According to the Readers’ Choice Awards 2024, Conde Nast has named Cape Town the world’s best food city. With a score of 95.65, travellers are impressed by the amalgamation of food choices offered in the laid-back cosmopolitan, coastal city. It comes as no surprise as the city provides a taste of just about everything, with new eateries opening every few days.
Readers voted based on their experience and Cape Town outperformed cities such as Milan, Singapore and Hong Kong. Here is the full list of cities that made the top 10 World’s Best Food Cities:
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Milan, Italy
- Valencia, Spain
- Tokyo, Japan
- Porto, Portugal
- Hong Kong, China
- Bangkok, Thailand
- Rome, Italy
- Singapore
- Sydney, Australia
For a taste of what the Cape has to offer, here are some must-try eateries in Cape Town:
A Cape Town favourite for the past 14 years, the Mediterranean-inspired and seafood-infused dishes at Sotano will leave you salivating. Co-owners Brendon Crew, Jean Muller, and Marc Langlois find inspiration for their signature dishes through annual food pilgrimages to Mediterranean coastal cities like Barcelona and San Sebastián in the Basque country. The seafood and sushi eatery is situated in Mouille Point, directly across from the iconic Green Point Lighthouse, and patrons have the luxury of an indoor-outdoor experience, with a view of the ocean in the near distance. On chillier days, the beautifully decorated interior makes for an intimate breakfast, lunch or dinner, with various tourist accents as the soundscape to your meal, truly encapsulating the cosmopolitan essence that the city has to offer. Try the Spanish Paella made with saffron-infused short-grain rice cooked with peppers, tomatoes, chicken, chorizo, line fish, prawns, calamari, mussels, and a white wine seafood broth.
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2. Belthazar
Known as the theatre of food and wine, Belthazar is a specialty steakhouse on the V&A’s popular wharf. Among its many accolades, Belthazar was voted SA Grain-fed Beef Chateau Libertas Steakhouse of the Year in 2005. Belthazar’s in-house butcher sources AAA-grade grain-fed and grass-fed beef, including free-range, grass-fed organic beef and Wagyu beef. The meat is matured for at least 28 days and hung on the carcass for three days in temperature-controlled cold rooms with humidity.
3. Gold Restaurant
If you’re looking for something a little more authentic to the African culture and palate, with a little bit of a twist, Gold Restaurant is the one to try. The interactive dinner features what they call a 14-dish taste-safari paired with an optional interactive Djembe drumming session. The night includes live entertainment, with storytelling, singing and dancing at its core – a true celebration of all things African curated by their Pan-African team.
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4. Mamacitas
For Capetonians and South Africans, in general, a tex-mex offering is rare, which is why Mamacitas stands out and has become such a popular addition to our eatery options. Known as a popular street food and tequila bar, the eatery offers truly American portions and its menu includes everything from beef ribs and steak fajitas to shrimp tacos. Most impressively, Mamacita’s has the most extensive margarita offering I have ever seen! It is also one of the most Instagrammable spots in the east city.
5. The Werf restaurant at Boschendal
The popular soil-to-fork offering at The Werf Restaurant at Boschendal uses the best available local, seasonal, and ethically sourced ingredients to create tasty dishes that suit every palate.
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