March date set for awards as Eat Out takes a ‘fresh approach’ in revised judging process

Eat Out has announced the date of its next annual restaurant awards, with the promise that the awards will “introduce an exciting new format and a fresh approach to celebrating culinary excellence in South Africa’s dining scene”.

The date announced for the next awards event is 31 March, 2025. Few details of this “fresh approach” are known.

Sharing a “snapshot” of the judges’ progress so far, the organisers said 104 restaurants had made the the shortlist, “including the 2023 star winners”. 

One, two and three stars were awarded for the first time in November 2022 and again a year later. All star winners that are still operating automatically make the grade for their next year’s awards.

The awards ceremony that would normally have been held in November 2024 was postponed till the first quarter of 2025 in the wake of restructuring of how the awards are judged. This followed severe criticism, not least from myself and Wolfgat chef Kobus van der Merwe, who broke ranks to write a deeply critical appraisal of the awards, which was published in Daily Maverick’s TGIFood.

The format referred to in the announcement is the formerly extremely lavish ceremony in a vast hall at GrandWest in Cape Town, the evident cost of which attracted severe criticism. One of the harshest criticisms was that the vast expense of the annual ceremony would be better spent on a more thorough judging process. Eat Out heard the criticisms and acted on them, postponing the usual November event in order to effect a more thorough judging system.

The star winners from the previous awards were:

1-star restaurants

• Acid Food & Wine Bar (Randburg, Johannesburg)


• Cavalli Restaurant (Somerset West)


• Chefs Warehouse at Maison (Franschhoek)


• CHORUS (Somerset West)


• Creation Wines Tasting Room (Hemel-en-Aarde Valley)


• Eike (Stellenbosch)


• FABER at Avondale (Paarl)


• Farro (Botrivier)


• Fermier (Pretoria)


• Le coin Français (Franschhoek)


• Les Créatifs Restaurant (Bryanston, Johannesburg)


• Madre Stanford (Stanford)


• Orangerie at Le Lude (Franschhoek)


• Ouzeri (City Bowl, Cape Town)


• Post & Pepper (Stellenbosch)


• Protégé (Franschhoek)


• Proud Mary (Rosebank, Johannesburg)


• Rykaart’s (Stellenbosch)


• Séjour (Houghton Estate, Johannesburg)


• The Chefs’ Table (Umhlanga, eThekwini)


• The Melting Pot (Elgin)


• The Red Room by Chefs Warehouse (City Bowl, Cape Town)


• The Table at De Meye (Stellenbosch)


• The Test Kitchen Fledgelings (Woodstock Cape Town)


• The Waterside Restaurant (V&A Waterfront, Cape Town)


• Upper Union (City Bowl, Cape Town)


• Zioux (Sandton, Johannesburg)

• Belly of the Beast (City Bowl, Cape Town)


• beyond (Constantia, Cape Town)


• ëlgr (City Bowl, Cape Town)


• Epice (Franschhoek)


• Foxcroft (Constantia, Cape Town)


• Meraki by Charlie Lakin (Hillcrest, eThekwini)


• Nevermind (Cape St Francis)


• PIER (V&A Waterfront, Cape Town)


• Restaurant Klein JAN (Tswalu)


• Rust en Vrede (Stellenbosch)


• Salon (Woodstock, Cape Town)


• Spek & Bone (Stellenbosch)


• The Jordan Restaurant with Marthinus Ferreira (Stellenbosch)


• The LivingRoom at Summerhill Estate (Pinetown, eThekwini)


• The Pot Luck Club Cape Town (Woodstock, Cape Town)


• The Pot Luck Club Johannesburg (Randburg, Johannesburg)


• Wolfgat (Paternoster)

• Arkeste by Richard Carstens (Franschhoek)


• Chefs Warehouse Beau Constantia (Constantia, Cape Town)


• Dusk (Stellenbosch)


• Fyn (City Bowl, Cape Town


• La Colombe (Constantia, Cape Town)


• La Petite Colombe (Franschhoek)


• Salsify at The Roundhouse (Camps Bay, Cape Town)