The top restaurants in South Africa were announced at the 2022 Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards on Sunday 20 November at GrandWest in Cape Town. The industry was celebrated in a spectacular display of gourmet food, creative drinks and top-notch entertainment, which had over 700 guests, including some of SA’s favourite celebrities, on their feet.
The new star rating system results were announced, with restaurants being awarded either one, two or three stars. To be included on the shortlist, each restaurant had to achieve a minimum rating of 70 points out of 100. This was based on several factors, including the quality of their offering – from the décor, ambience and service to the wine list, ingredients used and quality of the food. One star was awarded to those restaurants who scored 70 – 80, two stars to those scoring 80 – 90, and three stars to those scoring 90+, with Restaurant of the Year awarded to the establishment with the highest score.
For the first time ever, the star-rated and winning restaurants were determined by a panel of judges that were not anonymous. Along with chief judge Abigail Donnelly, this year’s judging panel included Michelin-starred chef and restaurateur Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen, chef Karen Dudley, sommelier Moses Magwaza, food activist and cookbook author Mokgadi Itsweng, and food writer and broadcaster Anna Trapido.
Says Donnelly: ‘This year has been an exciting year of change and new opportunities for Eat Out and for the restaurants in South Africa. The new awards celebrate all kinds of establishments with the three-, two- and one-star system.’
‘This follows international trends and is the eating platform that South Africa needs right now. I do believe that the restaurants will embrace this change. Having the panel of judges visit the restaurants under their own names has been a more transparent judging process, which we feel has been kinder to chefs. The quality of the food I’ve eaten has amazed me, especially as we’ve just come out of the pandemic. The chefs are cooking with their hearts and souls. Personally, it's been wonderful being back at Eat Out and being able to introduce these new awards to the industry. It’s been very meaningful to me.” Donnelly explains.
Now that the nominees have been announced, be sure to add these eateries to your list!
