Top SA restaurants for 2014 announced

The announcement of the 2014 Eat Out Awards happened this Monday at around lunch-time rather informally via a series of tweets from the Eat Out account. It didn’t take long before the restaurant industry was abuzz with the highly anticipated news.

The 20 nominees will have to wait until 16 November to hear who makes it into the hallowed Eat Out Top 10. I can’t imagine what the chefs and restaurateurs must be feeling, but for us, the suspense is enormous!

Abigail Donnelly, chief judge of the Awards was in our studio recently chatting about the process of finding the top restaurants. It’s no easy job and she gets a lot of flak – as people often have a problem with the fact that some of the same restaurants are always featured on the list and others left off it. Then there’s the disagreement that the majority of nominees are Western Cape based. But has anyone stopped and thought that maybe these restaurants are just THAT good?

Another thing that confuses people every year is the rules around the Awards. This year in particular there have been many chefs leaving restaurants – and, according to the Eat Out Awards rules and stipulations, that makes the restaurant ineligible. An example of that would be Hartford House. A stunning restaurant in the KZN Midlands, but celebrated chef, Jackie Cameron has recently left to pursue her dream of a cooking school.

A huge congratulations to all 20 nominees from us. All deserved for the hard work and passion that goes into getting into the prestigious Top 10!

Restaurant Week South Africa

We are also very excited that Restaurant Week South Africa starts on 23 October. 11 days of being able to dine at your bucket list restaurant(s) for a fraction of the normal price. No word of a lie! If you haven’t already started booking, we suggest you get on it asap by simply clicking here. We’ve also received some exciting news that four of the 20 Eat Out Awards nominees are taking part in this year’s Restaurant Week – The Kitchen @ Maison, Bread & Wine, Planet Restaurant at the Mount Nelson, The Restaurant @ Newton Johnson.

Now, as much as the Awards get us amped up for the season ahead, what really gives us a thrill is when we discover unusual, quirky, cool places owned by characters that serve fantastic food (and drinks!). So if there’s a restaurant like this in your city that you think we should know about, drop us a line (editor@food24.com) and let us know who they are and what they do. The inspiring creativity taking place in SA’s food culture is just so fantastically exciting and we want to be apart of it!

Yours in bill folders and doggie bags,

Tess