The 2010 American Express Platinum Fine Dining regional award ceremonies were held at Bellagio Restaurant in Johannesburg and at the One&Only Hotel in Cape Town on 28 September 2009.
Twelve years ago the awards programme was introduced into South Africa, extending the success of the international Platinum Fine Dining Programme to the African continent.
This was developed for Platinum Cardmembers as a list of restaurants committing themselves to satisfying the superior dining expectations of a discerning clientele. The current programme spans 22 urban and rural destinations across six of South Africa’s nine provinces.
The selection criteria for the American Express Platinum Fine Dining Awards include cuisine, service (including menu and wine knowledge), wine list, décor and ambience as well as overall excellence and consistency. Standards are checked thoroughly and restaurants are regularly reevaluated. Previous awards are not automatically renewed every year.
New awards for 2010
Just over half of this year’s 13 new awards went to the Western Cape: Bizerca Bistro
, Gold
and Salt
in the Cape Peninsula, The Pavilion in Hermanus
, Grande Provence
and Rust en Vrede
in the Cape Winelands and La Locanda
in George along the Garden Route.
A further five restaurants, spread across the country, received first-time American Express Platinum Fine Dining Awards for 2010, namely Mastrantonio
, Osteria Tre Nonni
and Sel et Poivre
in Gauteng, Harvey’s
and Roma Revolving Restaurant
in KwaZulu-Natal and Orange
in Mpumalanga.
Best in the world
Two American Express Platinum Fine Dining Restaurants feature in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list: The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Français
came in at number 37, followed by La Colombe
in 38th place. Three more are included in the World’s Top 100 Restaurants list, namely Aubergine, Jardine and Rust en Vrede.
Two family-run Pretoria restaurants, La Madeleine
and Ritrovo Ristorante were honoured with their 10th consecutive Platinum Fine Dining Awards. A total of 72 restaurants received renewal awards.