhouse (Cape Town)
Chef PJ Vadas
6.
The Restaurant at Grande
Provence (Franschhoek)
Jacques de Jager
7.
The Green House at the Cellars
in Constantia (Cape Town)
Peter Tempelhoff
8.
Roots (Johannesburg)
Philippe Wagenfuhrer
9.
9th Avenue Bistro in Durban
(Durban)
Carly Goncalves
10.
Overture (Stellenbosch)
Bertus Basson
&
Tasting Room at Le Quartier Français (Franschhoek)
Margot Janse
But as
always on Food24, we care much more what you think than any panel of judges. Do
you think these are the top 11 restaurants in the country? Are there too many categories to accommodate more than 10 restaurants? Any obvious
omissions or bad decisions? Let’s get talking…